Golf great Greg Norman made a quick stop in the Okanagan this week to help promote the envisioned redevelopment of the Ponderosa Golf Course in Peachland.

A Greg Norman-designed, 18-hole, 7,200-yard course is the centrepiece of the 20-year Ponderosa development, which will eventually include a village commercial centre, winery, hotel and up to 2,000 homes.

Norman, known as the Shark, says the redeveloped golf course will offer an experience unlike any offered at 73 other courses he’s designed around the globe.

“This is where Napa and Lake Tahoe come together. It really is when you think about the wineries you’ve got here and the lakes and the beautiful vistas and Ponderosa pines.”

The views alone will make the golfing experience memorable, the golf legend added.

“We’re very fortunate to be involved here. It turned out to be a gem, no question about it.”

The course will cater to golfers of all ages and every experience level, Norman commented.

“The easiest thing in the world to do is to build the hardest golf course in the world. The hardest thing in the world is to balance a golf course,” continued Norman. “You need to make sure your golf course is memorable from start to finish. You need to make sure the golf course is playable by everybody to all standards and that’s sometimes the hardest thing to do.”

Peachland’s new course is scheduled to open in May 2011, according to Treegroup, the Metro Vancouver-based company that is spearheading the Ponderosa development.

Chief executive officer Norm Porter says that developing the golf course and club house will be the first phase of the $1 billion, 162-hectare project around the base of Pincushion Mountain.

“And after that the market really drives you. We’ll build product that we feel there is a market demand for.”

That said, the 20-year timeline is right for this development, said Porter. Peachland’s population tends to double in size every 20 years, he explained. At full build out, Ponderosa would add approximately 5,000 people to Peachland’s population, doubling it from its present size of just over 5,000 people.

“The B.C. government projections are that 85,000 people will move to the Central Okanagan Regional District in the next 20 years. That’s 35,000 plus homes. Historically, 10 per cent of the people moving to the Central Okanagan have landed right here in the District of Peachland. So, that’s, in the next 20 years, 3,500 plus homes (needed) in Peachland. That’s why we know we’ll be successful.”

Peachland council has approved the Pincushion/Ponderosa land use strategy, which calls for 1,500 to 2,000 homes at full build out around Ponderosa golf course, including development on what is presently Crown land, said Porter.

The company has an agreement with the B.C. government and the Westbank First Nation to secure the Crown parcels needed to accommodate the development, he added.

Treegroup will also continue to work with the provincial government on a second access to Highway 97, which is a key requirement of the redevelopment.