With his bucket hat, cheeky grin, smooth swing and nonchalant attitude, it’s hard not to like Joel Dahmen. And, as SIMON HILL writes, his journey on and off the course is something many of us will be able to relate to.
Joel Dahmen is the kind of guy you’d want to have a beer with. It would be a fun beer too. In fact, he’d insist on it. And he’d pick up the tab.
That’s the deal. He’s happy to pay. But you’ve got to have a good time.
Before he started earning the big bucks, Dahmen worked as a valet at a hotel in downtown Seattle, Washington. At that stage, he says, he’d never seen so much cash in his life. But rather than spend his newly amassed ‘fortune’ on things people tend to blow their money on – like food and rent – Dahmen would buy beers for his mates. It’s this kind of generosity that’ll get you named one of the 30 nicest guys on the PGA Tour.
He admits his love for a good time is what led him to drop out of the prestigious University of Washington before his four years were up. Way before, actually. He lasted just a year.
He admits he got it wrong.
‘I thought I was an athlete,’ says Dahmen. ‘And that athletes could do whatever they wanted. Turns out when you’re at a big-time school they don’t care about golfers. Especially freshmen golfers who are ranked 150th in the country.’
Dahmen was given an ultimatum by his coach – to go off, get his act together and try again.
He returned to a community college, but lasted just one semester before packing it in completely. Academics were clearly just not his cup of beer.
With a degree now out of the question, Dahmen meandered back to his home town of Clarkston (population 7,500) situated on the Snake River, close to the town of Lewiston, Idaho. The two towns were named after explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, who led the first expedition to cross the western part of the United States in the early 1800s.
Upon arrival his dad and first coach, Ed, who introduced him to the game as a toddler, gave him an ultimatum: go to school or get a job. Both of which – particularly the academic part – sounded rather unpalatable and so, after a brief stint working at his home course, Dahmen decided to turn pro.
The winter of 2013 and ’14 were rough. He was drifting. ‘I missed Q-School again at second stage and was pretty bummed out. Didn’t play golf for about a month and a half, bought a dog and then that whole story. My now wife gave me $200 to go get a lesson and it kind of kick-started my ’14 and the rest of my career,’ he says.
The talent was definitely there. In 2014 he topped the moneylist on the Mackenzie Tour – a series of events played across Canada during the summer. This earned him an invite to the Canadian Open on the PGA Tour, where he finished in a tie for 53rd.
While relatively unremarkable on the face of it, the result turned out to be a pretty important moment in his short-lived career.
Enter Geno Bonnalie, Dahmen’s childhood friend, who was making a reluctant career for himself at the time in purchasing and logistics.
Golf is in Bonnalie’s blood. A fine player in his own right, he holds the Guinness World Record for the most number of holes played in one week (2,000) as well as the most birdies in a week (493) from a fundraiser for his wife’s cousin, who was suffering from cystinosis. He has the certificates to prove it.
According to Bonnalie, Dahmen’s finish at the Canadian Open was the final nudge he needed to send the email that had been sitting in his outbox for some time. An email officially applying for the not-yet-advertised position of Dahmen’s caddie ‘for the Web.com & PGA Tour’.
Dahmen will tell you Bonnalie has always believed in him far more than he’s ever believed in himself – and if you read his impassioned job application letter it’s clear this is true.
Bonnalie is Joel’s biggest fan. He’s also the guy who let Dahmen sleep on his couch when he dropped out of university. The two have history. And anyone who is happy to survive on peanut butter and jam sandwiches and suggests converting a Honda Civic into a house to save on hotel costs is obviously a very special person.
Bonnalie had a few requirements of his own, though – pretty bold for someone seemingly desperate to leave the world of logistics behind them.
‘I expect you to give it 100% every week, never give up and be completely honest with me at all times,’ were his unconditional terms in the job application.
Four months later, he got the job and early in 2021, six years after taking the bag, the pair celebrated their first PGA Tour win at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
Unsurprisingly, the first thing Dahmen did after sinking the winning putt was to tell his friends to open the bar tab at his home course of Mason Country Club in Iowa. Actually, that’s not technically true. The first thing he did was rescue his trademark bucket hat, which he dons for cancer awareness, that had made a beeline for the cliff after being whipped off his head in the blustery conditions just as he was about to lift the trophy.
