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ProfileDana Rader puts on “new” hat with LPGAArticle courtesy of: Lisa D. Mickey - Duramed FUTURES Tour/LPGA.comDana Rader grew up playinggolf at Mimosa HillsCountry Club in Morganton,NC, knowing the game would becomean important part of her life. Afterplaying basketball and golf at FreedomHigh School, Rader was good enough tomake the men’s golf team at PfeifferUniversity, and had the skills to make arun at the LPGA tour but she found thather real love for the game centered onteaching.The Dana Rader Golf Schools atthe Ballantyne Hotel and Lodge in Charlotteand Statesville Country Club are atestimony to 25 years of hard work anda plan that has resulted in the school becomingone of the premier golf schoolsin the country.Dana Rader, currently in her 28thyear as an LPGA member, takes over in2010 as the LPGA's Teaching and ClubProfessionals (T&CP) national president.An alumna of the Tampa Bay Mini-Tour, now the Duramed FUTURESTour, Rader recently spoke to duramedfuturestour.comsenior writer Lisa D.Mickey about her new role.LPGA: You have come a long wayfrom your days at Freedom HighSchool and the men's golf team atPfeiffer College. Did you envisionwhere you are now back then?RADER: I guess I thought I was goingto be an LPGA Tour player. That's all Ithought about in college and in my firstyears of playing on the Tampa Bay Mini-Tour. I got out there with people likeJane Geddes, Rosie Jones and ColleenWalker and found out that I wasn't theonly one who could play. I went toLPGA Q-School and didn't make it. Itwas awful, but it was one of those thingsI needed to do to get it out of my system.I'm one of those people that when thedoor shuts, I don't try to open it.LPGA: A lot of players miss gettingtheir LPGA card on their first attempt.Why didn't you go back andtry again?RADER: Because I knew it wasn't forme. It was very clear. I spent two daysby myself thinking about it right afterthat Q-School. I didn't return calls. Iknew I was at a crossroads and that I wasdone playing professionally. You sort ofhave a time of grieving. I knew it was areal turning point in my life. I wondered,"How do I sever this?" And, "What am Igoing to become?" And then I droveback home to North Carolina fromFlorida with the new belief that I wasgoing back to teaching golf and thatI would give it my very best. I loveto teach.LPGA: What do you enjoy mostabout teaching?RADER: The relationship youbuild with the student. It's fun tosee the student "get it," and to seethem reach their goals. I reallyenjoy helping them begin doingsomething theyonce could notdo and to pulltheir abilitiesout of them.I've been teachingfor 30 yearsand I'm starting my third generation ofstudents. For example, in one family, I'vetaught granddad, dad and now the grandson.I teach men and women and a ton ofjuniors.LPGA: When did you establish theDana Rader Golf School and whathappens there?RADER: I was at Peggy Kirk Bell's"Golfari" at Pine Needles Lodge & GolfClub in Southern Pines, N.C. I workedwith her there from 1985-1987, and Iliked her model. I thought that I could dothat on a small scale and create in-stategolf packages. So I put it on the calendarand got the word out and the schoolfilled up. The school was affordable andpeople came. My school is located atBallantyne Hotel & Lodge at the GolfClub at Ballantyne. The golf course is inan office park. We have three puttinggreens, a short-game facility, indoor andoutdoor hitting bays, a 300-yard rangeand of course, all the technology tools. Ialso franchised it and opened a satellitefacility at Statesville Country Club inStatesville, N.C.LPGA: So why did you want to becomepresident the LPGA's Teachingand Club Professionals?RADER: It's something I've wanted todo for a long time, but the time has neverbeen more right than it is right now. Theskills that I have developed through runninga business could help us at theLPGA's T&CP. What I've learned byrunning my own business is that it's theteam that makes my school a success. Noone person makes it a success. So I6 - CAROLINA GOLF JOURNAL - SPRING 2010_______________________________________________________________________________