Steve brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the SwingMentors instruction staff. Currently Steve serves as the Director of Golf Instruction at The Golf Club Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona and Forest Highlands Golf Club in Flagstaff, Arizona.
From1997 to 2003, Steve was a Head Instructor with Golf Digest Schools in Arizona and at Kemper Lakes Golf Club in Long Grove, Illinois. Over the years, Steve has used his experiences with students and respected teachers to carefully develop his teaching philosophy which has proven to be most successful.
A Class A member of the PGA of America, Steve is also an accomplished player with numerous top ten finishes in National and Southwest Section events. He is also actively involved with PGA education and junior golf programs. In 2001 he was the featured instructor at the Golf Channel’s “Putt, Chip and Drive” regional qualifier in Highland Park, Illinois.
Steve’s instant lesson “Put Your Swing on the Inside Track” was a part of the February 1998 issue of Golf Digest and was also included in the 2000 publication, “GOLF DIGEST, Golf’s Greatest Players, Courses and Voices, 50 years of the best”. His analysis of the swing of PGA Tour Professional Sean O’Hair was featured in the October 2005 issue of Golf Digest. Steve’s articles have also appeared in Southwest Golf and Arizona Golfer magazines and he is currently the weekly host of “Tee it up Tuesday with Steve Dahlby”, a weekly radio segment on popular Phoenix station AM 1060 The Fan.
Steve enjoys teaching players of all levels and has great success with many of his students. Two of his top players are PGA Tour Professionals Sean O’Hair, winner of the 2005 John Deere Classic and the 2005 Rookie of the Year and also Martin Laird, recent winner of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic on the Nationwide Tour and 2008 PGA Tour member. Among Steve’s other players are Don Berry, eleven time Minnesota PGA Player of the Year the 2002 Club Professional Player of the Year, University of Florida standout Tim McKenney and Robert Halmi Jr., former CEO of Hallmark Entertainment, who teamed with PGA Tour Professional Jerry Kelly to win the 2004 AT&T Pro-Am and was awarded the Jack Lemon Trophy, given annually to the amateur who helps his pro the most during the event.
A native of Menomonie, Wisconsin, Steve graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in 1989 with a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration. During his time there, he led his golf team to the university’s first two national tournament appearances in 1988 and 1989. In the fall of 1999, Steve was inducted into the UW-Stout Athletic Hall of Fame.
Steve lives in Scottsdale, Arizona with his wife Amy and sons Andrew and Matthew.
Sean O’Hair spoke with his teacher, Steve Dahlby, virtually every other day, then spent three days with him in Scottsdale before heading to Honolulu for the TOUR’s first full-field event of 2008. The two concentrated most of their efforts on fine-tuning O’Hair’s backswing.
“I kind of have the tendency to have my hands work away from me,” he explained. “I get real high with my arms. I’m trying to take it back to where my hands stay fairly close to my body and my left arm gets more across my chest at the top of my swing.
“When I get off, it’s because my arms are so high and my body is so quick, my hands drop dramatically on my backswing. Your timing has to be perfect, so I’m trying to get it to where it’s just a more efficient, consistent swing.”
When he got to Hawaii, O’Hair felt better about his game than he had starting out any of his three previous years on TOUR. He would have liked to do better than that tie for 50th, but O’Hair knows it will be a little while before he’s tournament-tough.
