Whistling Straits (Straits Course)

Pete Dye's man-made links on Lake Michigan, built on a flat former airfield; host of three PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup.

The Kohler Company bought a flat stretch of Lake Michigan shoreline north of Sheboygan, once an army airfield, and asked Pete Dye to build a links. Dye trucked in hundreds of thousands of cubic yards of soil and sand to raise dunes, bluffs and roughly 80 feet of elevation change. The Straits Course opened in 1998, with fescue, Scottish Blackface sheep and stone bridges completing the look.

Eight holes run directly along the water. Dye arranged them in a double figure-eight so lakeside holes play in alternating directions, and the property holds more than a thousand bunkers, many never raked. Visual tricks matter as much as hazards: on the 17th a mound hides half the green from the back tee. The course hosted PGA Championships in 2004, 2010 and 2015, the 2007 U.S. Senior Open and the 2021 Ryder Cup, which the U.S. won 19–9. It is open to the public, walking only, with a caddie required.

Holes to know

17

Par 3 · 223 yd

Plays along the lake edge with a large mound blocking part of the green from the championship tee. Widely seen as the hardest single shot on the course.

18

Par 4 · 515 yd

Named Dyeabolical, the long closing par 4 played to a 4.54 scoring average at the 2015 PGA Championship.

Championships

• PGA Championship 2004, 2010, 2015
• Ryder Cup 2021
• U.S. Senior Open 2007