In a career spanning five decades, Jaskirat Singh Grewal or Jesse Grewal as he is more popularly known has carved a niche for himself and the Dronacharya Award bestowed upon him earlier this year was the icing on the cake.
Grewal, who is in Mumbai for a two-day golf clinic organised by the Mumbai Cobras, has the distinction of being the first and only golf coach in India to be honoured with the prestigious Dronacharya Award.
“It’s a big thing for the government to have recognised golf. We have had lots of Arjuna Award winners but this is the first time that the Dronacharya Award has been given to a golf coach. And its special because I have received it but its a recognition of all the work that I have put in. It’s basically the players who are doing well and if the players are doing well, the coach gets the recognition. Shubhankar Sharma, Karandeep Kochhar, Ajitesh etc. So many other players who have won outside and are doing well. It’s all because of them.
I have been fortunate also that all these players have been with me since a young age. Shubhankar has been with me since nine years when he started golf. They have been with me ever since. Kochhar started at the age of three. It’s great that all of them are doing well and it’s very, very special when the government recognises the efforts with the Dronacharya Award,’’ the Chandigarh-based Grewal added.
Talking about his journey as a player and coach, Grewal reminisced about the long journey.
“I started the journey about 50 years back. It’s been a long time. At that time golf was just for pleasure. I had worked at the tea gardens and left and came back to Chandigarh and the Indian PGA Tour was just starting out. I turned Pro in 1989-90. It was not easy to live out of a suitcase. The coaching part actually started by accident as people wanted lessons. Then I felt I better get trained to give lessons. After some time I gave lessons to beginners and juniors, then I went for training to US and Italy. I was part of National Golf Academy in the set up in 2004. I was one of the directors till 2008. We had annual courses there,’’ he added.
Grewal felt his finest moment could was to be a Major with his own players like Shubhankar.
“ My dream was to be at the Open. To get to an Open with your own players was special. I’m fortunate that I went to three Opens with Shubhankar and one Masters. To go to a Major with your own player is really, really special,’’ the Chandigarh man revealed.
Grewal was very optimistic about the progress of one of his brightest players Shubhankar Sharma.
“Every young player has that one burst and them coming into limelight and everything happening for them. Then they actually get better with techniques going forward. So technically Shubhankar has got better than when he won but that little spark of winning has yet to come. And I think there is always a bounceback that we can expect. They have always said that 28 is the average age for winning a major and he is coming to that. I think it’s time that he should be doing well and hopefully in a major and that is what’s important now.”
Grewal was also the coach of the Indian golf team at the 2023 Asian Games where Aditi Ashok won the silver medal. The coach looked back at his experience at the Asiad and Aditi’s performance with pride.
“Aditi does her own stuff. So Aditi had a big lead going into the last day. What was tough was we were playing without caddies and professionals are not used to not playing without caddies. Someone who had no knowledge of English was pulling your trolley. There was no food at the venue. I’ve never seen anything like that happen. They went empty stomach to the course. She could have won the gold but she will learn from it and come back stronger,’’ he added.
Grewal sounded an positive about India’s golfing prospects at this year’s Paris Olympics.
“We’ve got a very good team. There is Shubhankar and Bhullar. And let’s hope for the best. Shubhankar is good at courses he’s like and he likes the venue in Paris,’’ he added.
The reputed coach felt more international standard golf courses are needed to take the sport to the next level in India.
“There is a lot of golfing talent in India. But we need more golf courses and driving ranges. There are lots of juniors and girls playing golf. Golf is really on the rise. We need more international standard golf courses,’’ he concluded.
Catch the full video interview on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/pFYjHhd_J1A?si=p6zYRJpTv7Gki4iU
