"Wisconsin is a golf destination:" Badger State to host three huge events in five-year period

SHEBOYGAN (WITI) -- It might be hard to find a place more important to the game of golf over the next five years than the state of Wisconsin. With a series of events that bring in the best players in the world set, there's a big reason everyone wants to tee it up in the Badger State.

"The story of golf in Wisconsin is absolutely amazing," Erin Hills Golf Course Competition Director John Morrisett said.

Ever since the 2004 PGA Championship was awarded to Whistling Straits, the game of golf has taken a dramatic turn in the state of Wisconsin.

"When you compare golf in Wisconsin today versus say, 25 years ago -- night and day difference," Morrisett said.

This year begins a five-year stretch where Wisconsin will be the epicenter of golf in the world. In August, Whistling Straits will host its third PGA Championship in 11 years.

In 2020, the Ryder Cup will be played in Wisconsin -- something that Dirk Willis, the director of golf operations for Destination Kohler is rightfully proud of.

"If you look at the history of major championship golf, there are only a few public courses that were hosting major championships when we started hosting major championships. Now what you've seen over the last 15 years is you see more and more public courses hosting major championships," Willis said.

You will see that again in June 2017 when another area public course, Erin Hills, hosts its first U.S. Open.

"The U.S. Open will be our third USGA Championship that we'll have hosted after the U.S. Amateur and the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links, and we certainly hope that continues because our goal is to certainly put on a great show in 2017 and have that hopefully be the first of several U.S. Opens," Morrisett said.

That show will include the biggest names in golf, which means amateur golfers can find themselves playing the same shot on the same course. For Morrisett, that separates these courses and the sport from others.

"You and I play where Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy play, and for us, for people to be able to play Erin Hills and then a few years later watch the best players in the world play and remembering how they themselves played certain holes, it's pretty neat. Something you can't do in other sports," Morrisett said.

There is something else these courses, and a third -- Destination Kohler's Blackwolf Run River Course have in common. All three courses are ranked in Golf Digest's "Top 16 Public Courses in the Country."

"We look at the rankings on an annual basis to kind of gauge where we're at in the industry or how we're perceived in the industry. And it's certainly nice that our fellow golfers think so highly of us within the industry," Willis said.

"I think it's part of the progression. Among other things we like to think it validates the USGA's decision to bring the U.S. Open here," Morrisett said.

The Championship Director for the 2015 PGA Championship Jason Mengel sees all of the excitement around golf having a huge effect on the game in Wisconsin.

"I think it just emphasizes the excitement Wisconsin has around golf. When you think of the PGA Championship here, you have the U.S. Open down the road in a couple years and then the Ryder Cup coming here. I would put that five-year stretch up against anywhere," Mengel said.

It will almost certainly draw golfers from all over the state.

"It is good that we have a variety of courses that are nationally ranked within Wisconsin. That just tells the industry and the golfers nationwide and internationally that Wisconsin is a golf destination," Willis said.

"Wisconsin we can say objectively is the best summer golf destination in the country, which is an incredible statement, something you would have never thought about 30 years ago," Morrisett said.

The PGA Championship at Whistling Straits is from August 10th through the 16th.

All three of the courses are less than an hour from downtown Milwaukee, and many believe they might be the centerpieces of an unofficial Wisconsin golf trail.