PGA star Tom Lehman beams as he celebrates the opening of a course which he co-designed. -- Photo by Tracy McLaughlin

With his deep blue eyes ablaze with excitement, PGA star Tom Lehman gazed out at the rolling green vista of his jewel of a golf course that hugs the blue waters of Georgian Bay.

"It has been a work of passion," said the golf legend who co-designed the new Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay alongside renowned course architect Tom McBroom. "It's as exciting as delivering a new baby. You get all emotional about it."

On Aug. 22, Lehman and McBroom celebrated the grand opening of the new 18-hole championship golf course in Thornbury, one of the villages of the Blue Mountains.

The course marks the first Raven golf course in Canada and the sixth in North America.

Owned by resort giant Intrawest, the golf course is just minutes from the four-season Blue Mountain resort, The Village at Blue.

The course measures 7,200 yards from the tips and has five sets of tees. There is also a 300-yard practice facility, putting green, pro shop and Raven Golf Academy as well as a new clubhouse restaurant -- The Raven Grill.

Lehman said the entire project was years in the making and has a personal touch by both creators.

"We put our hearts and souls into this," he said, nodding at McBroom. "We are both very much a part of it ... from the early days of looking out over all of this and seeing nothing but a bunch of dirt and dozers. You watch as the bulldozers move things around and things slowly take shape to what it is today. It gives you a feeling, like wow -- you're a part of this."