Grundy Center senior Judd Jirovsky announced his commitment to Stanford University on Wednesday, Sept. 17, where he will join the Cardinal men’s golf team.
Jirovsky won an individual state golf title with the state team champion Spartans in 2023 and has been a three-time medalist at the state meet. However, the commitment comes after what Jirovsky described as a recruiting process that was “all over the place,” in reflection of his decorated high school career through multiple sports.
“I took an approach with recruiting where I’d accept all opportunities,” Jirovsky said, “there was nobody I turned away right at the beginning. I wanted to see where I fell on people’s golf radar, in-state and out-of-state opportunities, dual-sporting potential, I wanted to take it all in.”
Even all the way out on the Stanford campus in California, news of Jirovsky’s exceptional freshman season traveled fast – Jirovsky set a new state meet record with his 11-under-par two-day total in the 2023 tournament as Grundy Center captured the 2A state title.
Stanford head coach Conrad Ray, a Fort Dodge native, got wind of the low score, and conversations with Jirovsky advanced to the point where he was invited to tour the Stanford campus and play on the Stanford Golf Course earlier this year.
“I really loved everything I saw from the area,” Jirovsky said. “You travel into San Francisco and it’s a completely different area from small-town Iowa. … I’d love to make a couple more trips in the future here.”
No matter where Jirovsky ended up, he made it clear to recruiters that he wouldn’t change who he was for his senior year, no matter where he committed.
Jirovsky has made key contributions in football, where the Spartans have won three state titles in a row, a state-tournament-caliber basketball team, a baseball team that won a fifth-consecutive NICL West title last summer with Jirovsky named Player of the Year.
That’s not to mention his accomplishments in track and field, including a state title in the sprint medley relay earlier this year, one of four school records he’s contributed for the track program at the school, all while running competes with golf for his attention in the spring.
After finishing as runner-up in the 2025 state golf tournament this May, Judd left the course in Waterloo to make it to a baseball game in Oelwein, where he struck out five batters in 2 ⅓ innings pitched with a run scored in a 6-3 victory. At the co-ed state golf tournament, he finished as state champion with teammate Leah Larson.
“It’s huge to put yourself in all kinds of different competitive environments,” Jirovsky said. “I value all the sports I play, whether they contribute to my athleticism, mentality, or just having a fun time doing all the sports. Any conversation I had with a [college] coach was that they’d take me as I come, and I think coaches saw potential in my golf game because I’m not able to focus on it as much.”
Playing and excelling in multi sports is in Jirovsky’s DNA, as part of a successful sports family with older brother Tate, who now plays football at Central College, younger sister and Spartan volleyball starter Trinity and youngest brother Gus.
“My parents have said I’ve always been holding a club since forever, or whatever it may be with the other sports like playing catch in the yard with my siblings,” Jirovsky said.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed how Jirovsky played sports, and when golf surged in popularity as an outdoor activity, Judd used that extra time on the course to pour into the game.
“It was one of the only things you could do at the time to play with your friends,” Jirovsky said. “I went to the course basically every day, and I started to get really serious with it. I branched out into a couple of different local tournaments, and that’s where I kind of fell in love with the game and realized I had a chance in the sport – I’ve loved it ever since.”
His educational pursuits at Stanford are still undecided but having the focus of golf as a single sport is an intriguing opportunity for Jirovsky.
“It’s not that I want the other sports that I’m playing to get over quickly, or that I won’t miss any of the other sports, but to be able to go from so many different commitments to being able to focus solely day in, day out on the same thing is something that’s going to be new for me, and something I’m hopefully going to really, really enjoy,” Jirovsky said.
There’s also the matter of his final season of golf as a Spartan, as he’ll take the lead of a perennial state contender for one last go round.
But there’s lots of sports to be played before that first tee shot in the spring.
“There’s a lot of things to get done with my schooling and in other sports, and I just want to live in the present,” Jirovsky said. “With this commitment out to California, there’s a chance I might not see many of these people ever again, so I’m just trying to have a lot of gratitude, and when the time comes, I’m going to be excited to get to work.”
JAKE RYDER SPORTS 