An old pop song confides, “26 miles across the sea, Catalina Island is a-waitin’ for me.” While 26 miles stretches 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 actually lies only 22 miles off the southern coast of Los Angeles—easily reachable from the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). An affordable, high-speed catamaran shuttle from the seaport at Long Beach can get golfers to the first tee on Catalina Island in less than 90 minutes.

While local legend says the island was once owned by the Wrigley family of chewing gum and Chicago Cubs fame, Catalina has served as a vacation getaway for the 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 saltwater-taffy wrappers and beer-soaked peanut shells.

In this tradition of affordable recreation, the attractive and very playable Catalina Island Golf Course opens to all island visitors as long as the sun shines. Built by the Banning Brothers in 1892, the course boasts an unusual layout. 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 moderately challenging nine holes on the 2,100-yard course offers what perfectly fits with the ambiance and atmosphere of Catalina. You come to the island resort to relax, not to challenge the limits of your ability.

For a small, recreational course, the Catalina site—home of the Bobby Jones Invitational Tournament from 1931 to 1955—packs a lot of history into its nine holes. Records say that these links were originally designed as a three-hole course. The course expanded to nine holes in the early 1900’s. Then, for a brief period beginning in 1929, it was expanded into an 18-hole course to host the invitational.

During World War II, when would-be staff left to serve overseas and wartime restricted tourism and limited recreational spending, the island course went largely unused. Following the war, the grounds were restored and the layout cut back to the current nine-hole, double-tee layout.The modest greens once played host to a very young Tiger Woods, who came to play when he was just 4 years old.

Today, the course accommodates a flock of daily players from the mainland, and also hosts several tournaments, including the annual Catalina Island Junior Golf Tournament.

As you head for the Catalina Island Golf Course, you realize it’s literally an uphill climb. The course’s entrance, pro-shop and starter’s shack are all set on a hillside.

The island allows very few automobiles, so visitors get around by foot, bike or golf cart. One of Catalina’s main uphill/downhill thoroughfares (the road golfers take up to the course) runs between the tee and the fairway. Pedestrians, bikers and merry golf-cart drivers cruise up and down the busy little street, where a duffed drive could easily pick off an unsuspecting passerby. Still, if you can pull your nerves together, you can enjoy the unique overhead perspective on the tee shot.

The course is generally short and narrow, offering well-maintained fairways and manageable rough. For the five par-4 and four par-3 holes, longer strikers will probably be able to keep the driver in the bag, except for the challenging and potentially daunting first tee, which is brilliantly placed atop a hill overlooking the entire course.

That first tee can feel like it’s a couple hundred feet above the rest of the links. The first drive starts high above the course and finds 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.

After the first hole, the course starts its way up through a canyon. While fairway hazards are rarely a problem, you need to hit them straight. A hook could put you in a palm tree nursery and a slice can land you in a horse paddock.

The greens tend to run small, but they’re without shelves or nasty angles. There are few deep, tight-lipped bunkers along the way where you could bury a ball or two if you get distracted by the small 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 the seventh hole (or 16, if you’re playing the 18-hole tees), you’ll find yourself at the top of the canyon, and at this point the course begins to turn toward the ocean. Once you start coming down the homestretch at the eighth and ninth holes, a gorgeous view of the deep blue bay, the beach and the seaside town of Avalon await you around the bend. 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 don’t want to lug their bags from the mainland) also provides electric and pull carts. A practice putting green and driving net are available for warming up, and a PGA-certified pro is on hand to offer tips. For the price and the view, there isn’t a better deal for a quick island getaway where you can still be on the mainland by dinnertime.

John Scott Lewinski lives in Los Angeles not too far away from Studio City Golf and Tennis, where he often goes to work off the stress of a career in writing.