Good community design creates good feelings. It's those good feelings – a sense of connectedness, camaraderie with neighbours, a sense of belonging, and pride of ownership – that drives the must-live-here desire. And that's just what the developers of Harmony, a new sustainable, interactive lake and golf community located in the heart of Springbank, want to evoke.

"With Harmony, what we wanted to do was turn back the hands of time and focus on what community really is," said Birol Fisekci, of Harmony Developments Inc.

Fisekci is also the president and CEO of Bordeaux Properties the co-developer of the project, along with Qualico Communities.

Don Boykiw has come full circle.

The president of the Willow Ridge Community Association grew up in the southeast Calgary neighbourhood of Willow Park before moving away to carve his own path. As fate would have it, he returned to the community 13 years ago.

Looking back at 25 years of Heritage Pointe

"Lots of people thought we were crazy to build way out here in the boonies," said Carolina Oxtoby about her company's decision to develop a golf-course community on farmland south of Calgary.

It was 27 years ago when the land on Dunbow Road was purchased, and only two years later, the Heritage Pointe Golf Club was born, with big plans in the works for an upscale, country-residential community to complement it.

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.

Spectacular summer, PGA event, cast spotlight on Calgary's golf communities

After last summer brought with it plenty of heartbreak and hardship, it goes without saying Calgarians have earned the enduring warmth seen this  season. And what better way to celebrate the soaring temperatures than by sending a ball soaring down the fairway?

Boasting a bevy of neighbourhoods designed around the benefits of living along the links, golf communities in and around the city cater to duffers and non-duffers alike by offering a beautiful backdrop for both recreation and relaxation.