DANA RADER

           

           Dana Rader was an all-conference basketball player at Freedom High in Morganton but decided to concentrate on golf, the sport her dad introduced her to when she was 15. Rader learned from club professional Joe Cheves and golf great Billy Joe Patton at Mimosa Hills Country Club in her hometown and made the men’s golf team at Pfeiffer University. She was inducted into Pfeiffer’s Hall of Fame in 1996.

            Rader began her teaching career in 1980 at Myers Park Country Club in Charlotte and achieved LPGA Class A status in 1984. She launched the Dana Rader Golf School in 1987 and for many years ran it out of Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge in Charlotte. She sold the school in 2017 with thoughts of moving to Hilton Head and retiring. She did in fact relocate but missed teaching and soon got back into the teaching game, working at Sea Pines Plantation and then Belfair. 

            “Dana knew what to do for each golfer,” said Julie Shore, an avid golfer who took lessons from Rader and became good friends. “It was not like she was a system teacher and everyone does this or that. She could look at a golfer and know exactly what needed to be done for that golfer. She was fun. She was honest and forthright. She could rip you apart and make you laugh at the same time.” 

            Over four decades, Rader collected a display case worth of honors and awards. She was named one of the top teachers in the nation by Golf Magazine, Golf Digest and Golf for Women. She was named LPGA National Teacher of the Year in 1990 and was inducted into the LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals Hall of Fame in 2017. In 2015, she received the LPGA’s highest honor for teaching professionals, the Ellen Griffin Award, and in 2019 was given Emeritus Status in Golf Magazine’s top 100 Teachers in America. She followed in 2020 with the Nancy Lopez Golf Achievement Award, recognizing the teaching professional “who best emulates Lopez’s qualities of leadership, passion, giving and approachability.”

            “People were drawn to her,” said her brother, Brian. “She pulled them in with her magnetism. They loved her.” 

            “It’s an honor to know that Dana is being recognized for her incredible impact on the business of golf, the quality of golf instruction, and the people she touched in her too-short life,” Shore said. 

            Rader looked up to Peggy Kirk Bell, a fellow luminary in the golf world and the golf instruction profession.  

            “Dana has given so much to the game of golf,” said Peggy’s daughter, Peggy Bell Miller. “Her efforts have made the game better. She is very deserving of the honor.” 

            Current United State Golf Association CEO Mike Whan worked with Rader on a number of LPGA platforms when he was LPGA Commissioner. 

            “Her unique blend of laser focus, contagious passion and love for the game made her a one-of-a-kind teacher,” Whan said. 

            “The golf world truly misses her enthusiasm, leadership, giving attitude and love of the game that she always wanted to share,” LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez said. “She always had a smile on her face and a positive attitude in life. She was a superstar in golf.” 

      Rader will be celebrated posthumously following her death on August 17, 2022, at the age of 64 to a rare neurodegenerative disease.