Three charities will be able to work on their long games thanks to a $10-million golf facility planned to open in the spring of 2005 near the Calgary International Airport.

A percentage of profits from the new Sun Fisher Golf Course facility would go to the Calgary Aero Space Museum, STARS and the nearby Rotary Challenger Park, a barrier-free sports facility for those with physical disabilities.

Calgary-based golf architect Gary Browning has designed the course, which will feature a 7,200-yard, par-70 course spread over 300 acres, plus a nine-hole executive course and golf teaching centre. The teaching centre will include grass teeing areas, practice bunkers, chipping areas and putting greens.

Browning, whose extensive track record includes Stewart Creek at Canmore and a number of highly-rated courses around North America, is leading the limited partnership investment group behind the project.

The land will be leased from the Calgary Airport Authority for 40 years.

“It’s one of the most exciting projects I’ve had the opportunity to be involved in,” Browning said, during an opening ceremony last week that saw Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier drive a golf ball on to the site from the parking lot of the adjacent Rotary Park.

Referring to large piles of earth on the flatland east of Barlow Trail, Browning noted there is plenty of material to work with. “We are sculptors, and we’re going to sculpt something.”

Sculpting includes a strategy in the design of hazards, landing zones and other features. The strategy includes not intimidating the poorer players while still challenging the more advanced players.

The evocative course name, Sun Fisher, describes a bucking horse that arches its back and tosses its head from side to side at the same time. Like the bronc, the golf course “will offer very much a wild ride,” Browning said.

The executive nine is billed as a slightly milder experience.

The course has come to fruition after two years of negotiations with the Calgary Airport Authority.

The Sun Fisher course isn’t just about golf, but about giving. The three charities will share 20 per cent of the profits until the capital is recovered, and thereafter 35 per cent.