Whistling Straits Irish on GSPro? Here's How

The Irish Course at Whistling Straits does not get the attention of the Straits Course. It sits inland and plays across a different piece of property, and most people treat it as the consolation prize when they cannot get a tee time on the big course. The dismissive take is wrong.

Pete Dye built the Irish Course as a genuine links-style inland course with the same principles that made the Straits Course great: fescue-covered dunes, pot bunkers, and firm, running fairways. It is shorter, tighter, and more strategic than the Straits Course. On GSPro, the LIDAR community build captures the concept well.

Finding the Irish Course on GSPro

Search for “Whistling Straits Irish” or “Kohler Irish” in the GSPro course database. The LIDAR version is available in the community section.

The LIDAR Quality

The Irish Course sits on an old landfill that Dye converted into a rolling dune landscape. The terrain is open and exposed, which makes the LIDAR data clean and complete. There are very few trees to interfere with the scanning.

The green complexes are the star of the show. Dye built small, tilted, runoff greens that demand creativity. The LIDAR captures the false fronts, the collection areas, and the internal contours that make the greens so difficult to read.

How It Plays

The Irish Course is a ground-game course. The fairways are generous but the greens are surrounded by bunkers and short grass that feed balls away from the putting surface. You need to land the ball short and let it run onto the green, or fly it to a specific spot and hope the tilt does not reject it.

The course opens with a par-4 that requires a precise drive between pot bunkers. The 5th hole is a par-3 that plays into the wind to a green protected by a massive bunker short left. The 9th hole is a risk-reward par-5 that is reachable in two if you thread a drive between the bunkers and commit to the carry.

The back nine is stronger than the front. The 12th hole is a short par-4 that requires a lay-up or a heroic carry over a dune. The 16th hole is a par-3 that plays downhill to a green set in a bowl, and the 18th hole is a par-4 that requires a precise approach over water to a green tucked against the clubhouse.

How It Compares to the Straits Course

The Whistling Straits course plays on the Lake Michigan bluffs with massive scale and dramatic views. The Irish Course plays inland with tighter corridors and more subtle shot values.

On GSPro, both courses are available. The Straits Course is the one everyone knows. The Irish Course is the one people discover and realize is actually better for sim play because it rewards strategy and creativity over power.

Verdict

Whistling Straits Irish on GSPro is a sleeper pick among Kohler’s courses. The LIDAR build is clean, the greens are fun, and the strategic options on every hole make it a course you will want to replay immediately.

If you have only played the Straits Course on GSPro, download the Irish Course and see what you have been missing.

For a full guide on everything GSPro offers, read the best courses on GSPro guide.