John Sand is living a dream.

From the time the Hoquiam High School senior golfer picked up a club when he was six, he has loved the sport. Every shot into the little net in the back yard heightened that love until he began playing tournaments when he was eight. Sand’s career has gone from humble beginnings to a mile high as he has signed to play college golf at the University of Denver.

“There are so many junior golfers and there are not very many that get to play at a Division I level,” Sand said. “For all the juniors who do get to, it is a dream come true. It will be a challenge, but it will be a good challenge.”

Sand originally started playing golf as a way to spend time with his older brother, Nolan. However, John knew golf was the sport for him shortly after he first stepped on the course at the Grays Harbor Country Club when he was seven. As an 8-year-old, Sand shot a 48 in his first tournament. By the time he was 11, he had begun to crack 40 for nine holes on a regular basis. When he was 15, Sand almost set the County Club course record by firing a 63. Now, as a Pioneer, Sand hopes to continue blazing the trail toward his ultimate goal of playing golf professionally.

“The coaches are phenomenal and they have a really great staff that I think is going to help me get to the next level,” Sand said. “From a golf standpoint, it was definitely the coaches that helped seal it for me. Golf is taking a leadership role and that is my main goal is to see how far I can get in college and if I can hopefully play for a living either on the PGA Tour or the Web.com Tour or another tour like that. If that doesn’t go to plan, I still need to have a degree and a plan to get into the workforce.”

The backup plan for Sand includes becoming a business major at Denver, but his true passion remains on the course.

A painful start, finish

Sand’s high school career included three district titles and four state appearances, including three top-5 finishes. As a freshman in 2014, he fired rounds of 71 and 73 to win the state 1A title. While his prep career started with a dream end, it finished with a bit of a nightmare.

On June 22, Sand stepped up to his second shot on his last hole of the practice round for state. He grabbed a 6-iron and aimed at the flag almost 200 yards away on No. 9 at Sun Willows Golf Course in Pasco. He pulled the club away and completed his smooth swing, but the club shaft snapped midway through the grip. The club head came up and hit Sand in the mouth, busting open his bottom lip and forcing one of his front teeth out of position.

“At first, I thought my teeth had fallen out,” Sand said. “It was just a shocking pain like ‘I can’t believe that happened.’ There was blood everywhere. Blood down my mouth, blood on my hand. I didn’t know exactly what it had hit because it was a little numb.”

Sand didn’t know exactly what had just happened, but the one thing he did know was he was going to play golf the next two days. He couldn’t bite into any solid food, yet as long as he could swing a club he was playing.

“It was painful, but it wasn’t enough to where I wasn’t going to play,” Sand said. “Unless I break an arm or something, I’m going to be out there playing tournaments. I was focused on playing golf and the pain sort of went away.”

The pain faded and Sand fired a 70 on the first day of the tournament. The next day he was back playing through his unique injury, unfortunately the day ended with pain of a different kind. Putting woes in the final two holes left him in a playoff with two-time champion Nick Baker of Cle Elum-Roslyn. Baker birdied the first playoff hole, while Sand made par.

“I would have loved to win it, but what do you do,” Sand said. “You go back and try to learn from it and take advantage of the next opportunity that comes up and learn from what you didn’t do well. There are so many tournaments left and that was not the last one I will play in for sure. There is still a lot of golf left.”

Sand had stressed the root of his front tooth. He will have to wear a guard for a couple weeks, but the tooth should heal. It may be a little bit before Sand’s big, joyfull smile looks exactly like it did before he was attacked by his 6-iron, but Sand isn’t about to let anything step in the way of his golf career. He got right back on the course with a new set of irons in the days after the loss and began more hard work toward future victories.

Return home

He went back to his home away from home at Grays Harbor Country Club. Sand’s fortress of solitude is the end spot on the course’s driving range.

He has spent countless hours perfecting every little movement in his swing and he even began working on the mental aspects. Sand, who carries a plus 2 handicap, works with mental coach Joe Thiel.

“When I was younger, freshman and sophomore year, that wasn’t my strong suit,” Sand said. “I wouldn’t show any emotion, I was pretty level headed out on the course, but inside was a problem. I would keep things bottled up and a lot of things would get to me. He has really helped with letting things go and sticking with your process and routines.”

Among Sand’s other hobbies is playing the piano. He enjoys sitting down and trying to learn different songs through videos on YouTube. He still remains more of a maestro on the golf course.

Sand has a full schedule of tournaments planned for the summer before he heads to Denver. He will compete in the Sizzler Amateur on June 11-13 at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, before taking part in the Southwestern Amateur on June 14-17 at The Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale.

“It was really easy to imagine being up there with the top players,” Sand said. “It becomes less of a dream and ‘This could actually happen.’”

Brendan Carl: (360) 537-3954; bcarl@thedailyworld.com; Twitter: @DW_Brendan