Heritage Pointe Golf & Country Club

Heritage Pointe Golf & Country Club's Desert Course sits in the rolling foothills southwest of Calgary near the hamlet of DeWinton. Designed by Bill Newis and Ron Garl and opened in the mid-1990s, the layout takes its name from the relatively arid microclimate and native fescue grasses that characterize this transitional zone between prairie and mountain. The property features significant elevation changes and natural contours that the architects used to create a routing with dramatic vistas of the Canadian Rockies to the west. The course plays through a landscape of coulees, ridges, and native rough, with fairways that move across and along the natural terrain rather than flattening it. Several holes incorporate substantial elevation drops from tee to fairway or green, while others climb back upward, giving the round a varied rhythm. The design emphasizes strategic positioning off the tee, as the rolling ground and fescue-edged corridors reward accuracy over pure distance. Heritage Pointe operates as a private club and is part of a larger residential community in the Calgary region. The Desert Course is one of two eighteen-hole layouts at the facility, the other being the Dunes Course, also designed by Newis and Garl. Together they provide members with 36 holes of golf in a setting that contrasts with the parkland character common to many Alberta courses, offering instead a links-inspired aesthetic shaped by the natural topography and climate of the foothills.