DELHI, La. – On Tuesday, steamrollers and dump trucks had their way with the parking lot of Black Bear Golf Club as carpenters built a wooden deck for the temporary clubhouse.

This morning, though, the construction equipment and workers will be gone. They’ll give way to what officials hope will be hordes of golfers who will take a fleet of shiny new carts onto the fairways of Louisiana’s newest course.

Black Bear, a public facility located about seven miles north of Delhi, La., and 45 miles west of Vicksburg, will open for business at 7 a.m. today. The 18-hole, 7,200-yard par-72 course is the latest addition to Louisiana’s Audubon Golf Trail and the centerpiece of a planned retirement community near Poverty Point State Park.

&#8220This is the only 18-hole championship-caliber golf course within a 40-mile radius, so that’ll bring people from Monroe and Vicksburg. We’re hoping this golf course drives the economy around here and stimulates it,” said Eric Kaspar, the Audubon Golf Trail Director and Black Bear’s Director of Golf.

Black Bear is the 12th facility on the Audubon Golf Trail and the third in North Louisiana. Along with Calvert Crossing in Calhoun and the Hal Sutton-designed Olde Oaks in Shreveport, Kaspar said Black Bear will reel in area golfers along with those just passing through.

&#8220This strengthens my northern corridor. It lets people going from Dallas to Jackson play three courses along I-20,” Kaspar said, adding that the goal is to have 20,000 rounds of business per year. &#8220I’m hoping for 20,000 rounds per year. We recognize there’s not a whole metropolis around us, but we feel the quality of the golf course will attract people.”

Kaspar believes the course can host pro tournaments on lower-tier circuits such as the Hooters and Nationwide Tours. Sectional PGA events for club pros are also a possibility. The facility is primarily a top-notch public course, however.

Each hole offers unique challenges, such as the six bunkers that surround the 12th and 13th greens, the sharp dropoff on the back of the sixth green and the pond on the left side of the 10th fairway that provide little margin for error, or the rolling hills throughout the course that can save or destroy a shot.

Many fairways are wide and forgiving, though, allowing some leeway for less-skilled players. The back nine also winds through native grasses and flowers and the entire course is surrounded by 170 acres of wetlands, providing a feeling of escape from the outside world.

&#8220It does play tough, but the fairways are more receptive off the tee. You do have to keep the ball in play,” Kaspar said. &#8220Each hole has a lot of variety to it, but enough commonality to give it a signature profile.”

Warren County has two golf courses – the public Clear Creek Golf Course in Bovina and the private Vicksburg Country Club. Plans for a public course on the old Vicksburg Chemical property on Warrenton Road are in the works.