It has vast rolling greens, deep pot bunkers, grass-topped dunes and winds that sweep in off the lake.

Before the course was built, the property was an abandoned airfield called Camp Haven (1949–1959),[2] with a stream running through the middle.

Wisconsin Electric purchased the property in the 1970s and attempted to build the Haven Nuclear Power Plant on the property, but its construction was opposed by local residents and Wisconsin Power & Light (Sheboygan County's major electric utility), and the company never built the plant.

During construction, the original landscape of the Straits Course was covered with about 800,000 cubic yards (610,000 m3) of dirt and sand.

[4] The course record of 67 was shot by Mike Frechette in 2007 and then matched by Garret Buckley at the 2014 Whistling Straits Intercollegiate.