Map_of_Wisconsin_highlighting_Sheboygan_County

Whistling Straits is one of two 36-hole links-style

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

s associated with

Destination Kohler Destination Kohler is the hospitality and real estate arm of the Kohler Company, and the tourism promotion agency for the Village of Kohler, Wisconsin. Properties Lodging The American Club Destination Kohler owns and operates a resort in Ko ...

, a luxury

golf resort A resort hotel is a hotel which often contains full-sized luxury facilities with full-service accommodations and amenities. These hotels may attract both business conferences and vacationing tourists and offer more than a convenient place to stay ...

owned and operated by the

Kohler Company Kohler Co., founded in 1873 by John Michael Kohler, is an American manufacturing company based in Kohler, Wisconsin. Kohler is best known for its plumbing products, but the company also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and g ...

Kohler, Wisconsin Kohler is a village in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States, along the Sheboygan River. The population was 2,120 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Originally called Ri ...

. The other course is

Blackwolf Run Blackwolf Run is a golf course complex in Kohler, Wisconsin. It is one of two golf destinations associated with The American Club, owned by a subsidiary of the Kohler Company. The other is the Whistling Straits complex in nearby Haven. Opened in ...

, located in the Village of Kohler. The Whistling Straits complex is located north of Sheboygan, in the unincorporated community of Haven in the Town of Mosel in

Sheboygan County Sheboygan County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is named after the Sheboygan River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 118,034. Its county seat is Sheboygan. The county was created in 1836 and organized in 1846. At th ...

. Whistling Straits is separated into two courses, the Straits Course and the Irish Course. The courses at Whistling Straits (and Blackwolf Run) were designed by

Pete Pete or Petes or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Pete (given name) * Pete (nickname) * Pete (surname) Fictional characters * Pete (Disney), a cartoon character in the ''Mickey Mouse'' universe * Pete the Pup (a.k.a. 'Petey'), a character ...

and

Alice Dye Alice Dye (February 19, 1927 – February 1, 2019) was an American amateur golfer and golf course designer known as the "First Lady" of golf architecture in the United States. Biography Born Alice Holliday O'Neal in Indianapolis, Indiana, she ...

Straits Course

The Straits Course is the flagship course at Whistling Straits. As of 2012, it had a length of and a par of 72. It hosted the 2004 PGA Championship, the 2007

U.S. Senior Open The U.S. Senior Open is one of the five major championships in senior golf, introduced in 1980. It is administered by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and is recognized as a major championship by both the PGA Tour Champions and the Eu ...

, and the

2010 PGA Championship The 2010 PGA Championship was the 92nd PGA Championship, played August 12–15 at the Straits Course of the Whistling Straits complex in Haven, Wisconsin (postal address Kohler). Martin Kaymer won his first major championship in a three-hole ...

. The course hosted the PGA Championship for a third time in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and the 2021 Ryder Cup was held on the course with the United States winning 19-9. The Straits Course replicates the ancient seaside links courses of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Nestled along a two-mile (3 km) stretch of

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

shoreline, the course has eight holes hugging the lake, a flock of

Scottish Blackface The Blackface or Scottish Blackface is a British breed of sheep. It is the most common sheep breed of the United Kingdom. Despite the name, it did not originate in Scotland, but south of the border. History The origins of the breed are ...

sheep, three stone bridges, and elevation changes of approximately . It has vast rolling greens, deep pot bunkers, grass-topped

dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...

s and winds that sweep in off the lake. Being a coastal links-style course, there are few large trees or woods on the course, which is open and exposed to wind and the elements. Before the course was built, the property was an abandoned airfield called Camp Haven (1949–1959), with a stream running through the middle. Wisconsin Electric purchased the property in the 1970s and attempted to build the Haven Nuclear Power Plant on the property, but its construction was opposed by local residents and

Wisconsin Power & Light Alliant Energy is a public utility holding company headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, providing power in Iowa and Wisconsin. History Interstate Power and Light Company (IPL) expanded greatly in the late 1920s to include operations in Iowa, ...

(Sheboygan County's major electric utility), and the company never built the plant. It then sold the property to the

in the early 1990s. Kohler Company CEO Herbert Kohler hired the Dyes to be the course architects. During construction, the original landscape of the Straits Course was covered with about 800,000

cubic yard Cubic may refer to: Science and mathematics * Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement * Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex ** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system ...

s (610,000 m³) of dirt and sand.

Hiroshi Iwata is a Japanese professional golfer who plays on the Japan Golf Tour and the Asian Tour. Iwata was born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. He started playing golf at the age of 14, by his father's influence, who ran a local golf range and was a ...

holds the course record for the Straits Course with a 63 in the second round of the

2015 PGA Championship The 2015 PGA Championship was the 97th PGA Championship, held August 13–16 on the Straits Course of Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin (the course is physically in Haven but holds a Kohler mailing address due to its Kohler Company ownership ...

Irish Course

The second course at Whistling Straits is the Irish Course, an inland grass-and-dune layout. It is a par-72 course that features of golf from the longest tees, with a

course rating A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's potential that is used to enable players of varying abilities to compete against one another. Better players are those with the lowest handicaps. Historically, rules relating to handicaps have v ...

of 75.6 and a

slope rating The slope rating of a golf course is a measure of its relative difficulty for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer. It is used by handicapping systems to equalize the field by accounting for the likelihood that, when playing on more diffic ...

of 146. Also designed by Pete Dye, it opened for play in 2000. The course record of 67 was shot by Mike Frechette in 2007 and then matched by Garret Buckley at the 2014 Whistling Straits Intercollegiate. Whistling Straits Irish

Major tournaments hosted

Course layout

Straits Course

Previous course lengths for major championships: * – par 72,

* – par 72, 2004 PGA Championship

Irish Course

References

External links

* {{coord, 43.851, -87.735, display=t, type:landmark Kohler Company Golf clubs and courses in Wisconsin Golf clubs and courses designed by Pete Dye Ryder Cup venues Buildings and structures in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin 1998 establishments in Wisconsin