Featured Golf Trip: Kohler, Wisconsin

Come close, need to let you in on a secret.

Ok, ready?

Here it comes:

Golf in Wisconsin is very, very good.

You heard it here first!

Boy, does that state punch above its weight. The Badger State places 11 courses on current top 100 public golf courses in the U.S. lists across Golf Digest, GOLF mag, and Golfweek—and a whopping eight in the composite top 50.

Would you like to play a bunch of them in one fell swoop? Head up an hour north of Milwaukee to Kohler and Sheboygan, neighboring villages home to four great ones: Whistling Straits (ranked 4th on the composite list), Blackwolf Run: River (29th), The Irish at Whistling (83rd), and Blackwolf Run: Meadows Valley (134th).

Hell, if you’re still not satiated, there’s more in reach of a day trip: Erin Hills (16th) and Lawsonia Links (34th) are each just an hour and some change away. We’ve already covered the mecca that is Sand Valley, an enclosed resort offering a couple hours away—but that one works best as its own trip.

Today, we’re honing in on the offerings associated with Destination Kohler. You know the headliner well: Host of the 2021 Ryder Cup and three PGA Championships, Whistling Straits is a true test, a course designed to punish the pros, with more than 1,000 bunkers and wind-swept greens that offer a test about as close to Irish links golf as you’ll find Stateside. The Irish course, as one might surmise, continues that links theme with the “same manufactured dunescape” as its more famous neighbor, but it has bentgrass greens, rather than fescue, and a very Irish blind par 3 situated “over sand hills to a huge green ringed by more than a dozen bunkers.”

About a 15-minute drive away, Blackwolf Run: River hugs the Sheboygan River and “possesses some of Dye’s most exciting holes, from the triple-option reachable par-4 ninth to the boomerang-shaped par-5 11th to the monster par-4 18th.” The neighboring Meadows Valley course at Blackwolf “includes some of Kohler’s most scenic golf holes,” writes the well-versed Wisco Golf Addict.

All four are designed by the legendary Pete Dye, which means, yes, you’re in for a real battle.

Kohler also has a 10-hole par 3 course called The Baths, and with any luck, it’ll add a 14-hole reversible routing to the mix over the next couple of years, with architect still TBD. The rich get richer.

Of course, be forewarned: Greens fees on this trip don’t come cheap. Whistling has become one of the most expensive tee times in America, with dynamic pricing that can stretch beyond $700 per round, while the other three courses touch the $400 – $500 range. Maybe pile into a cost-friendly vacation rental to offset the cost.

This piece originally ran in the GTG newsletter. Subscribe here for free and get pricing details alongside the weekly featured stop—plus news on openings, redesigns, and more—in your inbox each Thursday afternoon.