The PGA of America returns to Whistling Straits at Destination Kohler, where GCSAA Certified Golf Course Superintendent Michael Lee has prepared the Straits Course for another PGA Championship, Aug. 12-15 in Kohler, Wis.
Players in town for advance week practice rounds have provided glowing remarks on the golf course condition. It is the optimal time for Whistling Straits to hold the event and Mother Nature has smiled on the Straits. Many of Lee's peers around the country have felt the stress on turfgrass from the high heat and humidity this summer.
"This is the best time of year for us to host an event like this," said Lee, a 25-year member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA). "We have been very blessed with the weather we've had and the course is in great shape. We've dried out and firmed up from the spring rains and we've been spared from the extreme heat that has affected so many other golf courses this summer. The winds off the lake that give this course its teeth also keep the temperatures cooler here."
Lee, the manager of golf course maintenance at Destination Kohler, oversees golf course management programs at Whistling Straits (Straits Course and Irish Course) and Blackwolf Run (Meadow Valleys Course and River Course). In his 17 years at Kohler, Lee has hosted the 2004 PGA Championship and 2007 U.S. Senior Open at the Straits Course and the 1998 U.S. Women's Open at Blackwolf Run.
"Michael Lee has been a pleasure to work with," said Kerry Haigh, PGA of America managing director for championships and business development. "He and (GCSAA member) Chris Zugel, the Straits Course superintendent, have provided timely and detailed follow up to all the meetings and walk arounds that we have made. Michael has an outstanding knowledge of the challenges of growing fescue grasses in the challenging Wisconsin climate and has a great attention to detail. He has been exceptional to work with and we are both looking forward to a truly exciting and memorable PGA Championship."
Designed by World Golf Hall of Fame golf course architect and recipient of GCSAA's 2003 Old Tom Morris Award Pete Dye, Whistling Straits emulates the great old seaside links courses of the British Isles. The Straits Course features numerous sand bunkers – 967 according to Golf Digest Senior Architecture Editor Ron Whitten, in his PGA preview appearing in the August issue – including huge sandy areas, deep pot bunkers, and grass topped dunes.
The Straits Course features big, undulating greens and majestic views of Lake Michigan from each of its 18 holes. No. 17, the course's unofficial signature hole, features a green precariously perched over water and sand. Whistling Straits features two miles of uninterrupted shoreline on Lake Michigan with eight holes hugging the lake. Features include bluffs and massive sand dune areas, natural fescue fairways, and a flock of Scottish Blackface sheep that call the course home.
"The Providence bentgrass greens are smooth and rolling 11 feet on the Stimpmeter," said Lee, who has a bachelor's degree in agriculture from the University of Wisconsin and is one of only 1,700 active superintendents to earn the professional designation GCSAA Certified Golf Course Superintendent. "The fine fescue rough is 4-6 inches tall."
A risk-reward element has been added to the final hole this year. The 500-yard par 4 now features a high-risk shortcut in a 300-yard carry over bunkers along the left side to a narrowing fairway at the dogleg. Dye moved the bunker in front of No. 6 green so that the six-feet-deep pot bunker now goes into the middle of the green, altering the driveable par 4.
A wireless irrigation system that includes 2,500 sprinkler heads is used on Whistling Straits' 36 holes. It is controlled by a handheld computer and can effectively water precise locations on an as-needed basis, saving resources. Recycled materials were used in the roads and bridges at Whistling Straits and its fescue grass requires very little fertilizer or water.
Lee's staff of 50 includes participants in an internship program that provides both domestic and international students with invaluable experience in golf course management. His staff is bolstered by 70 volunteers during tournament week, made up of superintendents and assistant superintendents from nearby golf facilities and as far away as Scotland, Ireland and New Zealand. Gary D'Amato's Aug. 3 feature in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel focuses on Lee, Zugel, their organization and planning for that tournament week workforce.
The PGA Championship is scheduled to return to Whistling Straits in 2015, before the PGA of America holds the 2020 Ryder Cup there as well. And the U.S. Women's Open is slated to return to Blackwolf Run in 2012.
