THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Sunday, August 3, 2014

When last Russell Grove made the news, the former Coeur d'Alene High and University of Idaho golf standout was beating all the other top pros in the Pacific Northwest one year ago at the Lilac City Invitational, the region's only 72-hole tournament.

Since then, there's been an unexpected layoff from the game. And just last week Grove, 28, was named men's and women's golf coach at North Idaho College.

And through it all, his dream remains the same - to make it onto a professional golf tour.

"That's still my goal, to make it on tour," said Grove, an assistant pro at Avondale Golf Club in Hayden Lake. "I definitely need to give it a shot here soon."

LAST JULY, Grove shot an 8-under-par 64 and rallied from three strokes down to win the Lilac by three strokes at The Fairways Golf Course near Cheney.

The following week, he tied for seventh at the Rosauers Open Invitational at Indian Canyon.

But after that ...

"I took some time off from golf for personal reasons," Grove said, declining to give specifics. "Actually, I didn't touch a club from middle of September until a couple of weeks ago."

He played 18 holes the other day, and was pleasantly surprised.

"I maybe hit one bucket of balls and went out and played, and actually put up six birdies on the back nine at Circling Raven," he said.

Grove said he plans to see how his game stacks up against the Northwest's other pros at the Northwest Open and possibly the Montana Open later this summer.

"I was playing pretty well (last summer). The good news is, I seem to still have it," Grove said.

GROVE GOT a taste of the NIC golf program in recent years, as the Cardinals practiced at Avondale and Derrick Thompson, the previous coach, was also an assistant at Avondale.

It's Grove's first head coaching gig, but he has a fair amount of teaching experience already, from giving lessons as an assistant pro. Plus, he said he's helped out a little bit with the NIC teams in recent years. He'll be assisted by Avondale head pro Dan Porter and his son, Taylor.

Having just gotten the job, he's had to hit the ground running - or rather, recruiting.

"I have three weeks to assemble a team," Grove said, as fall golf tournaments begin soon.

He has five men and four women committed thus far - he'd like to have seven or eight on each team.

The only returning men from last year's squad are Michael Porter, another son of Dan, and Australian Hugh Taylor. Incoming freshmen include Corey Beaver from Post Falls High and Jordan Meshell from Lakeside High.

Angus Montgomery of Middlesbrough, England, last year's Phil Mickelson Award winner as top freshman golfer in NJCAA Division I, is playing at Gonzaga this season.

NIC's golf teams move from the NJCAA to the Northwest Athletic Conference this season.

On the women's side, Elsa Goodsen of Lake City High and Jenna Kaik return. Among the newcomers is Jesse Gibbons of Kellogg High.

"I'm hoping my experience on the golf course can help them," Grove said. "I've been there, and especially for the incoming freshmen, it's quite a big change going from high school to college, you're away from your family, things like that. I went through it a few years ago, so I'll be able to relate."

PRO GOLF options for Grove for now include the Web.com Tour, one rung below the PGA Tour, and the new PGA Tour Canada, essentially one rung below the Web.com Tour.

Grove said he'd like to take a stab at qualifing Web.com Tour this fall. Qualifying consists of three stages.

The soonest he could attempt to qualify for PGA Tour Canada is next spring.

"Honestly, the way I look at it, you can hit your golf prime at 35, or even play well into your mid-40s," Grove said. "I'm obviously going to give it my best effort the next few years. I like to golf that much ... and I love to compete as well."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.