Joel Dahmen Talks Grappling with Newfound Netflix Fame While Starring in ‘Full Swing’ Season 2

The PGA Tour journeyman was the breakout star of Season 1 but his on-course struggles are a prominent storyline in the second season.

When golf fans tune into the second season of Netflix’s Full Swing starting Wednesday (warning: there are spoilers ahead in this article), they’ll find quite a few familiar faces while working through the eight episodes. Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Matt Fitzpatrick, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Joel Dahmen all returned for another year of filming after Full Swing’s booming success in 2023.

But with a fresh year’s worth of behind-the-scenes content comes new revelations. And as viewers continue to follow those mainstay characters, they’ll learn more about them—even if players might not want certain things to be learned.

Dahmen came into Season 1 of Full Swing as an “if you know, you know” PGA Tour journeyman. The bucket hat made him stand out and to those who followed closely, he was always known as a candid and entertaining interview. Then Netflix broadcast Dahmen’s story to the world and made him an instantly relatable star. He touched viewers by sharing his battle with testicular cancer and the trauma associated with losing his mother, while providing laughter with his self-deprecating humor and close bond with caddie Geno Bonnalie.

“Somebody’s got to be the 70th-best player in the world. It might as well be me,” Dahmen said in Season 1.

Dahmen is back for Season 2, but this year, things are … different. Instead of receiving his own episode, the 36-year-old is juxtaposed with Wyndham Clark, who broke through to win his first major in 2023. In Episode 3, titled “Mind Game,” Clark works with prominent PGA Tour sports psychologist Julie Elion to level up his game, and Dahmen is seen spiraling—he’s playing poorly while coping with the unfamiliar sensations of stardom and the challenges of being a new dad. Bonnalie begs Dahmen to see a mental coach, while Clark practices meditation and collects checks. The vulnerability displayed in the episode will strike a chord with viewers.

Joel Dahmen and his close relationship with caddie Geno Bonnalie are prominent in Season 2 of "Full Swing." :: Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour/Getty Images

“Me being famous and having all the popularity, playing the worst golf of my career … uh. It sucks,” Dahmen says.

The contrast between the two players is insightful, but it’s not hard to assume that it might have been an uncomfortable watch for Dahmen himself. Especially since Dahmen quickly points out to Sports Illustrated that his struggles didn’t persist for the entire season.

“It happened, it's real life, but I think it was a very small time frame of the actual year. I mean, there’s the magic of editing at Netflix, right?” Dahmen says.

While we’ll leave it up to you to decide what to make of the episode, we did ask Dahmen and Bonnalie to provide some honest takeaways, and they delivered. Here’s what the caddie-player duo had to say about their appearance in Full Swing Season 2.

Sports Illustrated: What were your first impressions of the episode when you watched it? Did your expectations match how it turned out?

Joel Dahmen: I knew there were spots throughout that last year where the cameras were on and I was like, this is gonna be on the show and this sucks. We put ourselves out there. When cameras and microphones follow around all the time, they're gonna get stuff. Obviously we didn't have the year that we planned, we wanted to win a bunch of golf tournaments and it would have been really fun to just talk to this magic person and then win a major. But that's not quite real life either. The episode is fine. It happened, it's real life, but I think it was a very small time frame of the actual year. I mean, there’s the magic of editing at Netflix, right? They took a few moments, made it look like it was the worst year of all time, when in reality, it was a rough four to six weeks, and everyone has those.

Geno Bonnalie: Actually I thought the way they contrasted Joel and Wyndham in the episode was good. We had a really good fall at the end of 2022 and then once Season 1 came out in January, we had a lull for a little bit. The episode came out how I thought it might. It wasn't negative by any means. It was just a tough calendar year on the golf course. Joel had a lot of stuff going on in his personal life too—moving to a new house, the baby and Netflix coming out. I think that played a factor in it all. But overall, I enjoyed the episode and I thought the balance between Wham and Joel was good.

SI: You were experiencing the impact of Season 1 of Full Swing while being filmed for Season 2. Was that difficult to wrap your head around?

JD: I think it might be hard for the public to wrap their head around that, more so. When they watch this, public perception versus reality—how they edit it and all the stuff that goes into it is always interesting. I was dealing with fame, which is weird. I was trying to be a good dad. There were so many other things than golf that was like making golf hard, and golf is hard enough on its own. But I was dealing with stuff that everyone goes through at some point. Most people are going to have a kid and people are going to have ups and downs on the golf course. We had done things our own way for so long. Then you add a couple twists to it and all of a sudden, your life is turned upside down and it's just different. So trying to figure all that out while playing good golf, and it took me a while to handle it all. I think we're on solid ground again and we’re moving in the right direction.

SI: What do you think people will learn about the caddie and player dynamics on the PGA Tour from some of those difficult moments that you and Joel had on and off the course?

GB: I don't think it's the case with every player and caddie relationship, but there are several where the caddie is more than just someone who carries the golf bag and helps read a few putts. Joel and I are probably on the extreme end. We are so close off the golf course as well.

JD: I think most of the time in the situation that we had is the player would just fire the caddie—it's a business relationship more so. So players will just find a guy who is a “yes” man or does whatever he wants them to do. But Geno and I, we're family at this point. We’re brothers. Breaking up would be the easy thing to do. But sticking it out and being in a relationship and trying to fix our—well, my problems are your problems—so our problems, is a testament to our relationship. He wanted me to be better.

SI: Did you have a feeling what Geno might be saying in his interviews or did you guys have to have a conversation about what might come out?

GB: I sent him a text. I was like, ‘Hey, I'm just getting ready to start my interview.’ And he's like, ‘Have fun talking about a sports psychologist all day.’

JD: I knew exactly what he was going to say because we had conversations already. We know what each other is thinking without even talking about it. I knew what it was going to be and he's correct. We've also chatted about that off-camera as well.

SI: Are you seeing the sports psychologist?

JD: I am seeing a sports performance coach—a life performance coach. He doesn't have an official title, but I've been talking to him since September. He's been good. I played well in the fall. My overall process is better. I was 36 years old and didn't really have a routine. I got pretty far on the PGA Tour by doing whatever I wanted. So now I just have a little bit more of a process. It makes our life simpler and easier. Results will be coming hopefully soon. Just because you talk to someone doesn't mean you're going to win majors all of a sudden.

GB: Yes it does. (Laughs)

JD: Are we happier? Is our golf trending in the right direction? Are we doing all the little things that we probably haven't done for a long time? Yeah. I'm excited for it. I'm excited to be on this run of five or six weeks, play golf, and come up for air and see where we're at.

SI: Is there anything that you guys thought was going to make it into the show that didn’t air?

JD: I just wish that we could edit all this stuff. It would be way different and way funnier.

GB: They weren't with us as much in Season 2 as they were in Season 1, so I had a pretty good idea of what was going to be in there. We did have a Waffle House scene this year that I thought was good that didn’t make it. We went to breakfast, before the Zurich Classic, the two-man event, and we were just goofing around in there. It could have made the episode, but it didn't fit in. I didn't really go with the, with the vibe.

JD: Clearly. Geno ended up actually applying me for a Waffle House job because I was playing so poorly. There was also the go-kart scene where I crushed you.

GB: Every time we go go-karting, they give Joel the fast one because he's the celebrity.