No. 17, "Pinched Nerve," sets up the "Diabolical" closer on the the American Club Kohler's Straits Course.
Their swings may not be as graceful or powerful as their younger counterparts, but the professionals on the Champions Tour can flat-out play. And this week, they’re playing their biggest tournament on a course that you can tackle during an American Club Kohler golf vacation.
The U.S. Senior Open continues today on Whistling Straits’ Straits Course, the jewel in the crown of the four-course American Club Kohler resort in Wisconsin. The Straits Course is generous off the tee, but that’s tempered by substantial forced carries, penalizing rough, and higher-stakes risks for better players who aim at its pins.
Take, for example, the first hole. If this week’s competitors land the fairway from the tips of the tee, they will have carried the ball about 250 yards. But that’s a big “if” because waste areas and penalizing, knee-high grass loom on either side. So begins a round in which almost every shot gets the blood pumping. It’s a joy for us enjoying the course as part of an American Club Kohler golf vacation, but it’s undoubtedly stressful for those trying to earn a paycheck.
The layout concludes almost as dramatically as it begins, with a majestic one-shotter along Lake Michigan and a 489-yard, par-four closer called, Diabolical. Playing back toward the clubhouse from the shoreline, the home hole calls for a forced carry over a sinister array of bunkers and an approach that is all carry over a creek and ravine to a severely undulating green.
If you watch the tournament on TV (today from 2-6pm ET on ESPN2; Saturday and Sunday from 3-6pm ET on NBC), don’t be surprised to see it won or lost on this hole.
