ON PROPERTY
An Eau de Vie King Suite at The American Club features a four-paneled glass fireplace.
Stephen Beaumont is president of hospitality for Kohler Co. He rejoined Kohler in 2025 after a prior 10-year stint from 2001 to 2011.
that once served as an Army anti-aircraft training facility about nine miles northeast of The American Club. More than 7,000 truckloads of sand were hauled in to create the jagged landscape of a links-style course replete with vertiginous dunes, fescue-ringed fairways and some 1,000 bunkers( though no one really knows the actual number; there are so many).
By 1998, Kohler had his championship course: Playing almost 7,800 yards from the back tees and defenseless to attacking lake winds, the Straits Course at Whistling Straits has hosted three PGA Championships, the 2007 U. S. Senior Open and the 2021 Ryder Cup. A sister course, The Irish, opened in 2000 and is known as much for being a stern test of golf as the sheep that roam its grounds. A statue of Kohler and Dye off the 18th hole at Straits overlooks the duo’ s creation.
Golf is an integral part of the Kohler experience. All four courses are listed in Golf Digest’ s top 100 and the Straits Course is often recognized as a top-five course in the U. S. you can play since it’ s open to the public. Beaumont, who is not a golfer, recognizes the prescience of Herb Kohler to make the sport such an integral part of the Kohler experience, and not just as another activity.“ One part of the resort supports the other,” he said. Put another way, golf and lodging have a symbiotic relationship: golf as an attraction helps fill rooms; rooms, then, support the golf.“ They don’ t sit independently,” Beaumont said.
Here’ s the thing: Playing Whistling Straits is a bucket-list experience. It also costs a pretty penny. Eighteen holes of golf run close to $ 900 when you factor in caddie fees. And that’ s before raiding the pro shop for merch.“ Clearly, the Straits Course is the center of attention. It is the one that everybody wants to play,” Beaumont said.( Next year, Kohler will open the“ shortie” 14-hole Purebred Farm golf course.) Here’ s the other thing: Many don’ t
The reimagined Woodlake Market reopened in July, inclusive of a Kohler Chocolates boutique. The market is designed to serve village residents, Kohler Co. associates and resort guests alike.
connect the dots between Kohler and Whistling Straits. Here’ s another wrinkle: Kohler also owns and operates the Old Course Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland, which is adjacent to the famous 17th hole of the Old Course, known colloquially as the“ Road Hole.”( Players are forced to hit a nerve-wracking blind tee shot over a corner of the property.) Beyond The American Club, Carriage House and Old Course Hotel, Kohler also operates the Inn on Woodlake, also in the Village of Kohler, and where an additional 66 rooms are in the process of being added, and the 144-room Lodge Kohler, an out route away from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisc. Good luck trying
24 hotelsmag. com September 2026