FARGO — Mark Johnson is a people person and while being at a golf entertainment facility like Suite Shots provided some of that, he missed the daily interaction of being at a golf course. So he’s headed back to his roots.
Johnson will be the new general manager at Oxbow Country Club south of Fargo, starting Oct. 15. He’s leaving Suite Shots, which he helped co-found with his brother Chuck and other investors, but not entirely. His son Lucas and nephews Nick and Zach, Chuck’s sons, will run the business. Nick will be the new general manager while Zach will continue as facility manager and Lucas will continue to direct the facility’s golf academy, club fittings and leagues.
“Oxbow was looking for a new GM and I missed being at a golf course or golf club and the relationships. It’s a great opportunity for me to get back in,” Johnson said. “We built Suite Shots so our boys could run it someday and it’s a great opportunity for three 20-somethings to run it.”
Suite Shots opened in 2021 at 3400 James Way in south Fargo, just off I-29.
Modeled after the popular national franchise Topgolf, it has 60 climate-controlled hitting bays to go with a bar, restaurant, banquet space, indoor simulators and the academy. The golf entertainment segment is a rapidly growing part of the golf business and Johnson and his partners hoped to take advantage of that. Suite Shots continues to be successful.
But Johnson spent more than 20 years as a golf head professional in Fargo-Moorhead, first at The Meadows Golf Course in Moorhead before being the head pro at Fargo Country Club for 16 years before leaving to start Suite Shots. He’ll return to that setting at Oxbow, a private club where Corey Herlickson is the head professional and longtime Edgewood Golf Course pro Greg McCullough is now a part-time assistant.
“The board of directors and our management team is very excited about having Mark coming out to lead us. Our members who do not know Mark will be very pleased when they meet him,” Herlickson said. “Mark has a great personality that will match the culture of Oxbow. Personally, I cannot wait to work with him as our GM and as a teammate.”
Like all area golf courses, Oxbow has benefited from the golf boom that began with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when people were looking for activities to do outdoors. While local private clubs Oxbow, Fargo and Moorhead Country Club struggled for years to fill their memberships, they are all said to currently have waiting lists. In addition to an 18-hole championship golf course, Oxbow has a restaurant, bar, swimming pool and other amenities.
“Oxbow has all the pieces in place with experienced and successful leaders in all areas of the club,” Johnson said. “I’m really looking forward to joining their team and creating an even better experience for Oxbow members and their guests.”
Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.
