Pete Dye's inland links at half the Straits green fee, with fescue-covered dunes and not a single tree in sight.
The Irish Course opened in 2000, two years after the Straits, and it occupies a different landscape entirely. Where the Straits Course runs along the Lake Michigan shoreline, the Irish sits inland on rolling terrain covered with fescue, devoid of trees, and shaped into the kind of open, windswept layout that its name suggests. Pete Dye and Alice Dye designed it as a complement to the Straits rather than a repetition, and the result is a course with its own distinct character and a loyal following among golfers who have played both.
The absence of trees is the first thing most visitors notice. The Irish Course is an open canvas where the wind serves as the primary defence, and the fescue-covered mounds and dunes provide the visual framing that trees would supply on a parkland layout.
At 7,201 yards from the tips with a rating of 74.9 and a slope of 146, the Irish is a genuine test without being punitive. The walking-only policy applies here as well, and forecaddies are available.
Green fees of $275 to $345 place the Irish at roughly half the cost of the Straits Course. This pricing makes it one of the stronger value plays in the Destination Kohler portfolio. Golfers who play the Straits in the morning and the Irish as an afternoon replay at 45% off assemble a 36-hole day that covers both Whistling Straits layouts.
The Irish Course does not carry the championship pedigree of its sibling, and it does not have Lake Michigan views. What it offers instead is a pure links experience on open terrain, at a price point that makes it accessible.
The gentler sibling at Blackwolf Run, where glacially shaped meadows replace the river valley drama without sacrificing design intelligence.
Pete Dye's original Kohler design, carved through a glacial river valley where the Sheboygan River does most of the talking.
A U.S. Open venue built on 652 acres of glacial terrain with no trees, no carts, and no apologies for the walk.
Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s 1982 original, reborn in 2014 with the most photographed par 3 in Wisconsin at its centre.
Two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, three PGA Championships, one Ryder Cup, and a walking-only policy that insists you experience all of it on foot.