Ireland's dunes meet Wisconsin farmland on the Irish golf course at Whistling Straits

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. -- What's that? A barn and a silo? It might seem a bit odd to be staring at a 60-foot-high dune one moment, then seeing a farm the next, but that's the reality of playing the Irish Course at Whistling Straits.

The Irish -- ranked No. 35 by Golf Digest among America's top 100 public courses -- sits just inland from the more heralded Straits Course, home of the 2004, 2010 and 2015 PGA Championships and the 2020 Ryder Cup. This setting creates more of a links hybrid, where man-made dunes by Pete Dye are as much part of the equation as four streams, several ponds, trees and views of a cornfield.

Dye turned down the volume on this layout, using fewer bunkers and dunes than the Straits. Streams cut the fairway on five holes, creating tough forced carries. Two par 3s stand out. Sand surrounds an island green at No. 6. The sunken 13th green sits in the belly of the dunes, forcing a blind tee shot a la the "Dell Hole" at Lahinch in Ireland.

Carts are available on the Irish. Riding makes a round here feel even less like a links, but for those who don't have the legs (or the game) to handle the Straits, this is a great alternative.