Whistling Straits (Straits)
September 2023 – Our annual golf trip took us to Wisconsin and ended up at Whistling. It was a cross state trek that I describe a little bit in my Sand Valley review. There’s a ton of Whistling Straits info out there on the blog-i-verse so I won’t add much review and hole-by-hole analysis to the inanity. I will add this though – this is a tough course, it’s one of the top courses in the US you can play and I rank it only slightly (ever so slightly) below Kiawah’s Ocean course. Above you see our group (and half the annual trip crew) on the very picturesque 3rd hole: Dave, me, Brian and Don.
First off, I came to Sheboygan many moons ago on a work trip with a few buddies who didn’t want to shed the Franklins to play here. It was pricey then and even more so now. We played the week after Labor Day and it was still full rack rate to play – nearly $500. Ouchie! Add caddie fee. Add tip. Add pricey drinks. Add over-priced, off-site resort hotel stay and you’re over the millennium mark. I played a shitty, even by my low standards, front nine (52) – I guess you could say though I amortized my per shot investment. Yet still I would recommend to all you like-minded golfers out there. Just pay it and play it. It’s a bucket list course. It has one of the best collections of par threes anywhere in the world. It has hosted a Ryder Cup and golf’s majors. And you can get on it.
Here’s an aside, I’m not a big fan of the logo here so didn’t buy any shirts. I did buy one before when I was here and didn’t play but that shirt is now long gone. My wife has a rule for golf shirts: one in and one out. Since I get to play a lot of really nice courses that are certainly shirt worthy, Whistling from about the year 2005 is long gone. Back to the logo. It’s ugly. Looks like the ram guy on Monty Python.
But I digress. Back to how tough this course is. There are supposedly over 1,000 sand traps on the Straits course. You will not navigate cleanly through this round without hitting one/many, guaranteed. Play the right tees for your skill level. We played whites which were just over 6,300 yards. I will add Whistling to my toughest courses ever played, just behind the Ocean Course at Kiawah. You can see the toughest I’ve played discussed in my Bethpage review (and add Cape Breton Highlands and Carnoustie to that list). Bethpage Black review and toughness rankings here. I’ll just post the photos and leave the hole to hole action to this video.
Golf Scrapbook 