After a tough 70 in the third round of The RSM Classic, Joel Dahmen’s hopes of retaining his PGA Tour card for the 2025 season seemed slim. Entering the final round in 124th place, he faced the daunting task of shooting a 65 or better to stay inside the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings. With his future on the line, Dahmen delivered a remarkable bogey-free performance on Sunday, carding a 6-under 64 that included four birdies and an eagle.

His stellar play propelled him up the leaderboard, from T61 to T35, climbing 26 spots. Overcome with emotion after the round, the 37-year-old golfer shared an emotional celebration with his caddie and wife, Lona Skutt, marking a pivotal moment in his career. But the story that inspired him to stay motivated is truly your everyday desire. He just wanted to get better! Get better at life. It was a Navy Seal who helped him achieve that.

Amanda Balionis asked Dahmen about how his experience has been working with Navy Seal since she last saw him in October. To that, the PGA Tour Pro shared how it gave him mental strength. “My performance coach, Chris Bertram back home had this wonderful idea. He works with a seal out here for his other clients and he thought it was a good idea for me to maybe toughen me up in a mental way. When you think of navy seal stuff, it is like crazy physical stuff, but honestly, it’s more mental than anything,” he said. He went on to add how they did some water training. Result of it all? “I got better at life,” he said.

Joel Dahmen has gone through a lot of setbacks in his life. First was actually losing someone very close to him to the Big C. Battling cancer himself was second. Almost losing his Tour card was third. And well, he has triumphed through all of them. 

Joel Dahmen has shown resilience time, and again. 

Dahmen lost his mother while he was still in high school. Dahmen opened up about the profound impact of losing his rock and how it left him feeling lost and uncertain about his future. “I also probably… even bigger than myself, but I lost my mom to cancer when I was in high school and I was kind of a lost kid, right? I went from a small town to a big city, got swallowed up by the big university, was just kind of a lost ship,” he said.

“I was a 17-year-old kid who was a mama’s boy who had the best mum in the world. And she did everything for me and all of a sudden, she’s gone. I was kind of like a rudderless ship out in the ocean just floating around,” said Joel Dahmen while recalling the tragic time.

After he lost his mother, the golfer felt lost, and it took years to heal. But, it made him resilient. “You know, I didn’t have a rudder; my mom was my rudder. She was my best friend,” he said. He always made it back no matter what!

He himself battled cancer and beat it. “I was so devastated. I wasn’t practicing for the final stage. I had nothing really to plan, so I just shut it down,” he opened up about battling cancer in 2020. Indeed a scary thing, but it’s the perseverance and mental toughness that helped him fight these hiccups.

What do you think about Joel Dalhmen’s journey? Let us know in the comments section below!