Perhaps Dahmen’s seemingly carefree, live-in-the-moment attitude comes from being a cancer survivor. Staring death in the face does tend to put things into perspective. It’s just a game after all.
His own mortality appears to keep him grounded; a constant reminder of what could have been. Dahmen says if he never had testicular cancer he’d probably be a washed-up driving range pro telling people how good he used to be. A woulda-coulda kinda guy.
Unfortunately the Dahmen family has a long history with the dreaded ‘C’. In 2004 Joel’s mom, Jolyn, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was in high school. The news hit the self-proclaimed mama’s boy like a freight train and, when she passed the following year, Dahmen was lost.
Four years after his mom’s death his brother Zach received the news he had testicular cancer. Unlike Jolyn there was an option on treatment and, mercifully, Zach’s in good health today.
And then it was Joel’s turn. In 2011, shortly after he began playing professionally, he discovered a lump on his scrotum. He called Zach who immediately told him to go to the doctor. He knew it was bad. Really bad. Made worse by the fact that he had no health insurance.
Had it not been for a chance encounter with millionaire jet fuel trader Bob Yosaitis, who Dahmen had met at an amateur event where Yosaitis was caddying for his son, it would probably be a very different story.
Dahmen reached out to Yosaitis in tears. This was life-or-death stuff. Without batting an eyelid, Yosaitis offered to pay for the treatment. Doctors removed his testicle and Dahmen spent several weeks undergoing chemotherapy. The rest, as they say, is history and 2021 marks 10 years since he beat the disease.
A man with big dreams needs a woman with vision. Fortunately for Dahmen, Lona Skutt is that woman. Anyone who is prepared to give their other half $200, kick their lazy butt off the couch and force them to go for a golf lesson is a keeper. Dahmen will readily admit he didn’t need the coaching. What he needed was the support; something to look forward to.
‘I knew I was good, but I obviously had flaws,’ he says. ‘I just needed refining and understanding, and some growing up to do, obviously.’
The lesson, in case you’re wondering, was with the director of instruction at TPC Scottsdale, Rob Rashell, who told Dahmen to clear his left hip. Problem solved. Talk about money for jam.
But back to Skutt. The two met while Joel was undergoing chemo. She found his curly hair regrowth cute and was charmed by his gift of the gab. In just two months the pair uttered their first ‘I love yous’ (when you know, you know) and, not long after, Skutt ditched her job in New York and moved to Scottsdale, where they still live today.
After a seven-year courtship, the pair married in 2019. The ceremony was officiated by, you guessed it, Bonnalie who, if that email is anything to go by, would probably have married Dahmen himself if Skutt had left him at the altar.
Today, if you ask Dahmen, he’ll tell you he preferred the mini Tours. He says he misses the camaraderie, fun and cheering on his mates. And then there are the cool stories.
Like locking your clubs in the boot after a boozy night on the town with your new girlfriend and playing the final round of a Gateway Tour event with a rental set and a driver with a regular shaft. Those kinda stories. He ended up finishing in a tie for seventh by the way. But yeah, you don’t do that sort of stuff in the big leagues.
To date, Dahmen has won over $7-million in prize money on the PGA Tour and, as at the end of July, was ranked 84th in the world. All signs seem to indicate a trend in the right direction. With Bonnalie on the bag, the two have chemistry many professionals will be envious of (right, Bryson?). He has a wife now and a dog named Murphy. He’s healthy. Life’s good.
But away from the limelight, pressure and trappings that come with big-time success you know he’s probably happiest sitting in a bar with his mates, sucking back on a cold one, having a good time. And of course, he’s paying.
FACT FILE
Age: 33
College: University of Washington
Turned pro: 2010
Pro wins: Three
PGA Tour wins: One (Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship)
Highest world ranking: 58th
Best Major finish: T10 (2020 PGA Championship)
Tours played: PGA Tour Canada (2010-14); Web.com Tour (2015-16); PGA Tour (2017-present)
– This article first appeared in the September 2021 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine. The October 2021 issue is on sale now.
