FACILITYCalgary

From his Edmonton roots – educated at Nait, U of A, U of C – Landscape Architecture Diploma, B.Sc., Masters in Environmental Design . . . , in the old chicken-egg, analogy, it is difficult to decipher which came first, golf or design, love of landscape design generally (with much focus on the 18-module kind), pioneer and cowboy memorabilia, weekend cowboy or flying. We’ve met before – a few years back, when I wrote newsletters for his golf course design practice (he’s done quite a few local players might revere – Stewart Creek, new 9/Hawk at Priddis Grees, practice facility at The Glencoe, practice facility at Chateau Whistler, Copper Point – The Point and The Ridge, Speargrass, Blue Devil, and Serenity coming soon .. to name a few) that dominated his practice for many years. But golf, as an industry has struggled in recent years, Gary has returned to spend a lot of his focus on landscape architecture in Edmonton and Calgary where he and his crew of five collaborate virtually from several locations. Ups and downs have characterized his career like a well bunkered par 5, reachable with long shots and well executed short game, his sales office is just as often his truck’s tail-gate, his hospitality genuine and warm, the handshake genuine western warmth, no-nonsense frankness who doesn’t gird for a fight, but doesn’t shy away from one either. I love the passion designers bring to the table. I joined Gary Browning for a chat in his new digs – a combo of design studio and man-cave in a hangar at Springbank Airport, where his days are spent at the vortex of three of his passions – flying, sports and landscape design. While his recent relocation/downsizing from his Inglewood design studio is easily explained as being closer to his 15 acres of farm/menagerie of dogs and horses near Balzac, it is clear the flying bug has caught him – or he caught it – again. As contemporaries we talked about our mid-handicap games, marriages, children and our eyes lit up when we started swapping grandchildren stories. Our connection continues as friends who don’t get together often enough, lovers of golf who can’t seem to play often enough to move the dial on our handicaps, middle-aged guys who set our bravado aside for a morning visit of discussing loves and hurts, joys and story-swapping . . .