‘Only upside’ as Joel Dahmen remembers time on International Tours

Joel Dahmen’s journey in professional golf has been long talked about, opined on, featured, podcasted, and now, Netflix-ed. It keeps getting told because it’s a story that has it all. The best ones always do. Drama and heartache. Loss and love. There are people who pay money to watch him compete at PGA TOUR events, and that has taken some getting used to, he says.

But this whole journey, this whole place in pro golf’s big world, got started on PGA TOUR Canada. Beginning in February 2024, the Canadian circuit and PGA TOUR Latinoamérica will come together into one new stage – PGA TOUR Americas, announced this week.

“It’s only going to be good for the developmental side of things,” said Dahmen, “and I think it’s a good move by the PGA TOUR.”

Dahmen was the 2014 PGA TOUR Canada Player of the Year after winning twice (in the first three tournaments, in fact) and nearly notching a third title later that season. It was Dahmen’s fifth year on the circuit and at that point, he had learned what he needed. It was time to move on.

“I was up there long enough that I could see the players that were moving on and graduating and I could see what they were doing. And they weren’t always having as much fun as I was,” admits Dahmen, his trademark humor firmly intact. “Obviously with the golf stuff you had to learn, and you had to adapt, and you had to get better. Otherwise, you were going to fall off the wayside.

“It definitely prepared me, golf-wise, but it was also some of the most fun I had in my life.”

Dahmen had a solid, if unspectacular, Korn Ferry Tour season in 2015 – with nine top-25 finishes in 20 events. The next year he earned PGA TOUR status by finishing No. 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour’s regular season standings. At the time, it was a money-based list, with the top 25 on the regular-season standings earning TOUR membership. Dahmen earned his PGA TOUR card by $975.

Since then, Dahmen has been a fixture on TOUR. He had a fabulous fall in 2022, with five top-20 results, including three straight top-10s to close out that portion of the season. Dahmen and his wife, Lona, welcomed their first child – a boy, Riggs – in January. The trio spent this week packing and moving into their custom-built dream home in Scottsdale. Life’s plenty different these days for the 35-year-old versus when he got started as a pro. It registers now, he says, to be an influential figure in this sport – both under his own roof and beyond.

“It took me a while to realize that,” Dahmen said Monday afternoon. “It’s fun and new and different, but having a kid myself and wanting him to be involved in golf … he’s going to have every opportunity to grow up around the best players in the world, and how big of an impact that could have is very cool.”

It’s one thing for TOUR fans to get excited to see Dahmen tee it up at the biggest events in the world. But there’s a heaping handful who may be entering their formative years of junior golf thinking about how if a guy like him could climb the ladder – a ladder that has been reinforced this week with the announcement of PGA TOUR Americas – then they could, too.

All in, PGA TOUR Americas will have a 16-event season across Latin America, Canada and the United States, with two tournament segments and a mid-season qualifying school. A cumulative points race will award 10 exempt Korn Ferry Tour cards (guaranteed starts to begin the season, subject to the third reshuffle). It’s an opportunity for the next generation of TOUR stars to learn how to be pros. The structure will commence in February 2024.

Young pros will compete in PGA TOUR Americas tournaments contested over four rounds, with early-week pro-ams and city-to-city travel. The format serves as an education for life on the Korn Ferry Tour and eventually the PGA TOUR, Dahmen said.

“And that’s what they try to do – they try to make it as similar as possible so that way when you move up Tours, it’s not a huge transition,” said Dahmen.

The competition on those Tours, Dahmen explains, has become more impressive. It has changed in the near decade-and-a-half from when he started on PGA TOUR Canada, with now what looks to be the “who’s who coming out of the amateur ranks” teeing it up on the Pathway Tours.

One could peruse the list of the PGA TOUR’s best, Dahmen said, and they’ve been on those Tours. Nearly 30% of PGA TOUR members for the 2022-23 season are alumni of PGA TOUR Canada (since 2013) and/or PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (since 2012), with 28 alums of those Tours now PGA TOUR winners.

Dahmen knows there are more good players to come. He was there once, at the beginning. Now he’s at the top and still fighting. Life’s different, but the goals are similar. Win. Win again. Someone has to be the 70th-ranked professional golfer in the world, he jokes in Netflix’s “Full Swing,” and it might as well be him.

For the next generation who will be competing on PGA TOUR Americas, there will be lots of work ahead – but a great opportunity as well.

“I’m kind of jealous they get to travel the world at a fun, young age. It’s going to be a ton of fun,” Dahmen said with a smile. “I think it’s great. There is really only upside to it.”