Stanford University’s latest men’s golf recruit hails from a town of 2,800 people in central Iowa. He has never had a swing coach, never played in an AJGA event or USGA championship, nor been listed in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
And yet Judd Jirovsky will tee it up starting this fall for a perennial college golf power that produced Tiger Woods among other notable tour pros such as Notah Begay III, Maverick McNealy, Patrick Rodgers and Michael Thorbjornsen.
Despite his lack of experience on golf’s top-tier junior and amateur scene, Jirovsky arrives in Palo Alto, California, with impressive athletic credentials. He was a five-sport star at Grundy Center High School who won three Iowa state football titles as a quarterback, was a three-time state medalist in track and field, earned first-team all-conference honors in basketball, and was a first-team all-state pitcher in baseball. During his senior year, Jirovsky led his football team in passing and rushing yards while posting a .559 batting average and a 0.51 earned run average in baseball. He was also a two-time individual state champion in golf, winning bookend titles in his freshman and senior years.
While garnering headlines in other sports, Jirovsky has harbored a desire to play college golf since winning the state title as a freshman, an accomplishment that put him on Stanford coach Conrad Ray’s radar.
A native of Fort Dodge, Iowa, Ray has always tried to keep an eye on prospects in the upper Midwest. They have a lot working against them weather-wise, so if players show potential despite that, Ray believes they could have a great upside for Stanford.
“This is the ultimate type of prospect and person we like to see. Give them a platform and coaching and see what happens.”
Conrad Ray, Stanford golf coach
After Jirovsky won his first state title in golf, Ray’s uncle Dan Streit, who is a golf coach for a small Catholic school in Fort Dodge, thought Ray should take a look.
“He kept telling me about this kid,” said Ray, who coached Stanford to NCAA crowns in 2007 and 2019, played on the Cardinal’s 1994 national title squad and subsequently was Woods’ teammate. “Judd won his freshman year and that got his attention. Little did I know that he was going to be on some great football teams, some great basketball teams and some great baseball teams. The story grew.”
When Jirovsky was a high-school junior and could be recruited, Ray invited him to a golf camp at Stanford that took place in January 2024. It was Jirovsky’s first time in California and he loved the facilities. On the final day, he played in the end-of-camp, 18-hole tournament on Stanford Golf Course.
“I was a little nervous because I hadn’t touched a club in a while,” Jirovsky said. “The Iowa weather didn’t really allow outdoor golf for a couple months. But I was never going to shy away from the competition no matter how unprepared I might have felt.”
He needn’t have worried, because he won the whole thing.
“I think he went and shot 71 or 72,” Ray said. “He three-putted a couple times and won the camp tournament against all these kids from California and different parts of the country. I’m like, this kid can play.”
That was the proof he needed to give Jirovsky a shot, said Ray, who is betting on the Iowa kid’s potential, athleticism and strong work ethic.
“This is the ultimate type of prospect and person we like to see,” Ray said. “Give them a platform and coaching and see what happens.”
“I think I’m super mentally and emotionally tested from all the experience in the other sports,” Jirovsky said. “I think every pressure situation that you’re in, no matter the sport, is always beneficial and will carry over. Just like I dealt with football games that were super important I can handle rounds that are super important. There’s a bunch of things from the other sports that have made me a better golfer.”
While he has work to do to catch up competitively with his peers, Jirovsky is excited to tap into his potential as solely a golfer.
“To be able to play golf for as long as I want every day, I’m super excited for the different types of shots I’m going to be able to hit versus when I had to go to the go-to every time because I had a track meet the day before,” Jirovsky said.
While Jirovsky was swinging a club at an early age, he liked swinging a bat more.
“Baseball is the sport I fell in love with at the earliest of ages and probably continued to focus on the most even while playing the other sports through sixth grade,” said Jirovsky, who became heavily involved in sports along with his older brother, Tate, and their parents, who coached multiple teams.
“When the Stanford opportunity came about, and because golf was the non-negotiable out of all my sports, it was an easy yes.”
Judd Jirovsky
Jirovsky credits Tate for much of his success and helping him establish a strong work ethic.
