FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Fall 2022Profiles
Home›Issues›Fall 2022›Giving Back With Gusto: Joe Grohman Gains Joy in Helping Others

Giving Back With Gusto: Joe Grohman Gains Joy in Helping Others

By Jack Margaros
October 20, 2022
1054
0
Share:

Joe Grohman, PGA stared out his window. The buildup of frost on the windowpanes, produced by weeks of sub-zero temperatures, continued to grow. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for this time of year in Grohman’s hometown of Plattsburgh, New York, but this winter season in particular had yielded 21 consecutive days of such temperatures, and Grohman was stuck in it.

Jack Nicklaus, who was playing golf in Palm Springs, happened to be on TV that day. Grohman distinctly remembers that it was so hot in the California desert that day that Nicklaus was sweating through his shirt. It’s an interesting juxtaposition that on one side of the country, golf is a year-round sport. On the other side, in Grohman’s upstate New York zip code, you’d be lucky to get even a couple months of serviceable course conditions.

“The running joke is that we have nine months of winter and three months of bad sledding,” said Grohman.

It was at that moment that he had an epiphany: I am going to California. I don’t care what it takes.

He was rising through the ranks of junior golf rather quickly. He was practically a seasoned veteran on the Plattsburgh High School varsity golf team, having made the team as a seventh grader. He envisioned himself becoming a golf pro, so it was time to ditch the frozen tundra he grew up with and go somewhere that would allow him to play golf whenever, and wherever.

That opportunity presented itself a couple of years later, when his stepdad got a job in Southern California. Grohman followed him, finishing high school on the West Coast and then moving on to California State University, Fullerton to play collegiately.

FINDING HIS LIFE’S WORK

In the process of pursuing his golf dream out West, Grohman discovered an alternative passion that he’s since transformed into his life’s work. In 1994, eight years removed from college graduation, Grohman was teaching golf part-time at Heartwell GC when he was asked by the Long Beach Memorial Hospital to give a golf clinic to stroke victims a few times a week.

He worked with myriad people, from those who were unable to hold a golf club on their own to others who required a gait belt to participate. Grohman quickly came to realize that the golf instruction aspect of these clinics was secondary. For a lot of his students, the class was the only time they got to step foot out of their house that week due to their health conditions. Golf brought everyone together, and the community that emerged was the real reason everyone kept coming back.

“That’s when the light bulb went on for me,” Grohman said. “That’s when I realized the importance of my class to these people.”

It was an experience that changed his life, and when he saw the impact that his classes were having, as well as the fulfillment he got from it, he started using golf as a form of therapy and became fully immersed in the spectrum of adaptive golf.

A SOLID FOUNDATION

Nearly three decades have passed since Grohman’s time at Heartwell. Since then, he’s become a nationally recognized golf instructor who specializes in rehabilitation clinics. He’s spent countless hours conducting clinics for disabled veterans, blind people and Wounded Warriors, all while serving as the head golf professional at various courses, most notably a 13-year stint at Navy Golf Course — where Earl Woods would ask Grohman to instruct his promising 13-year-old son, Tiger.

In 2012, he created the Joe Grohman Foundation to help further his mission of providing these joy-filled life experiences to those who would not normally have the opportunity to engage in golf. He also helped lay the groundwork for the PGA HOPE (Helping our Patriots Everywhere) program, the flagship military program for PGA REACH (the charitable arm of the PGA of America).

Grohman was recently selected as one of four PGA HOPE national trainers. He runs simulated training sessions that are designed to ensure that all PGA professionals teaching with PGA HOPE provide a safe environment and are comfortable using adaptive equipment while instructing military veterans living with physical or cognitive challenges.

“Part of the journey to becoming successful is to make giving back a part of that journey,” said Grohman. “If I can get a lady who can’t even hold a club to have a great time, that’s amazing.”

He’s garnered a seemingly endless amount of regional recognition from the Southern California PGA section, from Golf Professional of the Year (2013) to the Youth Player Development Award (2017).

In 2010, the U.S. Navy awarded Grohman the Armed Forces Recreation Special Citation Award, its highest honor for civilian recreation employees. And finally, to recognize his spirit for working with the military, Grohman received the 2021 Patriot Award from the PGA of America.

You’d be hard pressed to find a golf pro with a heart for giving as big as Grohman’s. Ever since he picked up a golf club at the age of seven, he’s had the luxury of strong mentorship. He’s always been told to give back when he reaches a position of success, and he’s been preaching the same message to the young golfers he mentors.

“Even if you do become successful, if you’re not giving back, you’re never going to be truly happy,” said Grohman. “So make giving back a part of it.”

Previous Article

Designed for a Champion: Q&A with Architect ...

Next Article

It’s a Dog’s Life: At Some SoCal ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Jack Margaros

Related articles More from author

  • ryann o'toole
    ProfilesSummer 2016

    California Girl: A Q&A with the LPGA’s Ryann O’Toole

    July 1, 2016
    By Tom Mackin
  • Profiles

    A Unique Combatant to Slow Play

    June 12, 2017
    By Jonathan Coe
  • ProfilesSummer 2016

    A New Leaf: How prison, and then golf, saved former NFL player Ryan Leaf

    July 1, 2016
    By Julia Pine
  • ProfilesSummer 2018

    Captain Fantastic: Architect George C. Thomas, Jr.

    August 1, 2018
    By Joe Passov
  • SCGA Hero
    Profiles

    Behind the Scenes Support

    October 1, 2014
    By Julia Pine
  • Classic CourseFall 2022

    Pure Golf: La Purisima

    October 20, 2022
    By Matt McKay

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • FeaturedHandicap HintsWinter 2023

    New Year’s Daze: Looking Forward and Looking Back at your Handicap

  • Classic CourseFeaturedWinter 2023

    A Return to SoCal: The U.S. Open at LACC is the Start of Something Big

  • FeaturedProfilesWinter 2023

    Don’t Bet Against Jesse: The Double-Amputee War Veteran has Overcome Injury and Addiction on his Way to a Winning Career in Golf

  • FeaturedPublic AffairsWinter 2023

    Grass by Design: Pure Research Yields New Strains of Drought-Tolerant Grass

  • FeaturedTravelWinter 2023

    Cactus Makes Perfect: Travelin’ Joe’s Top Six 36-Hole Arizona Desert Courses you can Play

FeaturedThe PodiumWinter 2023

Changing of the Guard: New Galleri Classic Set to Debut in the Desert

In what can be viewed as an unprecedented, albeit unofficial baton pass, the Coachella Valley is trading one pro golf tour for another this spring. As many will recall, last ...
  • New Year’s Daze: Looking Forward and Looking Back at your Handicap

    By Kevin O'Connor
    February 7, 2023
  • Grass by Design: Pure Research Yields New Strains of Drought-Tolerant Grass

    By Craig Kessler
    February 7, 2023
  • Best Ball Bar & Grill: Woodley Lakes GC Gets a Big Culinary Upgrade

    By David Weiss
    February 7, 2023
  • Making a Future in Golf a Reality: Skylar Graham and the Pathways Internship

    By Ken Van Vechten
    February 7, 2023
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise