Nearby 42nd Street underpass project, proposed private development provide UND with opportunity to reimagine future of Ray Richards Golf Course
University to temporarily pause golf course operations following 2025 season for course reconstruction; plans to reopen for 2028 season with 33-par, 9-hole configuration
A planned railroad underpass project on 42nd Street in Grand Forks is providing University of North Dakota planners with a fresh opportunity to reimagine the future of the Ray Richards Golf Course.
The North Dakota Department of Transportation anticipates construction on the new underpass at 42nd Street and DeMers Avenue — a long chip shot from the golf course’s northwest corner – will begin next year.
To make room for the DOT project, UND will temporarily pause operations at the Ray Richards course following the current 2025 golf season. The DOT project is expected to greatly impact the course’s west side, currently comprising holes No. 4, 6, 7 and 8, due to planned traffic lanes that cut through the golf course’s northwest corner, forming a “jug handle” between DeMers Avenue and South 42 Street.
The course would remain offline through 2026 and 2027 and is expected to return in time for the start of the 2028 season, coinciding with final touches to the underpass project.
During the pause in course play, University crews will reconstruct Ray Richards’ layout to co-exist more seamlessly and safely with changes caused by the DOT project. UND will also continue to maintain Ray Richards’ grounds to preserve the investment that’s been put into it. Reconstruction plans have Ray Richards’ current 9-hole, 36-par configuration returning to full operations in 2028 as a 33-par course with the number of holes unchanged.
Private proposal
Independent of changes spurred by the DOT project, the University also is entraining a mixed-use residential/commercial proposal that private developers hope to bring to12-acres on the course’s southeast corner, which had been used as a driving range.
Current plans call for a multi-phased development, with initial phases featuring residential rental units and commercial space that could include a new home for UND’s golf programs. Later phases would include a year-round driving range and entertainment venue as well as additional residential developments. The proposal is currently making its way through the City’s approval processes, with groundbreaking anticipated as early as this fall or spring 2026.
About Ray Richards Golf Course
Just south of the main UND campus, land donated to the University more than 60 years ago by the late Ray Richards, a Tulsa, Okla., petroleum engineer, forms the nucleus of what has become the Ray Richards Golf Course. The idea for a new golf course was born in the early 1960s when former UND President George Starcher occasionally joined Richards for golf outings during the benefactor’s visits to Grand Forks.
Richards worked with UND to turn the land around his family homestead into what has become a longtime place of recreation for UND students and the community. UND eventually purchased additional land and raised construction funds for the golf course project.
Ray Richards Golf Course first opened on April 30, 1968, and has hosted more than 500,000 rounds of golf over the years — 59,000 since 2020.
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For more information on this or other UND News Releases, contact:
David L. Dodds
Director of Communications
Marketing & Communications
University of North Dakota
david.dodds@UND.edu