“He was such a huge role model in my life,” Jirovsky said. “We did everything together growing up and he was a five-sport athlete before I was.”
When COVID-19 hit in 2020 with Jirovsky in the sixth grade, his priorities changed. While golf had always been a sport he’d enjoyed casually, it became one of the only ways he could get outside, play a sport and hang out with his friends.
“We had a huge group that would go down to the course basically every day,” Jirovsky said. “We’d go out there super early and spend the entire day there and play between 50 and 100 holes and never get tired. That’s when I started to take the game more seriously.”
Before receiving the Stanford offer, Jirovsky was not heavily recruited for any sport, including golf. He thinks participating in multiple sports and not specializing in one may have confused a lot of coaches, and he was entertaining dual-sport opportunities at small Iowa colleges.
“When the Stanford opportunity came about, and because golf was the non-negotiable out of all my sports, it was an easy yes,” Jirovsky said.
Jirovsky committed to play for the Cardinal on September 17, 2025. During his senior year of high school, Jirovsky won the 2-A individual state golf championship. In football, despite leading his team in passing and rushing yards, he and Grundy Center came up just short, losing in the semifinals.
As a sendoff to football on July 25, Jirovsky was the starting quarterback for the North side in the Iowa Shrine Bowl, which is an annual all-star game that features 92 of the best football players in the state.
Everybody knew the quarterback would soon be a golfer, so Jirovsky says there was a bit of chirping that came his way.
“I was super blessed to be able to play in that game,” Jirovsky said. “But it was a little weird for me knowing most of those guys are going to play college football somewhere and they have their fall camps coming up pretty soon. And I was the guy who was going to get on a flight in a couple weeks and go play golf for the rest of my life.”
Now that he’s at Stanford, Jirovsky has closed the books on his other sports.
“I feel like if I were thinking about that I wouldn’t be taking the opportunity that I have to my fullest advantage,” Jirovsky said. “I’m focused on what I can become as a golfer.”
Both Jirovsky and Ray acknowledge it will be difficult for the newcomer to crack Stanford’s five-man starting lineup, given that he has played many fewer rounds of competitive golf than his peers.
But Ray isn’t too concerned. While Jirovsky has an outside shot to crack the lineup, the coach is more focused on developing a promising talent.
“I think he’ll have the hunger and desire to be really good and show people that sometimes the traditional path isn't the one you have to go down,” Ray said. “He’s done all he’s done on the athletic field in any sport but he chose golf. That’s a powerful statement.”
Ray compares the situation to when he recruited future PGA Tour winner McNealy. McNealy didn’t play a national golf tournament outside of his native California until his senior year of high school. He was much more focused on hockey and was part of two California state title-winning teams. People questioned why Stanford wanted to take a risk on McNealy, Ray said.
“There’s going to be some soreness with golf but it’s going to be a little less than after a Friday night football game.”
“I saw him as a young guy to develop and I could see the trajectory he was on,” Ray said. “He was basically the third recruit and a walk-on his freshman year and was No. 1 in the world 18 months later.”
From 2013-17, McNealy won 11 collegiate events, played on two Walker Cup teams (2015, 2017) and won the 2015 Fred Haskins Award for being the best player in college golf. While Ray said he doesn’t want to tag Jirovsky with those high expectations, he hopes there is a similar trajectory.
Jirovsky is grateful Ray is giving him a chance, and he hopes to prove his coach right.
“I’m focused on simply getting better every day,” Jirovsky said. “I would love to develop some individual routines that would really benefit me. I haven’t been able to really hone in on the practice because I had to share time with so many sports. Play was my practice. Now I can just figure out what works for me and be the best teammate I can be.”
At the very least, Jirovsky is looking forward to not feeling the pain of a defensive lineman or a linebacker tackling him.
“There’s going to be some soreness with golf but it’s going to be a little less than after a Friday night football game,” Jirovsky said.
Top: Despite excelling at multiple sports, Judd Jirovsky says playing golf in college was always his priority.
photos courtesy Judd Jirovsky