When I told friends recently about my latest golf destination, they usually responded with a giggle or a smirk.

You’re going where?

Copperopolis.

Copper-huh?

Cop-per-opolis.

They thought I’d finally gone off to fantasyland on a permanent vacation. Who names a town Copperopolis if it’s not in a Disney movie?

Well, California miners do when they discover the mother lode of copper in the Sierra Foothills, 40 miles east of Stockton. Over decades beginning in 1860, they pulled from deep, dark holes in the earth 72 million pounds of copper. A good portion of that metal went to make bullets for the Union army in the Civil War.

True, with 3,000 people living there today, it’s not much of an opolis, but California’s Gold Country has become a prime destination for retirees, many from Northern California, and where there are retired folks, there must be golf.

So a handful of beautiful golf courses and resorts have cropped up in Calaveras County, and the most celebrated of them is the Saddle Creek Resort in Copperopolis. This year, Golf Week magazine tabbed Saddle Creek as the 12th-best in the state on its Courses You Can Play ranking. When it opened, it was home to the Northern California PGA.

Combine a quality layout with some unique amenities at the resort and some unexpectedly fun sightseeing and wine tasting in the surrounding towns, and it was well worth the flight to Oakland and easy two-hour drive for my wife and me.

“I always tell people it’s a nice place to get away and relax. It’s quiet and peaceful,” said Bob Higgins, the resort’s general manager who previously worked for the NCGA at Poppy Hills.

There’s no hustle or bustle in Copperopolis. The 15-year-old golf course and resort are in a gated community constructed by developers Castle & Cooke. There are 300 homes, with many more planned when the economy gets better. Included in the project were 17 bungalows that serve as guest houses for resort visitors.

They are not your average hotel room, but rather small, well-decorated bungalows with options for one or two bedrooms, a kitchen, dining area and good-sized living rooms. All of them have patios that overlook some portion of the golf course and the surrounding foothills that are dotted with oak trees for as far as the eye can see.

No golf resort is more convenient than this one. The Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired clubhouse and its fine-dining restaurant, Copper Grille, are a two-minute walk from the bungalows, and each morning a golf cart is delivered to the front of each room. That means you can go from your door to the excellent driving range and practice area in about a minute, or head up to the fitness center that has a junior Olympic-sized swimming pool.

The Saddle Creek course opened in 1996 and was designed by a team led by Carter Morrish. Architecture by committee doesn’t always go well, but this group had all of the right priorities. No two holes are alike, there are numerous tees to choose from (4,400 to 6,800 yards), and the landing areas off the tees are very generous.

The challenge comes mostly on the second shot to big greens that are accessible, but well guarded by bunkers. Like the rest of the course, the ultra-smooth and fast greens are in no way tricked up; the breaks are subtle and make for some challenging reads.

The course aesthetic is western chic. The grounds are beautifully maintained, while the native grasses, oak trees and utter silence make it seem as if you’re miles from civilization. There are no contrived flower beds here. You halfway expect a stage coach to come rambling through at any moment.

Actually, that’s how so much of the Gold Country feels. On short drives from Copperopolis are rustic towns such as Angels Camp and Murphys. Picture Julian with abundant wine tasting rooms instead of apple pie shops.

There are 19 wineries represented in Murphys, and the colorful bar at the Murphys Hotel is a historic landmark whose patrons have included President Ulysses S. Grant and Samuel Clemens.

Speaking of Mark Twain, Angels Camp is the setting for his famous story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” They still hold the yearly Jumping Frog Jubilee here and each champion is immortalized with a bronze plaque in the sidewalk in the Frog Hop of Fame.

Since old Copperopolis is a town of about four buildings, Castle & Cooke decided to build their own town. Three years ago they opened Copperopolis Town Square, replete with a grassy town square, gazebo and enormous town hall building that is a condo complex.

The town is basically a mall, with two restaurants and about a dozen shops, including an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. The streets are so clean and tidy that you feel like you’re on a back lot set at Universal Studios.

But the shopkeepers and waitresses weren’t acting. They are very small-town friendly and chatty, and as we dined at sunset on wonderful Italian pasta on the patio at Panini’s, we were reminded that we were indeed in a part of California that remembers its past. A young woman, riding bareback, cruised through town on her horse.

For friends who ask, that’s Copperopolis.