GOLF: Catalina Island Delivers Relaxing Golf Across the Sea
An old popular song tells us “…26 miles across the sea…Catalina Island is waiting for me.” While 26 miles is a little beyond the reach of the average titanium driver, golfers looking for a relaxing round in a beautiful setting should stow their clubs in the nearest cargo hold and set sail.
Santa Catalina Island is actually only 22 miles off the southern coast of Los Angeles — easily reachable from LAX. An affordable, high-speed catamaran shuttle service is available out of the sea port at Long Beach. Golfers can go from the Southern California seaside to the first tee on Catalina Island in less than 90 minutes.
While local legends say the entirety of the island was once owned by the Wrigley family of chewing gum and Chicago Cubs fame, the island has served as a vacation getaway for the average, city-weary Los Angelino since the 19th Century. It’s very much the common man’s Riviera, with gift shops and burger joints mingling with salt water taffy wrappers and beer-soaked peanut shells.
In this tradition of affordable recreation, the attractive and very playable Catalina Island Golf Course is open to all island visitors as long as the sun shines. Built by the Banning Brothers in 1892, the course boasts an unusual lay-out. The island’s limited confines make a sprawling 18-hole run a stretch, so this Catalina course offers nine-holes with two separate sets of tees to simulate a full round.
The 2,100-yard course has nine moderately challenging holes that perfectly fit with the ambiance and atmosphere of Catalina. You come to the affordable island resort to relax — not to challenge the limits of your ability.
However, for a small, recreational course, the Catalina site packs a lot of history into its nine holes. Once the home of the Bobby Jones Invitational Tournament from 1931 to 1955, the official course history states that these links were originally designed as a three-hole course during the 19th Century. The course was expanded to 9 holes in the early 1900s. Then, for a brief period beginning in 1929, it was expanded into an 18 hole tournament-worthy course to host the invitational.
But, during World War II, the course fell into disrepair. With would-be staff members and greenskeepers serving overseas, and with war time rationing restricting tourism or limiting recreational spending, the island course went largely unused. Following the war, the grounds were restored and the layout cut back to the current 9-hole, double tee lay-out.
The Avalon Men’s Golf Club sponsors the annual Catalina Island Junior Golf Tournament on this course. World number one Tiger Woods played Catalina when he was only four years old.
The course is generally short and narrow, offering well-maintained fairways and manageable rough. Featuring, five par-four and four par-three holes, longer strikers will probably be able to keep the driver in the bag…Except for the challenging and potentially daunting first tee.
The island allows very few automobiles, so visitors get around by foot, bike or golf cart. As you head for the Catalina Island Golf Course, you realize it’s literally an uphill climb. The course’s entrance, pro-shop, starter’s shack, etc., set on a hillside rise. And, the brilliantly placed first tee literally overlooks the entire course. Any golfer probably could believe he or she is higher than in reality, but that first tee feels like it’s a couple hundred feet above the rest of the links. The first drive must start high above the course and find its way to the rolling fairway below.
Fortunately, that first fairway is forgivingly wide — with only some far left trees and an avoidable bunker to the right. But, maybe a little weak-kneed from the height, and a little jittery from those first-tee yips, you still face a tee shot on this first hole offering a final point of contention.
One of Catalina’s main uphill/downhill thoroughfares (the same road golfers take up to the course) runs between the tee and the fairway’s reach. Pedestrians, bikers and merry golf cart drivers cruise up and down the busy little street, and a duffed drive could easily pick one off. Still, if you can pull the nerves together, you can enjoy the unique overhead perspective on the tee shot.
After the first hole, the course starts its way up through a canyon. While fairway hazards are rarely a problem, the golfer needs to hit them straight as a hook could put you in a palm tree nursery, or a slice could land you in a horse paddock (where only the most money-strapped, golf ball-poor golfer would dare tread).
The greens tend to run small, but sans shelves or nasty angles. There are few deep, tight-lipped bunkers along the way — and a you could bury a ball or two in them while you’re distracted by the small groups of deer crossing the course — or the bald eagles soaring overhead. (Catalina Island houses one of California’s top bald eagle preserves.)
But, as you round the turn at hole seven (or 16, if you’re playing the 18-hole tees), you arrive at the top of the canyon. At this point, the course begins to turn toward the ocean. Once you’re coming down the homestretch at eight and nine, you’re treated to a gorgeous, picture postcard view of the deep blue bay, the beach, and the seaside town of Avalon. If you play a little twilight golf and make the turn at sunset, you understand why Californians refer to the pre-dusk moments as “the magic hour.”
A fully stocked Pro Shop offering high-quality rental clubs (for golfers who didn’t want to lug their bags from the mainland) also provides electric and pull carts. A practice putting green and driving net are available to warm you up, and a lucky PGA-certified pro is available on the island to offer tips.
https://www.visitcatalinaisland.com/things-to-do/golf/golf-courses/
