And then, there are both.

Meet Scott Warren, a Queensland country golf legend who has won his club championship 24 times in a row.

Warren – a 37-year-old from the Gin Gin Golf Club, about 50km west of Bundaberg in Central Queensland – is a humble country boy who certainly doesn’t enjoy telling you how good he is, downplaying almost every achievement this scribe enquired about. But when you do a bit of research on Scott’s career, you discover an out-and-out gun.

‘Scotty’ (as he is better known) is a qualified diesel fitter who runs his own transport company and has been a member at Gin Gin since he was a kid. It was where he learnt how to play and developed his love for the game.

Gin Gin is a classic country layout where all the locals help and chip in where they can to keep the course and the club maintained. There is a true sense of community, which makes it easier for members like Scotty to stay involved.

“We have a paid greenkeeper, just for the greens, so the rest of it is all voluntary. So machinery maintenance and all of that seems to fit into my resume [along with] ‘Scotty, this is broken. Come and fix it, please’,” Warren laughed.

“Which I don’t mind at all; the club has given me opportunities and experiences you could never pay back in money.”

Golf became a part of life for Warren after a trip to a scrapyard with his dad when he was 10. Amongst all the discarded steel, Warren found some buried treasure.

RIGHT: Scotty having a crack at the green with a fairway metal. PHOTO: Supplied.

“I picked up a broken 3-iron, it was broken in half, at a scrap steel joint where I was with my father. And I picked this thing up, and the guy at the shop sold it to me for 50 cents,” Warren said.

“I took it home and put some insulation tape around it and thought I could get used to whacking this, and my parents got me a set of old golf clubs.”

And get used to it, he did. Gin Gin has a junior program, but back then it was more to get the kids out playing the game on a Sunday morning rather than extensive lessons.

“I probably always had a bit of a competitive streak in me, and I thought I could probably get good at this, and I stuck at it,” Warren said.

He did “get good”- extremely good - good enough to be a part of the Greg Norman Foundation, making trips down to Brisbane, mixing it with the most talented juniors in the State. One of those juniors was a kid called Jason Day. Warren didn’t just rub shoulders with the former World No.1 and major champion, he beat him.

“It was only a couple (of times), and he didn’t have a day out compared to every other week he gave us a touch-up,” Warren said humbly.

“He was a great young man to play golf with, and fantastic to see him end up where he did. He always had a game, and he had the personality to go with it.”

Along with his parents, Warren credits a fellow club member for helping him out when he was a junior, describing him as “just a true gentleman.”

“Other than mum and dad, who carted me around as a youngster, which all kids are lucky for their parents to be able to do, but one gentleman by the name of Mr Jim Clarke got me into travelling around going to open days and whatnot,” Warren said.

“He taught me the rights from wrongs and how to conduct yourself whether you win, lose or draw. He has since passed away with cancer.”

Since his mentor’s passing, Warren has been a major sponsor of the Jim Clarke Memorial – one of the biggest events on the calendar at Gin Gin – which is a net event, meaning anyone can enter and have a crack at the title.

Warren has several course records in the area, but he broke his own course record at his home club earlier this year while winning the Jim Clarke Memorial. He was on a hot streak to kick off 2023, going low almost every time he teed it up. The highlight was a 59 (13-under) on the par-72 layout.

“It was on our open day, I was off plus 5 (handicap) on our course; I think my GA handicap was plus 3.8 at that point, and that enabled me to win the Jim Clarke Memorial that I had sponsored. And I never thought I’d be a chance off a plus handicap to win that” he said.

“I was hitting the ball pretty well until then. I struck a group with a couple of fellas I had played with over the years, a couple of single markers and a 15 marker, just good blokes, and it was probably the only reason I wasn’t thinking about it until we got to the 10th hole and I wasn’t keeping track of it.

“One of the guys said ‘do you know what you’re at?’.

“I thought, oh, five or six (under), and he said, ‘no, you’re eight’.

RIGHT: Scotty is pretty used to posing with trophies. PHOTO: Facebook.

“I got to 11 (under), I reeled off a few straight pars, just missed a couple of putts. I had the record at home with 61, but that had a hole-in-one in it. I had an eagle putt on the last for 58, and I left it about three inches short. Made the tap in for 59.”

He shot 61 the following week, which saw his GA handicap bust out to plus 6.5, which he’d tell you is unfamiliar territory.

“It isn’t where I belong, but it was where I got to for a bit,” Warren said.

He may only be 37, but Mr 59 has been the club champion at Gin Gin every year since winning his maiden title in 2000 as a 13-year-old.

“My turn will come, I know; I’ll be just as happy for someone to come along because I know the joy I have had over the years of winning it. … I won’t go down without a fight just yet either,” Warren quipped.

His domination stretches beyond just his home club. There are too many accolades to note. But one of the big competitions in the district is the Wide Bay Open, where he has amassed 12 titles over the years. The event was always tightly contested, with Golf Queensland sending two state players to compete, making Warren’s record even more impressive.

There are other events Warren circles annually. His dominant run at the Queensland Country Championships ended in September – a rare defeat. He had claimed the last four titles, and owns six in total. He also fell short of capturing his fourth-straight piece of silverware at the popular Queensland Sand Greens Championship, adding extra motivation to win his titles back next year.

Country golf in Queensland holds a special place in Warren’s heart, but how he speaks about his club and the people in his area shows how deeply he cares for Gin Gin and rural golf.

Warren said the best part about being involved with the golf club and the community is the connections he has made, the doors it has opened, and the life lessons he has learnt.

There are plenty of youngsters in the area who look up to Warren, and he will always offer them some advice or make sure he plays a few holes with them. There is no better role model.

Scotty Warren may be a champion player and a legend of Queensland bush golf, but more importantly, he’s a champion bloke.