Walter G. Fovargue

(1882 - 1963)

Born: Glenville, Ohio, October 13, 1882

Died: San Diego County, California, March 27, 1963, at age 80

Walter Fovargue learned to play golf while working as a caddy at the Cleveland Country Club and by the age of 17 he was working as a golf professional at the club.

in 1900 he became the head professional at the Town and Country Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota, serving there for a year before moving on to Philadelphia Country Club where he worked from 1902%u201303. He later took a post at the Skokie Country Club outside Chicago.

In 1912, Fovargue finished tied for fourth in the Western Open, which was considered a major tournament at that time. In 1916 as the pro at the Skokie Country Club in Chicago, he became a member of the PGA's first Executive Committee when the PGA of America was founded. He represented the Middle States Section PGA.

Fovargue moved to San Francisco in 1916 and worked as a pro golf salesman for a golf ball company. While in San Francisco he also worked as an understudy with Donald Ross learning the latest ideas in golf course construction.

During World War I, he moved to Aberdeen, Washington and worked in a ship construction yard, his part of the war effort.

After World War II he returned to amateur golf and became a golf course architect. He designed golf courses in California (in partnership with Wilfrid Reid), and on his own in Washington state and Japan.