CLARKSTON, Wash — Professional golfers rarely hail from the Inland Northwest. Yet, Clarkston’s Joel Dahmen not only got on to the PGA tour, but he has stuck.
"I'm still just a kid. Joel Dahmen from Clarkston, Washington," said Joel with a grin.
Just a kid, who happens to currently be one of the top 70 golfers in the world and finished tied for tenth at the PGA Championship on Sunday. It was Joel's fourth major. The highest he had finished at a major before Sunday was tied for 71st.
"Let me tell you about Joel," said his father Ed. "I think coming out of the womb he said, ‘Ball’. At two years old, for his birthday, we got him a plastic golf set. The very first day he’s taking those plastic balls, and he's hacking them clear across the yard, and he's two years old. We're like, ‘Are you kidding me?!’"
Just two years later at four years old and competing against seven and eight year olds, Joel won his first golf tournament.
Five years after that his dad decided to bet the house, quite literally, on Joel’s golf game.
"We saw his possibility of a talent, so in ‘96 we built the house over by Clarkston Golf and Country Club because I read a book. The book said this: Golfers who live by a golf course or have access to it are the ones who develop, and so we built this house by the golf course," said Ed.
"He saw talent, and he saw something. There was a lot there, but I think he saw more," said Joel.
Many golfers on the tour grew up at swanky country clubs with expensive private lessons. Joel didn’t have that, but he developed a community at the course that grew his love for the game. The head pro even gave him the keys to the gate so he could get his golf cart in and out whenever he wanted.
"I had the opportunity in a small town to do so much more than if you're from a bigger city. Everybody kind of knew who I was. They just kind of let me grow up," said Joel.
"I think it's an advantage, actually," said Ed of Joel's small town roots. "People when they know you, they’re your neighbors, to see him each and every day on the golf course-- If you're living up in Spokane at Manito or whatever, I don't think it's the same thing."
Dahmen hasn’t lived in Clarkston consistently for over ten years, yet like he said, he still just sees himself as a kid from the Valley.
"Clarkston will always have a piece of my heart. It's just such a great place to grow up. It takes a village and Clarkston was my village, for sure. Every week you get to plug in your hometown when you sign in, and it's always Clarkston, Washington for me. I don't think if I grew up in a bigger city or a different situation I would have maybe turned out this way," said Joel.
Perhaps more importantly though, Joel still sees himself as his father’s son.
"That was all his hard work, his money, and his sacrifice. It's what dads are supposed to do is what he always says, but he definitely went to greater lengths, for sure.
"Sorry, I still get choked up about it, but he sacrificed a lot, and he saw this. I love you dad," said Joel through tears and laughter.