FARGO — The snow was coming down at a pretty good pace Thursday morning in downtown Fargo. Or, for Greg McCullough, about as opposite as a serene early morning at Edgewood Golf Course.

The next time he steps to the first tee in the 18 holes he oversaw as the head golf professional for 25 years, he’ll do it without the title. After 40 years in the business overall, McCullough is retiring.

Certainly, he’ll miss going to work at a tree-lined course that doesn’t have houses around it, which is rare in golf development over the last few decades. Edgewood was built in 1926 and although the layout has changed, a lot of it hasn’t. The location is ideal to get away from city life.

“In the mornings and at night, it’s eerily quiet,” he said. “It’s in town, but it’s out of town.”

But it will be no more eerily quiet as the head pro. No more working 40 consecutive Fourth of Julys.

“I mean, it’s awesome, it’s great, it’s part of what we do,” he said. “We love what we do so we do it but it’s like, that’s a lot, I’m getting old. All good.”

McCullough, 61, started as an assistant at Fargo Country Club under Steve Weidner and Moorhead Country Club under Larry Murphy.

At Edgewood, there were his share of challenges over the years, most notably with the flooding Red River that surrounds the course on three sides. The first, in the early 2000s not long after getting the job, was probably the most mentally taxing.

“The first one was hard,” McCullough said. “Having not been through one to that level, standing out there and looking at the water, it was up to the cart path and it’s like, huh, this will be interesting.”

There was the flood of 2009 that shut down the city and overran the entire course. The staff over the years has mastered the ability to drain the course and get it ready for play.

“Each time we’ve had one it’s gotten better,” McCullough said. “There’s stuff that can be technology wise that makes things better.”

McCullough helped navigate the course through a major renovation in 2010, in which holes 2, 3 and 4 were totally redone while addressing the height of some other tees and greens. Other improvements over the years addressed flood control. Hole 18 underwent a major change.

The COVID-19 pandemic briefly halted operations, although that also unexpectedly served to jumpstart the business when people realized an outdoor activity was optimal in the summer and fall of 2020.

McCullough also oversaw El Zagal par-3 course in north Fargo, which underwent a total overhaul in 2015 to address flood control for houses in that neighborhood.

“Challenges, opportunities, it just kind of depends,” McCullough said. “All those things where you look back and go, wow, we had a lot of stuff.”

A new clubhouse was built not long after McCullough got the job replacing one that was falling into the river. A comprehensive practice facility that is one of the most versatile anywhere was constructed to the south of the facility. Routing on a few holes on the front nine was rerouted in 2019. McCullough is leaving the facility in better shape than when he took over.

“Better than when I found it, hopefully,” he said.

McCullough took over for former pro Dave Kingsrud, who was the head professional for 33 years. That’s two pros in 58 years.

As a teaching professional, playing was always on the list of things to do, but at the end of the list. That could change. What now? What is he going to do with his summers?

“Don’t know,” said McCullough, noting that his wife Susan who worked part time in the Edgewood pro shop is also not returning. “That’s a really good question that I don’t know the answer to. Part of this for us is to take the next two months and decompress. After that, whatever comes along will be awesome.”

Jeff would like to dispel the notion he was around when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, but he is on his third decade of reporting with Forum Communications. The son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, Jeff has worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he’s covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995.
Jeff has covered all nine of NDSU’s Division I FCS national football titles and has written three books: “Horns Up,” “North Dakota Tough” and “Covid Kids.” He is the radio host of “The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack” April through August.