EXPERIENCE KOHLER, ERIN HILLS & SAND VALLEY

18 holes, 72 par, 7,790/7,142/6,663 yards

Whistling Straits is set on the western edge of Lake Michigan, the entire complex is called Destination Kohler. If you didn’t know the history behind Whistling Straits, you’d believe that the 560-acres of land had been shaped by the hands of time. But you’d be wrong. Whistling Straits was the vision of Herbert Kohler, who transformed a former airfield into one of the most dramatic courses on the planet. Naturally, Pete Dye and his team of bulldozers were involved. The earth certainly moved at Whistling Straits.

In 1998, the course opened for play and even Pete Dye thinks that building Whistling Straits was a “once in a lifetime thing”. Architects are generally presented with uninspiring land and a tight budget; this was not the case at Destination Kohler. It took a few million dollars and a Herculean effort to build the incredible Straits course, which is sculpted for two miles alongside the Lake Michigan shoreline.

After the 2004 PGA Championship, the field were united in their view that this is one of the best golf courses in the world. The PGA Championship returned to Whistling Straits in 2010 and Jason Day captured his first Major in 2015 by winning the PGA Championship here. The Straits course also played host to the Ryder Cup in 2020.

With an interesting figure of eight routing for both outward and inward nines, the layout is extremely well-balanced and utilizes the topography to its' full effect. There are far too many good and interesting holes to mention here. We’ll just close by saying that Whistling Straits is an architectural engineering work of art and it’s an absolute must-play course.

18 holes, 72 par, 7,201/6,750 yards

The Straits course gets most of the hype between these two co-located courses due to its major championship pedigree, but The Irish is a treat to play. The second Pete Dye layout at Whistling Straits sits just inland, but boasts many of the same incredible features and challenges while still maintaining a personality of its own.

There are many holes that force strategy and some thought off the tee in terms of how aggressive you want to be. Hole 2 is a great example. You can try to be more aggressive off the tee, but you've got water down the left and a bunker on the right that comes into play if you hit driver. How much are you willing to risk?

The greens are tricky, but extremely smooth rolling. Bunkers are used strategically in the all the best ways... to challenge you, to deceive you, and to punish you. The bunkers on this course are a little rockier than others in the area... really more waste areas than bunkers. Not many will allow your typical explosion shot. Overall, this course is a treat to play. The facilities are exceptional (as you'd expect) and the staff is very friendly,

18 holes, 72 par, 7,404/6,865 yards

The Blackwolf Run resort is named after Black Wolf, chief of the Winnebago Indians and both the River and Meadow Valleys courses were opened in 1988. A composite 18 holes from both courses was used when the LPGA US Open was played here in 1998.

Designed by Pete Dye, both courses at Blackwolf Run are top notch golf courses but the River course is undoubtedly the flagship layout. There a number of refreshing aspects to playing at Blackwolf Run (apart from the clean, fresh air, of course) - a player may walk while carrying their bag, there are no houses or condominiums adjacent to the property, there is a choice of four tee boxes per hole and the course is kept in immaculate condition – none of which can be said for most resort courses.

Severe elevation changes are a feature as all eighteen holes wind their way round and about natural and man-made water hazards. Precise course management must be used at Blackwolf Run, as a poor decision will cost many shots to par.

18 holes, 72 par, 7,250/6,830 yards

If there are two or more courses on a property, one is guaranteed to be overlooked. Such is the fate of the Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run. Though it’s not a major championship venue, it is a deserving Top 100 course in its own right, and it would be foolish to make a trip to Kohler without playing it.

Despite being on the same property as The River, The Meadow Valleys has a look that’s distinct from its Blackwolf Run sister. The Meadow Valleys is more open, offering many long views that allow you to see multiple holes. There are still plenty of elevation changes, but they tend to be more compact – an elevated green rather than an entire hole that plays uphill. The most obvious difference between the two courses is the lack of water at Meadow Valleys – it’s only a substantial hazard on six holes.

Overall, Meadow Valleys is a slightly gentler version of The River. The required shots are not much easier, but there’s less visual trickery and the hazards are less penal.

Set within an enormous property that extends to over 600 acres, the golf course at Erin Hills only opened in 2006 but it has already hosted the US Amateur Championship in 2011 (won by Kelly Kraft) and the US Open in 2017, which Brooks Koepka won, equalling the US Open’s lowest winning score of 16 under par.

The course was designed to accommodate the 2017 U.S. Open, in terms of both the challenge to the players and the logistics of the spectators. This mix of traditional and modern elements as well as a championship test will leave many golfers with the feeling that they’ve never played anywhere like Erin Hills.

Erin Hills is not for the faint hearted as it presents a stern golfing challenge but for those who want their golf game examined, this is as good a test as there is. Thirty-seven bedrooms are available on property (including ten guest rooms above a very homely clubhouse) for visitors who wish to savour the full Wisconsin golf experience.

Sand Valley is the fifth course that the firm of Coore and Crenshaw has designed for resort maven Mike Keiser, and the first not located close to an ocean. No matter. It’s still on a thousand acres of rolling sand hills in Central Wisconsin, and Coore and Crenshaw were given carte blanche to route their course.

Given the name, many conclude Sand Valley is a combination of Nebraska’s Sand Hills Golf Club and New Jersey’s Pine Valley. But Sand Valley has its own personality, with some dual fairways, gigantic sand spits, enormous greens and even a hidden putting surface. Sand Valley was Golf Digest’s Best New Course of 2017.

David McLay Kidd, who designed Bandon Dunes twenty years earlier, began building a second 18 at the resort just before Coore and Crenshaw had completed their 18, Sand Valley. He gave his meandering layout enormous fairways, big accessible greens and visually-unique hillsides of exposed sand, “mammoth dunes” that became the course moniker.

The dune ridge which forms the dominant feature of the course is close to 100 feet high, making the course visually off the charts.

At Mammoth Dunes, Kidd will take you on a journey around a majestic landscape, and along the way his design skews toward helping, which increases thrill and enjoyment.

The original Lido Golf Club was designed by C.B. Macdonald on the shores of Long Island in 1914. It was considered by many golf historians as one of the greatest golf courses ever created. It was used as an artillery practice site for the U.S. Navy during World War II and was completely destroyed.

The new Lido Golf Course at Sand Valley is the most ambitious golf course project of the Keiser family to date. The aim was to build an exact recreation of the original course on Long Island, New York, down to bunker positioning, fairway contours and even directional orientation.

The original Lido Golf Club opened in 1917 and was considered in the same company as Royal Dornoch, Ballybunion, Pine Valley, Shinnecock and National Golf Links, among the best golf course designs in the world. The Keiser family commissioned Tom Doak to restore The Lido to its original form at Sand Valley, and he has done a spectacular job.

The Sandbox provides an intimate connection to the sand county landscape of central Wisconsin. Located 50 yards from the Clubhouse and in the backyard of some of the lodges, The Sandbox plays through a restored sand prairie that sits within the same V-shaped sand ridge that frames Mammoth Dunes.

With holes ranging from 40 to 140 yards, the short course features the most unique green complexes on the property, including a biarritz, double plateau, lion’s mouth, and a redan.

Designed to be tackled with just a few clubs, the holes unfold over a sandy tract dotted with native scrub and situated next to the resort’s lodge, so it’s extremely convenient to access—and inspiring to play.