Catalina Island Golf Course in Catalina Island, California, United States | Golf

Many Golfers only dream of playing a course where the likes of Tiger Woods not to mention Corey Pavin, Craig Stadler, John Cook, Toni Seals, and Amy Alcott have competed in tournament play. Yet the beautiful and historic Catalina Island Golf Course gives you the chance to do just that, at green fees that seem low by the standards of most courses today.
In 1892, a three-hole course of oiled sand was first built up in Avalon Canyon midway between Avalon and the current site of the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens by the Banning brothers, whose family owned the island at the time. Depending on which source you consult, that makes the Golf course at least the oldest in Southern California, possibly the entire state, and maybe the western U.S. They added four more holes the following year, two more the year after that. Finally completed to a 9-hole design by John Duncan Dunn in 1925, the course was finally able to have grass greens and fairways in 1927 when the completion of Catalina's Thompson Dam made water reliably available for irrigation. Nine more holes were added in 1929, but during World War II the course reverted to its present nine holes, with two sets of tees allowing for 18-hole play.
Many Golfers, amateur and pro alike, have been drawn to the beautifully landscaped, idyllically sheltered course. The Bobby Jones Invitational Tournament was played here annually from 1931 to 1955 (with a brief break during the war). Since 1967, the course has hosted the Catalina Island Junior Golf Tournament, in which Tiger Woods competed at the age of 14 (having first played Catalina at the age of 4.