Jud/Richard:
Some background:
-- Herb Kohler got into the golf business primarily because guests at his 5-star resort in Kohler proper, the American Club, complained about the lack of golfing opportunites. He initially -- as Jay Flemma rehashes in his very good inteview with Pete Dye -- wanted to buy an existing course; failing at that, and with alot of land at his disposal nearby, he hired Dye -- who he knew by reputation -- to build the Blackwolf Run courses. Kohler made them public, and priced them well above what other high-end publics in Wisconsin were charging at the time; Blackwolf Run was viewed in most quarters of the golfing world in Wisconsin as an enormous financial risk. Very few folks thought it would take off and become successful; it did.
-- Even in its very initial years of play, BRun was viewed as a bit too quirky for a major championship, at least for the men (it hosted the US Women's Open in '98). Kohler, by now getting to know top officials at both the PGA and USGA, wanted to host a major. He began discussions with Dye, and the two of them -- who took golfing trips together to the UK and Ireland -- hit upon the idea of a course that would pay homage to, if not exactly play like, the Irish links they had played together. Kohler bought the old military base near Haven, up the road from Kohler, and told Dye: "Build me Ballybunion." Everything done at WStraits -- from the location of the site for the PGA and corporate tents, to the mounding surrounding various holes, to the routing of 8 holes along the lake for visuals -- was done with hosting a major there in mind (I'd note that Doak, praised endlessly here on GCA, frequently talks about choices and compromises he's had to make on courses -- Seaboneck being one -- because of his client's wishes; there isn't a single thing at WStraits done that didn't fit with Kohler's desire to hold a major there).
-- Kohler, who really wanted a US Open at WStraits, compromised when the PGA offered him two PGAs and a Ryder Cup; Kohler still thinks WS is a candidate for the US Open @ 2020, and he has made a point of nurturing relations with both PGA and USGA officials throughout his golf-building career.
-- WStraits was always going to be a public model; Kohler's no dummy, and as folks like Doak have pointed out, the clear direction being taken by the USGA and PGA these days is hosting majors at courses in which those courses can turn around and market themselves to the golfing public as major championship sites. See Chambers Bay, Erin Hills, Cog Hill's attempt...
-- Are the Kohler-area courses in "competition" with the Bandons and Pinehursts of the world? I suppose they are; it's just a guess on my part, but I think Mr. Kohler -- a pretty savvy guyy -- thinks the success of Bandon is probably good for the success of his courses. But that's a business question, not an architecture question. You'd argue those other courses are better as pieces of golf architecture, and I have no real basis to argue that, having not been to them. But I know plenty of folks in Wisconsin who would (and have) readily plop down the bucks to play a course that's going to be hosting a Ryder Cup, and who also think flying across the country to a bunch of courses on a lonely stretch of the Oregon coast is, to put it mildly, crazy. Remeber, Jud, we're the outliers here.
-- Of course Dye was going to build courses with tees shorter than 7,500 yards; he and Kohler know the average golfer out there plays to a 10+ handicap. They presume there are golfers out there, even the 20+ handicappers, who want to fork over $$$ to play a PGA/US Open/Ryder Cup course; that's their business model, and more power to them if they can carry it off.
-- Jud: Did I say you said it's a "dogtrack?" No. Did I say it's a brutal track? No. I did say, from what I've seen of it in '04, and so far in '10, that it's a solid test for the world's best players in a major -- it's played about as difficult as Hazeltine and Sahalee in recent PGAs, tougher than Medinah, Valhalla, and Atlanta, and easier than Oak Hill, Oakland Hills, and Baltusrol.
-- Richard: I know of 20+ handicappers who have played WS and loved it; I know of 10+ handicappers who thought it was brutally hard and not their cup of tea. To each his own; some people think the National Golf Links are an antiquated tricked-up course, and would probably think similarly of Old Macdonald.
-- Does it make sense for Rob to travel to Wisconsin when he has Bandon in his backyard? Probably not, but you're comment was that Keiser "beat" Kohler "at his own game." My contention is that they are not playing the same game.