Whistling Straits - Irish Course

Getting To Know: Whistling Straits - Irish Course

An Insightful Interview With Michael O'Reilly, Head Golf Professional

By Brian Weis

Whether you have played a course 20+ times a year or looking to play the course for the first time, insights from an insider can help enhance your golf experience. Below is an interview with Michael O'Reilly who shares some valuable tidbits about the course, memorable holes and must eats and treats at the 19th.

Give Our Readers An Overview of the Golf Course/Property
The Irish Course is the second of two championship courses at Whistling Straits. The Irish Course is just inland from the great lake and interspersed by four meandering streams. The grassland-and-dunes aspect of the Irish is a deceivingly tranquil landscape. Both traditional and memorable, the Irish is full of unique challenges for players of all abilities.

If Someone Was Looking To Golf In The Area, Why Should They Play Your Course?
The Irish is a unique and challenging golf course that was recently ranked by Golf Digest as the 39th best public access golf course in the United States. It would be a mistake for someone to visit our destination and just play the more well known Straits Course... The Irish is tough to beat!

What Tips or Local Knowledge Would You Provide To Help Them Score Better At Your Course?
Like the Straits Course, the Irish is littered with mounds and bunkers. Avoiding fairway bunkers off the tee is a must. Some of them you will be able to advance the ball but many won't allow you that luxury. I recommend if you are not 100% certain you can advance the ball, pitch out and treat it like a penalty stroke.

Your best bet is to avoid them!

Recent Awards or What You Are Most Proud About The Course?
Top 100 Public Access Golf Courses Golf Digest 1/13 Whistling Straits - Irish Course #39

Top 100 Courses You Can Play Golf Magazine 7/12 Whistling Straits - Irish Course #74

Best Summer Golf Destinations Golf.com 6/12 The American Club Resort #1 in the Midwest

Best Courses in Wisconsin Golf Magazine
Whistling Straits - Irish Course #4

Top 10 Northern U.S. Golf Resorts Conde Nast Traveler 4/12 The American Club Resort #3 - Reader Score: 87.8

Platinum Award Golf Magazine 3/12
The American Club Golf Category Score: 95.60

What Is The Signature, Most Talked About, or Most Photographed Hole?
The 11th hole on the Irish is a long par 3 with a large, deep green. Two reasons this hole is memorable... 1) Two very large pot bunkers that await your ball should you miss the green left. The bunkers are roughly six feet deep so most players won't even see the target they are aiming at! 2) The sheep pen, yes, that's right, the sheep pen, where Whistling Straits' Scottish Black Faced Sheep reside is directly behind the green. Watch where you walk... You never know what you may step on!

What Is Your Favorite Hole? Any Tips to Play It?
My favorite hole on the Irish Course is the par 5 14th. The green is reachable in two but the more conservative play would be to lay up short and right of the creek. This lay up will lead you with a short iron or wedge to a long and narrow green.

Must Have Dish or Drink after the round at the 19th Hole?
It's Whistling Straits... Try the Guinness!

Who Holds Course Record and What Was Their Score?
Mike Frechette - 67 - 2007 Wisconsin Assistant Golf Professional Association Stroke Play

We hosted some of the best collegiate players in the world during the 2005 Palmer Cup (Collegiate version of the Ryder Cup) but no official scores were recorded because it was a match play event.

Back Tee Stats
Par: 72
Yardage: 7201
Slope: 146
Rating: 75.6

More Information
Whistling Straits - Irish Course
N8501 County Road LS
Sheboygan, WI, 53083
920-565-6050
www.destinationkoher.com

More Information »

Revised: 02/20/2013 - Article Viewed 38,453 Times - View Course Profile

About: Brian Weis

Brian Weis is the mastermind behind GolfTrips.com, a vast network of golf travel and directory sites covering everything from the rolling fairways of Wisconsin to the sunbaked desert layouts of Arizona. If there’s a golf destination worth visiting, chances are, Brian has written about it, played it, or at the very least, found a way to justify a "business trip" there.

As a card-carrying member of the Golf Writers Association of America (GWAA), International Network of Golf (ING), Golf Travel Writers of America (GTWA), International Golf Travel Writers Association (IGTWA), and The Society of Hickory Golfers (SoHG), Brian has the credentials to prove that talking about golf is his full-time job. In 2016, his peers even handed him The Shaheen Cup, a prestigious award in golf travel writing—essentially the Masters green jacket for guys who don’t hit the range but still know where the best 19th holes are.

Brian’s love for golf goes way back. As a kid, he competed in junior and high school golf, only to realize that his dreams of a college golf scholarship had about the same odds as a 30-handicap making a hole-in-one. Instead, he took the more practical route—working on the West Bend Country Club grounds crew to fund his University of Wisconsin education. Little did he know that mowing greens and fixing divots would one day lead to a career writing about the best courses on the planet.

In 2004, Brian turned his golf passion into a business, launching GolfWisconsin.com. Three years later, he expanded his vision, and GolfTrips.com was born—a one-stop shop for golf travel junkies looking for their next tee time. Today, his empire spans all 50 states, and 20+ international destinations.

On the course, Brian is a weekend warrior who oscillates between a 5 and 9 handicap, depending on how much he's been traveling (or how generous he’s feeling with his scorecard). His signature move" A high, soft fade that his playing partners affectionately (or not-so-affectionately) call "The Weis Slice." But when he catches one clean, his 300+ yard drives remind everyone that while he may write about golf for a living, he can still send a ball into the next zip code with the best of them.

Whether he’s hunting down the best public courses, digging up hidden gems, or simply outdriving his buddies, Brian Weis is living proof that golf is more than a game—it’s a way of life.