Teaching the game of golf is what made Dave Kingsrud happy at his trade

FARGO — A member of a first family of golf in Fargo passed away over the weekend. Dave Kingsrud was mostly known as the head professional at Edgewood Golf Course in north Fargo for 24 years.

Story teller. Personality-plus. Top-notch teacher. Veteran players in the area will never forget his presence around a golf shop.

“He was the king fish,” said Dutch Eyman, a longtime friend.

Kingsrud came to Fargo from Souris Valley Golf Course in Minot, N.D. At Edgewood, he followed in the footsteps of his father Ralph Kingsrud, Edgewood’s first head pro who spent most of his career at the Fargo Country Club.

Mike Kingsrud, Dave’s son and Fargo North graduate, turned professional in 1987. If the family wasn’t at home, they were at a golf course.

“Mike used to hang around the shop all the time, in fact he used to take naps back there all the time,” Dave said in a 1997 Forum story. “I would be giving lessons or working in the shop so I would send him out golfing. I thought he was just having fun. Then one day a guy came in and said, hey, I played your kid today and he had a 39. I said, ‘What? He’s only 9 years old.’”

Dave Kingsrud never missed a chance to teach somebody about golf, Eyman said. He was a prime example.

“I came here in 1979 and never played golf,” Eyman said. “I met some of the old ‘Rat Pack’ guys and I said I have to learn this game of golf. I had the biggest slice in the world. He made a bad golfer into a pretty good one is all I can say. He was patient with me.”

Eyman was around a 20 handicap when he first started taking lessons. Within three years he was down to a 9.

“I’m playing the game because of David Kingsrud,” he said.

Dave Kingsrud flirted with a career in car racing before settling in on the golf business.

“A golf pro and a racer are a lot alike,” he said while dealing with a flood at Edgewood in 1997. “You have to keep your cool out there.”

He was also a head pro at Bois de Sioux in Wahpeton, N.D., and the Williston Country Club. He told The Forum his most memorable round was shooting a 64 at PGA National in Dunedin, Fla., a course record that stood for two years. His best career round was a 62 in the 1965 Williston Open.

Teaching, however, is where he made his mark.

“I enjoy giving lessons because you have the chance to make people happy,” Dave Kingsrud once said. “All pros like to be thought of as a good teacher. A good pro feels what a player can and can’t do. You can’t take someone and make a huge change.”

Current Edgewood head pro Greg McCullough succeeded Kingsrud, taking over in 2000. The Kingsruds were still around Fargo for a couple of years after that, helping McCullough with the transition. Dave Kingsrud spent most of his retirement years in Charlotte, N.C.

“He was a good player but he also was a really good teacher,” McCullough said. “He loved to try and help people get better. That made him happy.”