Once a self-proclaimed golf gypsy, John Grund is more a permanent denizen of the golf world these days. That\u2019s not to say the San Rafael resident does not feel the stirrings of his competitive spirit still lurking just below the surface.<\/p>\n
After more than 30 years in the game, however, Grund, 57, can honestly say he has struck a balance, replacing a live-to-golf mentality with a simpler golf-to-live style.<\/p>\n
Grund, a PGA teaching pro at Peacock Gap Golf Club, who teed up alongside such greats as 1995 U.S. Open champ Corey Pavin, Tom Pernice and Steve Pate during his playing days at UCLA, is one of 14 club pros comprising the Northern California senior professional team which will take on the Nor-Cal amateurs in the Staedler-Jetter Cup team event this week at Poppy Hills Golf Course on the Monterey Peninsula.<\/p>\n
Grund finalized his spot on the club pro team last week by placing eighth in the Northern California Senior Open at El Macero Country Club in Davis.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t even going to play in the Senior Open,\u201d Grund said. \u201cBut I got to looking at the list and realized I was eighth and in order to sew up a spot on the team, I needed to play.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, as he has done so many times in the past, Grund did what he needed to do on the golf course.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t play much social golf anymore and I don\u2019t tee-up nonchalantly,\u201d Grund said. \u201cI do work on my game and stay in shape. I have played a lot of tournament golf in my life. I like to be competitive, but playing golf is not my top priority. I am a golf instructor and a coach now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grund serves as assistant golf coach for both the boys and girls teams at the Branson School and is also a consultant for the Dominican University golf teams.<\/p>\n
There was a time, however, when competitive golf was all-encompassing in Grund\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
After graduating from UCLA in 1981 with a degree in political science, and then serving as an assistant coach at the university for a couple of years, Grund set off in quest of golf\u2019s ultimate goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my 20s, golf consumed my life,\u201d Grund said. \u201cMy objective was to go to tour school and get a tour card. My whole sense of purpose was to get a card.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grund came close, reaching the finals of tour school a couple of times, but never quite landed the golden ticket.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Grund played foreign tours in Canada, the South Seas and South Africa.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those days, playing in South Africa was kind of like going on safari,\u201d Grund said. \u201cThere was no instant communication highway like today, so I\u2019d set off on the weekend and tell friends and family I\u2019d contact them on Tuesday or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the years passed, Grund returned to Southern California where he was born and raised and developed a side-business called Grund Guide, a company that manufactured yardage markers, one of the first of its kind. It was successful and helped pay the bills as he kicked around the mini-tours in Southern California, where he was a four-time metro player of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompetitive golf was important \u2014 there was a sense of bigness there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it was difficult, what I call \u2018desirable difficulties.\u2019 It makes you miserable at times, but long-term there are bonuses that come with it. You learn to look at difficult situations and create a positive out of them. That\u2019s what makes you a better player and a better person.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn those days, I would wake up every morning and find a way to get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eventually, Grund put competitive golf on the back-burner. He worked for several different clubs in Southern California as a teaching pro before moving to San Rafael in 2008.<\/p>\n
Where once earning a tour card was \u201cend game\u201d for Grund, these days his perspective on competitive golf has come full circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cI look more for the quality of experience. That\u2019s how I have to look at it because it\u2019s not my job,\u201d he said. \u201cA lot of my friends are still playing. They are golf warriors. I\u2019m a golf pro.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t think for a minute, however, Grund is taking the Cup lightly. The pros have defeated the amateurs each of the last two years \u2014 Grund was on the winning cup team in 2013 \u2014 after the amateurs had put together a rather lengthy winning streak at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have all been doing this for a long time. It\u2019s important to represent your self and the team well,\u201d he said. \u201cWe still got some game and we\u2019re feeling pretty confident.\u201d<\/p>\n
And according to teammates, Grund certainly still has game.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn is always real consistent,\u201d said Nor-Cal club pro teammate Shawn McEntee, who makes his fourth consecutive appearance on the Cup team. \u201cHe hits the ball really straight and he is a really good putter. He has a great short game and basically doesn\u2019t do anything wrong on the course.\u201d<\/p>\n
McEntee, a teaching pro at Chardonnay Golf Club in American Canyon, says the club pro team has picked up their game in the last few years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe won this the last three years after losing for five years in a row,\u201d McEntee said. \u201cLately, we have tried to step it up a little bit \u2014 changed our tune after guys started getting the word out that we\u2019re getting beat up a bit here.\u201d<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt Grund will allow his deep-rooted competitive side to emerge for the two days of the tournament.<\/p>\n
But then it\u2019s back to business as usual and his true passion in the sport \u2013 coaching and teaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of people, they\u2019re just looking to enjoy their round of golf,\u201d Grund said. \u201cThey just want to get out of the bunker and get into the hole \u2013 or just get it out of the bunker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once a self-proclaimed golf gypsy, John Grund is more a permanent denizen of the golf world these days.…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[165,166,66,11474,908,4414,4415,55,4416,11475,11476,4417,121],"class_list":["post-22772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-golf","tag-golf","tag-greenbrae","tag-local-news","tag-marin-county","tag-mill-valley","tag-news","tag-novato","tag-ross","tag-san-anselmo","tag-san-rafael","tag-sports","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117546068462596550","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}