PGA Tour assesses Joel Dahmen harsh penalty for dumbfounding reason

Joel Dahmen already faces an uphill climb to receive PGA Tour status in 2025.

But that road just got a whole lot tougher.

During Thursday’s opening round of the Shriners Children’s Open, the PGA Tour assessed Dahmen a four-shot penalty. He had 15 clubs in his bag—one more than the maximum of 14. His 4-iron was the guilty party.

So, instead of Dahmen carding a pair of pars on his opening two holes, the PGA Tour added two strokes on each, meaning he began with two doubles. That turned a benign start into an aggravating one.

But according to the United States Golf Association (USGA), Rule 4.1.b within the Rules of Golf reads:

You must not start a round with more than 14 clubs or have more than 14 clubs during the round.

When you become aware that you are in breach of this Rule by having more than 14 clubs, you must immediately take the excess club or clubs out of play.

For stroke play events, such as this week’s Shriners Children’s Open, the penalty for breaching this rule is as follows:

Two Penalty Strokes, Maximum of Four Strokes: You get the general penalty (two penalty strokes) for each hole where a breach happened, with a maximum of four penalty strokes in the round (adding two penalty strokes at each of the first two holes where a breach happened).

NBC Sports’ Smylie Kaufman reported that Dahmen noticed he had an extra club on the 4th tee. But as Kaufman pointed out, Dahmen could only receive a four-stroke penalty.

It’s still harsh, especially when Damhen is fighting for his livelihood. He arrived at TPC Summerlin ranked 124th in the FedEx Cup Fall rankings. Only the top 125 receive PGA Tour status for 2025, meaning he has plenty of work to do over the next few weeks. Four events on the FedEx Cup Fall calendar remain after this week’s Shriners Children’s Open.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.