Brad Dalke is a great PGA Tour player, said Colt Knost, a former PGA Tour player himself and now a PGA Tour TV analyst.
This leads to a natural PGA Tour question – for those no One of YouTube Golf’s biggest stars:
Will he try the Tour again?
This idea came up in an interesting exchange on GOLF’s Subpar podcast this week, which you can watch in full here . Knost, one of the show’s co-hosts, said he performed with Dahlke last year. He said he understood Dahlke’s background, which includes winning an NCAA team title at Oklahoma State, a runner-up finish at the 2016 U.S. Amateur and two starts in the majors. Dahlke was also part of the winning team at the Barstool Sports Internet Invitational, which brought together 48 online golf celebrities to compete in a $1 million tournament.
“Everyone on YouTube Golf is obviously raving about your talent, and it’s real,” Knost said on Subpar. “Just like you have the talent to play on the PGA Tour.”
That meant he had a unique choice: Try to play golf at the highest level, or continue playing golf on YouTube, where golf videos have only recently exploded in popularity. But it’s not as simple as it sounds.
After trying professional golf after college, he said he remembers the “grind.” And drudgery doesn’t suit the members of the Good Good team.
“You know, I love competition,” Dahlke said on Subpar. “I love the game and I’m in a very different position now than I was when I was playing professional golf. I mean, when I was playing professional golf before, I think I was probably a two-handicap scratch…
“I couldn’t hit the broadside of the barn with my driver. I tried to fix my driver and it made my irons go bad. So I couldn’t hit golf balls to save my life. Luckily I still had my wedges and could keep myself in it a little bit. But I’m now It’s like I’m a really good golfer again now, so there’s always that desire to go back and compete again and see what I can do now that I’ve got my game.”
But he said full-time professional golf requires work.
The grind is “a lot.” This is expensive. “Unless you get to the highest level, you don’t really make much money,” he said, “and YouTube has a lot of money now.”
That being said, if specifically invited to the tournament, Dahlke said he would attend. Of course he will.
“I think it’s a question of, you know, if I get some sponsor exemptions and get some opportunities that way, obviously I’m going to accept that and I’m going to do the best I can – I’m going to try to play the best I can in those moments,” Dahlke said on Subpar. “But as far as going to Q-school and playing the PGA Tour of the Americas and Korn Ferry, it doesn’t seem very attractive to me right now, to be honest. You know, the YouTube money is pretty good.
