By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
As the men’s and women’s golf coach at my local community college, I have seen some good golfers cross my path. I’ve actually sent five players to the National Junior College Athletic Association DIII National Championship over the past three seasons. However, these players have opted to continue their education at four-year schools or find work in their chosen field, putting golf on the back burner.
For PGA of America Golf Professional Allen Terrell, coaching at a higher level has resulted in some big-name golfers on his team’s rosters. After graduating from the PGA’s Professional Golf Management Program at Methodist University in North Carolina, Terrell returned to his alma mater to work in the PGM program and serve as a volunteer assistant coach on its men’s team. He then accepted a full-time position at Duke University, where he had interned as a PGM student at Methodist, and became the Blue Devils’ first-ever assistant golf coach for its men’s and women’s programs.
But, it was at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina where Terrell recruited a young man from downstate in Columbia, and Dustin Johnson would go on to win 24 PGA Tour events and more than 30 tournaments worldwide, securing the #1 golfer in the world spot for 130 weeks over five years. During our recent conversation, Terrell joked that he and DJ had just celebrated 20 years together.
Allen Terrell is a three-time Golf Range Association of America Top 100 Growth of the Game Teaching Professional and was the 2020 Carolinas PGA Section Teacher of the Year. He is number two on Golf Digest’s list of Best Teachers in South Carolina and has been a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher in America since 2021.
Terrell grew up in a rural area near Charlotte, North Carolina and started playing golf when he was 14 years old. He had played most other sports and considered himself a gym rat, always interested in physiology and kinetics. Although his dad was a golfer, Terrell says there wasn’t much professional instruction in his area. So, like so many of us PGA of America Golf Professionals, he read and reread Ben Hogan’s Five Lessons: The Modern Fundamentals of Golf, applying the concepts to his own golf swing while falling in love with golf.
“I had a passion to get into coaching college golf after playing sports my whole life,” Terrell explains. “Methodist let me return after graduating to work in their PGA program and volunteer as an assistant coach on their men’s golf team.”
As mentioned, he also coached at Duke University, where his passion for teaching was further fueled by a similar desire among the other coaches on hand. Then Coastal Carolina University came calling when Terrell was just 24 years old, and he made his way south to Myrtle Beach.
When Johnson turned pro in 2007, Terrell spent much of his time traveling to Tour events while seven years into his teaching role at TPC Myrtle Beach. With Johnson’s success, Terrell rebranded his coaching business as the Dustin Johnson Golf School, where he is currently the PGA Director of Coaching.
At the Dustin Johnson Golf School, you’ll see golfers ranging from beginners to Tour players improving their golf skills and finding more enjoyment in the game.
“Our passion is just helping everyone get better at golf,” Terrell says. “And we make sure we have programming for every level and every motivation.”
He offers comprehensive junior golf programs for those who are serious about playing in high school and beyond, as well as adult golf schools upon request, video lessons and private instruction. Terrell prefers one-on-one engagement with his students so he can get to know them and provide the most personal attention needed to see significant results in their game.
Terrell and his team of instructors, PGA of America Master Professional Brad Kirkman and three-time World Long Drive champion Sean Fister, utilize a wide array of the industry’s top teaching technology, including Trackman, Swing Catalyst, SAM PuttLab, K-Vest 3D, HackMotion, SportsBox 3D and Aimpoint.
In 2007, Terrell and Johnson started the Dustin Johnson Foundation to grow the game and give back to golf in South Carolina, and they’ve given more than $1 million back to junior golf in Johnson’s home state, supplementing the cost of lessons and offering grants for equipment when families cannot afford the expense.
“The more I do this, the more I’m drawn to giving back to kids and growing the game in that way,” Terrell states.
The Dustin Johnson World Junior was created to get more local kids to see the fruits of their hard work and dedication and to demonstrate the grandeur that golf can offer. This event is hosted during the first week of March at TPC Myrtle Beach.
