Oxbow Golf & Country Club

Oxbow Golf & Country Club is a Private 18 hole golf course located in Oxbow, North Dakota, about 20 miles south of Fargo.

Oxbow Golf & Country Club first opened for play in 1975. The course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

Beginning in 2014, the course underwent a five-year-long renovation program. Because the nearby Red River often flooded, putting the course and 42 nearby homes in jeopardy. The cities of Fargo and Moorhead formed a diversion authority that proposed flood protection for the entire region, including Oxbow. The first phase of the diversion project involved building a levee for flood protection around the Oxbow community. However, the levee bisected the existing course, necessitating the relocation of the clubhouse and more than half the golf holes. The course rerouting and new holes were once again managed by the original course architect, Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

The “new” Oxbow golf course—with 18 new or renovated holes—is beautifully and subtly designed, featuring gorgeous prairie views and striking bluegrass and fescues. The wind, or “the invisible hazard” according to Robert Trent Jones, Jr., Chairman and Master Architect, comes into play on this wide-open layout. Accordingly, the RTJ II team made sure the fairways have enough room to play in any and all winds, leaving room for the ball to move. 

Eight of the new holes play “against” the levee, which rises 14-20 feet above the landscape. And with the relocation, the course was losing its original river oxbow; Jones’s team created a new oxbow of connected lakes, using the excavated material to create further contour and definition.

The course will be a fun challenge for the scratch golfer, with the championship tees playing at over 7,400 yards. However, five different teeing grounds and the addition of junior tees makes the course accessible for players at all skill levels.