This week’s notebook highlights Council Rock North junior Logan Fuglestad.
By Ben Reese
When talking about high school athletes, very often the mental image is of a big, muscular football player or a tall, lanky basketball player.
Golfers don't usually fit into either one of those categories.
One look at Logan Fuglestad, a junior at Council Rock North, and you would know he wasn't a football player and that he wasn't jumping center on the basketball team. He is a golfer, though.
He played the game well enough to finish 13th in the PIAA Championships, tied for 16th at the Eastern Regionals, tied for fifth at the District One tourney and tied for fifth overall in the Suburban One Championships, finishing second in the National Conference.
Fuglestad also realizes that he doesn't look the part of an athlete. After all, he stands only 5-7 and weighs 115 pounds.
"I get that a lot," he said when told he is the youngest looking golfer on the course.
But obviously he knows what to do when he gets to the first tee.
His coach, Rich White, has his own opinion of Fuglestad. And he doesn't see the slightly boyish looking guy; he sees something else.
"Logan is a pretty fair athlete," White said. "He plays volleyball; he could play baseball if he chose to; he could play just about anything. He's an athlete playing golf.
"He's young, a junior, but his skills are vey good."
Does his size hurt him on the golf course?
"No, absolutely not," said White. "While he's not as long as some of the other players he plays with, he is very accurate and that's really what the game is about.
"Keeping the ball out of trouble, keeping the ball in play, he does that very well. He has a lot of tempo within his swing."
What does the coach feel is the best part of his game?
"Tee to green," White answered without a pause. "Off the tee, he's very accurate. He hits his irons very solid, has very good distance control.
"I think Mother Nature has a lot to do with that. He has to work with what he has to work with. He will be larger and stronger next year, no question."
Fuglestad agrees with his coach about his golf game.
"No, not really," he said when asked if his lack of distance hurts his game. "I'm still up there a bit.
"My short game is pretty good so it makes up for the short hitting."
Fuglestad isn't an emotional golfer, according to White, keeping pretty much to himself.
"Logan keeps everything inside," White said. "He doesn't show any emotion.
"He gets out there, doesn't say much, just goes about his business. He has very little to say after a round and even before a round, so if he was excited, you couldn't tell."
However, Fuglestad isn't averse to having fun on the golf course.
"It was a lot of fun to get to states for the first time," he said. "I didn't play great but I still had a lot of fun.
"I definitely wanted to get here and play well and I did that. I just didn't play as well as I thought I could but it's OK, I still had fun.
"At every stage, you feel a little pressure. I probably felt pressure on the first tee both days (at
states). Other than that, it was just a fun experience to go through."
Congratulations: This goes out to every golfer who participated in the regular season, SOLs, districts, regionals and states.
You all have a lot to be proud of, especially your dedication to your sport. Golf is played in all kinds of weather be it sunny and warm, windy and cold, rainy or whatever comes along.
From the golfer who claimed a championship to the last golfer on the last team in the standings, it is more than enough to say that you were there.
Once again, congratulations.
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