Joel Dahmen confirmed that he has parted ways with longtime caddie Geno Bonnalie, splitting the pair that rose to stardom during the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing.”
Dahmen and Bonnalie grew up as childhood friends in Clarkston, Wash. and began working together on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2015. Bonnalie was on the bag when Dahmen won his lone PGA Tour event to date at the 2021 Corales Puntacana Championship, but the 37-year-old has struggled with his form much of the past two years.
After grinding to retain his PGA Tour card last fall, Dahmen has fallen to 172nd in the Official World Golf Ranking while missing 12 of 19 cuts in 2025. He set the 36-hole scoring record at Puntacana in April and entered the final round with a three-stroke lead, only to suffer a meltdown that included missing a 1-foot putt on the 17th hole and missing out on a playoff by one shot.
Dahmen acknowledged at the time that “this one could take a while to get over,” and he has not advanced to the weekend in seven of eight starts since. That includes at last week’s Scottish Open, where he missed the cut by four shots.
Dahmen sits 117th in the FedEx Cup standings, well outside of the top 70 who will qualify for the first leg of next month’s playoffs. Only the top 100 players at the end of the year will retain full playing status for 2026.
“We’re still the best of friends and that will never change,” Dahmen wrote in a post on X. “But we both know that a fresh perspective is sometimes needed and it’s been a great run. I couldn’t be more proud of what we have achieved together as guys from a small town in the middle of nowhere.
“I am going to keep the main focus on the task at hand to end the year and put myself in position to make a run.
“We are grateful for so much this game has given us. Lets finish strong.”
Dahmen is in the field for this week’s opposite-field event at the Barracuda Championship, but has not revealed who will be on his bag. He joins a list of players who have changed caddies this year that includes world No. 6 Collin Morikawa and Max Homa, a six-time winner on tour who has tumbled to No. 101.
No. 3 Xander Schauffele, who is in Northern Ireland this week to defend his title at The Open Championship, was asked about the “caddie carousel drama” of late and how his relationship with his own longtime caddie, Austin Kaiser.
“I know I put myself in his shoes, and I want him to give me his honest advice,” Schauffele said Tuesday. “I trust him. He played golf. He’s a good player. When I ask him for his advice, tell me what you think — and we know each other’s tendencies when we play golf as well. He hits his putts harder than I do, so he’s always on maybe a little bit lower read, things of that nature.
“But I told him, ‘I won’t ever fire you because you thought it was this and I thought it was that, and if I was right, that’s not going to be the difference-maker.’
“There’s a lot of variables in golf. Austin is a great guy, a great caddie. He’s one of my best friends. I think, if you can keep your caddie as a constant, it’s an advantage.”
–Field Level Media
