- Whistling Straits
Infobox_Golf_Facility
golf_facility_name = Whistling Straits
imagesize = 280px
caption =Whistling Straits golf course onLake Michigan
location =Haven, Wisconsin
establishment = 1998
type = Public
owner =Kohler Company
operator =The American Club
holes = 36
tournaments = 2004, 2010, and 2015PGA Championship , 2007U.S. Senior Open , 2020Ryder Cup
website = [http://www.destinationkohler.com/golf/ws/ws_index.html Whistling Straits]
course1 = Straits Course
designer1 = Pete &Alice Dye
par1 = 72
length1 = 7,514
rating1 = 76.7
record1 =
course2 = Irish Course
designer2 = Pete &Alice Dye
par2 = 72
length2 = 7,201
rating2 = 75.6
record2 =
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record4 =Whistling Straits is one of two golfing destinations associated with
The American Club , a luxuryresort located in nearbyKohler, Wisconsin , and owned by a subsidiary of theKohler Company . The other course isBlackwolf Run . The Whistling Straits complex is located in the unincorporated Sheboygan County community of Haven in the Town of Mosel, north of the city of Sheboygan. Although the course is located in Haven, it officially has a Kohler postal address, and is mentioned within promotional materials as being in Kohler.The two courses at Whistling Straits were designed by Pete &
Alice Dye .traits Course
The Straits Course is the flagship course at Whistling Straits. It has a length of 7,514 yards and a par of 72. It hosted the 86th PGA Championship in August 2004, and was host to the 2007
U.S. Senior Open . In January 2005, the Straits Course was announced as the site for the PGA Championships in 2010 and 2015, as well as the 2020Ryder Cup .The Straits Course replicates the ancient seaside links courses of the
United Kingdom and theRepublic of Ireland . Nestled along a two-mile (3 km) stretch ofLake Michigan , the course features vast rolling greens, deep pot bunkers, grass-toppeddune s and winds that sweep in off the lake. At 7,514 yards, it is the second longest course to host a major. Fact|date=February 2007The seventeenth named "Pinched Nerve", the unofficial signature hole, is the most difficult par-3 on the course. At 223 yards, with towering sand dunes and the lake to the left leaves golfers with no option but to go straight for the green.
The course also features two miles (3 km) of shoreline on Lake Michigan, eight holes hugging the lake, a flock of
Scottish Blackface sheep, elevation changes of approximately convert|80|ft|m and three stone bridges at holes 9, 10 and 18.Although the Straits Course duplicates British and Irish links layouts, its original state was not linksland. Before the course was built, the property was a more or less featureless abandoned airfield called
Camp Haven (1949-1959) [ [http://www.sheboygan.lib.wi.us/pages/haven.html Mead Library Information on Camp Haven ] ] , with a stream running through the middle. Its one saving grace, from a golf standpoint, was its two miles (3.2 km) of lake frontage. Kohler Company CEOHerbert Kohler signed up Dye as course architect, giving him a basically unlimited budget.Fact|date=July 2007 During construction, the original landscape of the Straits Course alone was covered with about 800,000cubic yard s (610,000 m³) of dirt and sand. Until recently, the amount of earth moved would have been considered extreme for a golf course, but this amount has been dwarfed by that required by several other courses, most notablyShadow Creek in Las Vegas, where 25 million cubic yards (19.1 million m³) of earth were moved. [ [http://www.sheboygan.lib.wi.us/pages/haven.html History of Camp Haven] , accessed August 2006.]Irish Course
The second course at Whistling Straits, the Irish Course, is an inland grass-and-dune layout. It is an 18 hole course that features a 7,201 yards of golf from the longest tees on this par 72 course. The course rating is 75.6 while the slope rating is 146 on
bent grass . Like the Straits course, it was designed by Pete Dye, and opened in 1998. [ [http://www.golfclubatlas.com/whistling1.html A look at the Straits Course, at GolfClubAtlas.com] , accessed August 2006.]Having served as a PGA Championship host site, the Straits course has more notoriety. However, the editors of the noted independent golf travel newsletter, Golf Odyssey, view the Irish Course as much more difficult to play as it is trouble-filled with forced carries, gnarly rough, ponds, streams and ravines. that set the table.
Along with these obstacles, the Irish Course is laden with tremendous waste bunkers — tremendous in size and number — which are minimally maintained to let the elements shape and reshape them. The strength of the Irish course, along with its three sister courses, led Golf Odyssey to denote Kohler as "the best 72 holes of golf in the world". [ [http://www.golfvacationinsider.com/reports/whistling-straits-golf-course.html Free Special Report, Whistling Straits and The American Club] ]
References
External links
* [http://www.destinationkohler.com/golf/ws/ws_index.html Whistling Straits official site] , accessed August 2006
* [http://www.destinationkohler.com/golf/ws/straits_detail.html Straits Course] , accessed August 2006.
* [http://www.destinationkohler.com/golf/ws/irish_detail.html Irish Course] , accessed August 2006.
* [http://www.golfclubatlas.com/whistling1.html Architecture review at GolfClubAtlas.com]
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