Besides Whistling Straits, Destination Kohler Offers Fine Dining, Shopping and a $3,995 Scotch
You would probably figure that a man who trucks in 105,000 cubic yards of sand to build the dunes at his Pete Dye-designed Whistling Straits Golf Course would make sure his Destination Kohler golf resort was more than a one-trick pony.
And you’d be right.
Herb Kohler Jr., chairman of the Kohler plumbing fixtures company and a golf aficionado, developed his Destnation Kohler golf property in Kohler, Wis., into a four-season luxury resort for golfers, for foodies, for families and for non-golfing folks who just want to be pampered.
Each October, for example, Kohler holds its annual Kohler Food and Wine Experience — Oct. 17-20 this year. The four-day event features cooking demonstrations by a half-dozen celebrity chefs, meals, wine tastings, mixology demonstrations and food-prep seminars.
“What makes it unique is that our guests who buy tickets get to actually eat what the chefs are doing in the demo,” said Leslie Stachowiak, Destination Kohler spokeswoman. “Most other festivals just have the guests watch the demo and drool.”
Kohler Hosts 2020 Ryder Cup
Located near Sheboygan, midway between Milwaukee and Green Bay, Kohler is about two and a half hours by car from Chicago. Milwaukee’s Billy Mitchell Airport is 60 miles away.
The premier golf offering at Destination Kohler is Whistling Straits, ranked No. 3 by Golf Digest on its U.S. Top 100 You Can Play list. It has hosted three PGA Championships and a Senior U.S. Open. In September, it hosts the 2020 Ryder Cup.
The course runs along the shore of Lake Michigan through dunes built by Dye with 7,000 truckloads of Kohler’s imported sand – 2.8 million pounds in all. According to one caddie, the sand-hauling went on 24/7 for more than a year. More
