Why this PGA Tour pro hits shanks on purpose (despite fans laughing at him)

If you happen to catch Joel Dahmen shanking shots on the range at a pro golf tournament, please, don’t laugh at him. He’s doing it on purpose.

As odd as it sounds, Dahmen has practiced this drill for quite some time. He appeared on this week’s Subpar podcast with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz to explain.

“I’m pretty good at shanking the golf ball,” he said. “I think if you can hit the hosel, you can hit the center [of the golf club], and if you practice hitting the hosel, it will never come up when it’s not supposed to come up.”

Sounds logical enough. Dahmen even went into detail about one instance he broke out that strategy at last year’s Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C. Dahmen was in 2nd place in the final round but still needed lots of help to catch Max Homa, who led by three and was putting on the 14th green when play was suspended. After the weather lifted, Dahmen went to the range and at one point started going through his hosel drill.

“I can hear guys like laughing behind me in the crowd,” he said. “There’s 10 or 12 guys. They are like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe whats going on.’ Almost always when I got to the range, I try to set up on the left side so everyone can get a tase of the hostel going past them. Now most guys know what’s going on, but it’s still hilarious to see some people and the reaction when I’m hoseling three or four in a row.”

Dahmen finished 2nd behind Homa, which remains the 32-year-old’s best finish on the PGA Tour. He also tied for 2nd at the 2018 John Deere Classic. After grinding on development tours for a couple of years, Dahmen has now made more than $5 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour and is ranked 70th in the world.

You can check out the entire interview with Dahmen below, in which he discusses his home course’s unique rule to discourage slow play, his famous rules controversy with Sung Kang, his rise to the PGA Tour and more.