Sometimes, it’s the path you take on a whim, the one that presents itself to you out of the blue, that turns out to be the right path. The one that gets you to where you are supposed to be. Sometimes, it takes a couple of tries before you hit your mark. Or, in the case of Shane Dyel, put the ball in the cup.

Shane, a 2005 Benton Grade School and 2009 Benton Consolidated High School graduate, had no idea what was ultimately in store for him when he graduated from Bryan University in Springfield, MO with a degree in Radio and Television Broadcasting. His first job was as a late-night DJ on classic rock station WTAO in Murphysboro, Illinois. Soon after landing that gig, he also began to broadcast Marion High School football and basketball.

A move to Metropolis landed him on country station WMOK, where he split his time between spinning the top country hits and broadcasting Mayfield, KY High School Cardinals football. That year, Mayfield won the state championship, “which was pretty unbelievable,” recalls Shane. He enjoyed the sports side of his job, but not the country DJ part. “I felt a little out of place,” he confides. He also was a little homesick, so after not quite a year at the station, he moved back to Benton.

A little adrift and unsure of what his next career move would be, Shane had a long talk with his dad, who suggested he leverage his love and knowledge of the game of golf into something money- making, rather than purely recreational. It made sense to Shane, so he put out some feelers and ended up snagging a position at Rend Lake Golf Course as an assistant golf pro.

Although he was always a good golfer, he was by his own admission never a good wedge player. He had never really learned how to use them correctly and compensated by being able to hit the ball straight and putt well. But around this time, he happened upon a YouTube video about wedges that would change the course of his life.

The video featured a man named Bob Vokey, who is considered to be the top golf club craftsman specializing in wedges in the world, and Aaron Dill, a skilled craftsman in his own right, and Vokey’s apprentice at the time. It documented the two demonstrating techniques used to modify wedges and tailor them to an individual player, so that the club effectively becomes an extension of the player. “It grabbed me so hard that I wanted to know everything about wedges,” recalls Shane. Dill will go on to become very important to Shane’s story in the future.
Through his work at Rend Lake Golf Course, he met Rend Lake College women’s golf coach, Danielle Kaufman, and they became friends. Danielle was also the manager of the Rend Lake Golf Outlet in Mount Vernon. She told Shane, “I could really use somebody like you at the Golf Outlet, and I could really use somebody as an assistant coach of my
women’s team.” So, Shane left his job at the golf course and became the women’s assistant coach at Rend Lake College, as well as assistant manager of the Golf Outlet.

“I got a lot of experience, and a lot of great things happened when I was coaching with Danielle,” remembers Shane. For example, they coached a Region 24 Championship team together. But then Danielle got an opportunity to take over the women’s program at SIU-C, and Rend Lake College opted to hire a new head coach from outside, rather than promote Shane. So, he moved on to Rend Lake rival John A. Logan, where he enjoyed continued success as the women’s head coach and assistant coach of the men’s team. In fact, his first year at Logan, his women’s team bested Rend Lake in the Region 24 tournament. “So, I was able to have back- to-back championships, which was pretty cool,” he says.

Back in his Rend Lake Golf Outlet days, he had become friendly with a regional representative for Taylor Made golf clubs, and eventually became a Taylor Made club fitter, helping golfers order custom-made clubs. He was still doing that part-time while coaching at Logan, but now Taylor Made was offering him an expanded position that Shane saw as a great opportunity. So he left his position at John A. Logan and went to work at Taylor Made full-time.
Some time earlier, Shane was again inspired by a YouTube video, documenting the process of personalizing golf clubs by stamping words and designs into metal heads. The idea intrigued Shane, and he went out and bought a set of metal stamps at a hardware store to begin learning the process. “Those stamps were horrendous,” he remembers. “I ended up teaching myself to stamp on my own wedges, and I’m telling you, I ruined my wedges doing it,” he laughs. But, he became proficient enough that he was able to start a business doing it, called Garage Stamps.

Business was slow at first, but he continued to gain experience. “Then, 2020 hit, with the pandemic, and everything came to a screeching halt,” Shane recounts. He was put on leave from his job at Taylor Made, because golf events were being canceled over COVID-19 concerns. But, once again, it was his dad who came to the rescue with some timely advice. He suggested that Shane go all-in on Garage Stamps, promoting the business on social media. Shane began to post Garage Stamps content on Facebook and Instagram, “and everything kind of blew up,” he says. His business began to increase at a rate he had never imagined and could hardly believe.
Things began to look up again for Shane in 2021, with Garage Stamps taking off, and a return to Taylor Made. Shortly after going back, he was given the opportunity to travel with the PGA tour as a Taylor Made technician, working with the best players in the world, such as Rory
McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, and Tiger Woods. “Getting to work with those players set me up for success, because of how particular they are,” says Shane. It seems that he learned his lessons well, because when he got
the chance to meet Aaron Dill, one of those responsible for setting the path on which he was finding success, no introductions were necessary. “I started to introduce myself, and he said ‘Shane, I know who you are’, which blew me away,” he recalls. A couple of years later, they would meet again at an event, and over dinner, Dill would offer Shane a position as his apprentice. He now holds the title of Player Relations representative for Vokey Wedges at Titleist. “It’s a title I never thought I would have,” he marvels.

He feels that he is, finally, where he is supposed to be. It has been quite a journey from late-night DJ to working with some of the greatest names in golf, but Shane would not change a thing about the path he took to get where he is today. “Don’t second-guess yourself, and don’t be afraid of failure,” he advises. “Failure is not a bad thing, it’s not a death sentence. It’s actually a tool you can use to become better at what you do. If you can learn from your failures, you’re going to be successful.”

If anyone would know the truth of that statement, it would be Shane. After all, to put it in golf terms, his career path hasn’t been an eagle, or even a birdie. “But you know what? I got it in the cup,” he says, smiling.