Straits Course

Open, rugged and windswept terrain defines the walking-only, links-style Straits Course sculpted along two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. A masterpiece in the world of golf created by Pete Dye, Straits course at Whistling Straits was ranked #2 in Golf Digest’s ranking of America’s 100 Greatest Public Golf Courses for 2013/2014.
 

The Straits Course is the flagship course at Whistling Straits. As of 2012, it has a length of 7,790 yards and a par of 72. It hosted the 2004 PGA Championship won by Vijay Singh in a playoff over Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard, the 2007 U.S. Senior Open won by Brad Bryant, and the 2010 PGA Championship won by Martin Kaymer in a playoff over Bubba Watson.
 

The Straits Course replicates the ancient seaside links courses of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Nestled along a two-mile stretch of Lake Michigan, the course features vast rolling greens, deep pot bunkers, grass-topped dunes and winds that sweep in off the lake. At 7,514 yards, it is the second longest course to host a major.
 

The seventeenth named “Pinched Nerve”, the unofficial signature hole, is the most difficult par-3 on the course. At 223 yards with towering sand dunes and the lake to the left, the only option is to go straight for the green.
 

The course features two miles of shoreline on Lake Michigan, eight holes hugging the lake, a flock of Scottish Blackface sheep, elevation changes of approximately 80 feet and three stone bridges at holes 10 and 18. Although the Straits Course duplicates British and Irish links layouts, its original state was not linksland.