Dale followed in the footsteps of Bobby Locke when he became the second South African golfer to win the Harry Vardon Trophy awarded to the number one on the Volvo Order of Merit. He achieved that distinction at the end of a hugely successful 1975 season during which he pipped the legendary Argentinian Roberto De Vicenzo to win his second Tour title at the Swiss Open and finished second in four other tournaments. Dale first shot to prominence as an amateur when he won the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship in both 1969 and 1970 before going on to represent his country in the Eisenhower Trophy in the latter of those two years. Dale also enjoyed international success as an amateur when he travelled abroad to win the German Amateur in 1969 and the Scottish Open Amateur Stroke Play in 1970 and he soon proved to be just as successful in the paid ranks, winning five European Tour titles and more than a dozen on his native Tour, including the 1976 South African Open and the South African PGA in 1974, 1975 and 1976. In recent years, Dale has continued to be an important figure in South African golf. He has worked as a broadcaster and a magazine editor and was also instrumental in helping to set up a successful internet golf shopping service. Dale turns 50 on July 1, 2002.