During the 1990s and early 2000s, a wave of new golf course development swept across Canada, with many of these courses serving as centrepieces for residential communities. Since then, that growth has slowed as golf's popularity has waned. Some of those courses are now closing, opening prime real estate that, in many cases, is being redeveloped into new subdivisions.

The result has been a boon for builders and homebuyers, as land becomes available for new residential development within desirable, well-established communities. However, it has also created resentment among long-time residents of these neighbourhoods, who originally purchased their homes with the golf course as a major selling point.

Golf course communities offer homeowners space, privacy and a slice of the action

David Roberts and his wife moved to the northwest community of Valley Ridge in search of open spaces. "We liked the idea of backing on to green space, one way or another," he said.

Valley Ridge, which borders the western edge of Calgary, is one of many communities in the city that features a golf course within its boundaries. That course now provides the green space Roberts and his family were seeking – they live behind the course's first green.

Local golf courses facing common plight

Two proposed residential redevelopment projects on Calgary golf courses are at the tipping point of an economic sustainability challenge hitting the golf industry throughout North America.

A proposal for new homes in two pocket areas at the Hamptons Golf Club — to support a substantial overhaul of the golf course itself — and the proposed closure of the nine-hole Harvest Hills Golf Course for the construction of single and multi-family homes, are working their way through community consultation and city application processes.

Hamptons Golf Course Ltd. has released preliminary concepts for northwest Calgary club's redevelopment, which would see a reconfiguration of the existing 18-hole course that would facilitate the construction of 35 to 65 new homes.