Why was Joel Dahmen handed a 4 stroke penalty at Shriners Children's Open? Unusual reason explored

Joel Dahmen was given a four-stroke penalty for having extra clubs in his bag. The American golfer teed it up at the 2024 Shriners Children's Open on Thursday, October 17, with 15 clubs in his bag.

However, per Rule 4.1b, a player can have a maximum of 14 clubs while playing in an official tournament. Having more than that can result in a penalty of two strokes on each hole the player has played before realizing the extra club. However, a maximum of only four strokes penalty can be given.

Joel Dahmen learned about his one extra club on the fourth hole, so he was penalized for the first three holes. He earned a four-stroke penalty, as that's the maximum allowed.

The USGA Rule 4.1b covers the clubs in the bag. It states:

"Limit of 14 Clubs. A player must not: Start a round with more than 14 clubs, or Have more than 14 clubs during the round."

About the penalty in stroke format, the rule says:

"Two Penalty Strokes, Maximum of Four Strokes: The player gets the general penalty (two penalty strokes) for each hole where a breach happened, with a maximum of four penalty strokes in the round (adding two penalty strokes at each of the first two holes where a breach happened)."

Notably, his four-stroke penalty affected his score for the opening round of the PGA Tour event. Dahmen shot a round of 1-over par, but because of the penalty, his total resulted in a 5-over 76. He settled in the 131st position on the leaderboard.

Dahmen shot three bogeys and two birdies in the opening round, along with his two double bogey penalties on the first two holes. Play was suspended due to darkness on Thursday. However, the 36-year-old golfer completed his round.

For the players who still need to complete their first round, play will resume at 11:10 a.m. ET, while the second round will start at 9:55 a.m. ET on Friday, October 18.

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"Never happened to me before" – Joel Dahmen on receiving penalty at the Shriners Children's Open

Dahmen opened up about getting the penalty at the 2024 Shriners Children's Open. He called the incident "bizarro" and acknowledged that it had never happened to him. He said (via Golf Digest):

"Bizarro! Never happened to me before. I travel with 15, 16 clubs. I think most people out here do depending on conditions and courses. You know, been traveling out here for a long time and never happened before. I'd like it blame [caddie] Geno [Bonnalie]. That would be the easy thing to do. It's not his fault either. I played Tuesday and Wednesday out here. We didn't see it in there. It was an extra 4-iron, so I had two 4-irons in the bag."

Joel Dahmen has had a decent season on the PGA Tour so far. He has competed in 25 tournaments and has one top-10 finish. He last competed at the 2024 Black Desert Championship and was tied for 40th place.