Queanbeyan golf club course superintendent Scott Fogg. Photo: AGCSA
QUEANBEYAN Golf Club’s new course superintendent Scott Fogg has begun his tenure in style after taking out the recently held Australian Golf Course Superintendent Association’s Golf Championships in Melbourne.
The win means Fogg will now represent the association at next February’s American Golf Superintendents Championships to be held in San Diego.
The 36-year-old claimed the title in his first year as a fully-fledged golf course superintendent. Fogg has twice before shot the lowest score at the tournament but, as an assistant superintendent, was ineligible for the Red Jacket at the time.
Fogg’s victory on the Commonwealth Golf Club course came despite a horror opening run that saw him land bogeys at 3, 5, 6 and 11 along with a double bogey on the ninth in wet conditions.
‘‘No one likes playing in the rain and I got off to a really bad start,’’ Fogg said. ‘‘My first nine holes were not very good at all and once I got on the bogie train early on it was pretty hard to get off.
‘‘There are about 100 bunkers on the course at Commonwealth and I seemed to find a lot of them. Thankfully I managed to land three birdies on the back nine which luckily enough got the job done.’’
As well as a major personal achievement, Fogg’s victory in Melbourne is a huge boom for the Queanbeyan Golf Club. Along with entry to the American Golf Superintendents Championships, Fogg will also have the opportunity to attend a five-day course superintendent’s education course and golf tradeshow while in the United States.
‘‘The tradeshow they’ve got over there is massive, it’s about 10 times the size of the Australian one so I can’t wait to be honest,’’ he said.
‘‘They usually get the new technology earlier than us so it’ll be great to see what new products they have over there that I can bring back. I might be doing a bit of late Christmas shopping.’’
Before taking on the role of course superintendent at Queanbeyan in January, Fogg previously worked as a course foreman at Royal Adelaide and most recently served as the assistant course superintendent at Gold Creek.
‘‘It’s been great to get the opportunity to put some of my own ideas into place,’’ Fogg said of his time so far at Queanbeyan. ‘‘In my previous role I couldn’t do a lot of the things I wanted to so it’s good to be in charge.’’