Dale Ketola grew up in Greenwood, SC. He has had the opportunity to be around and compete against a lot of great players throughout his college and professional career including Dustin Johnson, Lucas Glover, Jonathan Byrd, DJ Trahan, Johnson Wagner, and Brenden De Jonge just to name a few. Seeing these great players in action and learning what makes them great has been one of the biggest assets to how he teaches the game.

Dale began playing competitive golf at the age of ten. At Emerald High School in Greenwood, he was a four-time All-State performer. Dale played his college golf at Coastal Carolina University under the tutelage of Donald Clement and Allen Terrell. He was a two-time All-Big South award winner and twice made the All-Academic Team. He has also made the SC PGA Chapter Palmetto Cup team 6 times! Currently, he is an active member of the Carolinas PGA Section and competes in numerous events.

After graduating from Coastal Carolina with a degree in Marketing, he achieved Class A Membership into the PGA of America in 2008. Dale has learned a tremendous amount about the golf swing, fitting, and teaching from Greg Norman, Andrew Rice, Dr. Jim Suttie, Chris O’Connell, Dr. Bhrett McCabe, Dr. Scott Lynn, Craig Allan, Hal Sutton, and Brad Faxon just to name a few.

Dale has almost 18 years of teaching experience on the Grand Strand from his work at Bay Tree Golf Plantation, Pawleys Plantation, Potential Golf, and the Greg Norman Champions Golf Academy. A simple common sense approach with an emphasis on impact and scoring has led to his success. He has taught a wide range of students over the years including beginners, juniors, club members, ladies, high school, college players, as well as professionals.

Currently, and in addition to his role as Director of Instruction and Clubfitting for Grande Dunes Golf Performance Center, Dale runs the South Carolina Junior Golf Association Myrtle Beach Chapter, is a captain of a PGA Junior League team, is on Callaway’s National Fitters Board, and sits on the Carolinas PGA player development board.

Dale really enjoys learning more about the game through books, seminars, and watching other great teachers in action as he updates his own personal philosophy and methods. He has been using the V1 professional teaching software since 2004 in his teaching as he updates his swing library.