Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run open for the 2012 golf season at The American Club in Wisconsin

The golf season in the Midwest has been open unofficially for more than a month now thanks to a gorgeous month of March that is turning out to be better than April.

But the 2012 season doesn’t officially start until the Midwest’s best golf resort – The American Club in Kohler, Wis. – opens its doors. It’s go time!

The Blackwolf Run and Whistling Straits golf shops are now open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. The hours will eventually expand as the daylight and demand does during the season.

This is a big season for The American Club. The Blackwolf Run golf courses – the Pete-Dye-designed River Course and Meadow Valley Course – are finally ready for play after an extensive renovation closed nine holes on each, forcing golfers to play a unique – if not a little awkward – hybrid course the past couple of years. These new nines will form a composite course that will host the 2012 U.S. Women’s Open. Both courses will close to the public from June 29 through July 10 for the event. The resort is pushing hard to promote the biggest tournament on the LPGA Tour. Tickets may be purchased on-line here.

The American Club’s big draw will always be the two courses at Whistling Straits (see photo above), but the Blackwolf Run complex is just as good. It will be a good summer if I can find time to see all the changes first-hand. This place is as good as golf gets in the land-locked midsection of the country.