Designed by Pete Dye and opened for play in 1998, the Straits Course is a walking-only, links-style course that is located along two miles of Lake Michigan shoreline. The land was previously used as an Army base, with dilapidated runways and empty sheds making up the landscape. Dye put the land to good use, however. The fairways are 40 to 50 yards wide, which helps when the wind kicks up off of the lake. The four par 3s sit along the coastline and are the most scenic holes on the course.

The course hosted the 2004 PGA Championship, win by Vijay Singh in a playoff over Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard. It will play host to the tournament again in 2010 and 2015, and in 2020 it will play host to the Ryder Cup.

Nearly as stern as the Straits Course, the aptly-named Irish mimics classic Emerald Isle links layouts with its towering sand hills and a rolling landscape peppered with nasty bunkers. The layout weaves over and around scores of mounds and bunkers, as well as four creeks, putting pressure on every shot.

The 570-yard, par-5, 5th hole called The Devil's Elbow, is an especially stern test. Players must stay to the left of a large waste area off the tee, and then decide whether or not to challenge the green with their second shot. Typically that will be from at least 240 yards out. The wiser play is to lay-up shot of the creekf and hit a 150 yard approach shot to the green, which is over 40 yards deep and protected by a massive bunker running down the entire left portion of the fairway.

The other courses of The American Club are Meadow Valleys and the River at Blackwolf Run. For more information, go to destinationkohler.com.

This Club has multiple courses:
Straits
Irish Course


Course features: