Whistling Straits (Irish)

With fairways set further in from Lake Michigan than the Straits course, the Irish was unveiled at Whistling Straits a couple of years after its older sibling debuted. Golfers need to watch out for water and sandy waste areas, both of which appear as intimidating hazards on this course.

Author Daniel Wexler comments on the Irish course in his book The American Golf Resort Guide: “seeming even less natural than its sister (which, by definition, is impossible), it is heavily affected by three man-made lakes, particularly on a front nine whose strongest holes include the 489-yard 4th, which doglegs left around massive waste bunkers (and) the 160-yard 6th, played to an island green within the sand.

The back nine runs out to the north where it is initially led by the 208-yard 11th (whose narrow green is pinched between right-side sand and a large, left-side dune), the blind 183-yard 13th (styled after the famed Dell hole at Lahinch), and the 564-yard 14th, where a creek divides the lay-up zone. Particularly given the more limited nature of its site, one of the stronger ‘second’ courses around.”