Joel Dahmen's 'bizarro' punishment begs the question: why are you only allowed 14 clubs in your golf bag?

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There aren't many more frustrating ways to start a round than to find you have too many clubs in your bag.

The rules state that a player cannot have more than 14 clubs in their bag at any time during a round, which is why Joel Dahmen was hit with four penalties at the Shriners Children's Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas.

The American realized his mistake on the fourth hole and was slapped with a four-shot penalty – so Dahmen had to add two shots on his first and second holes because there was an extra 4 iron there.

“Bizarro, it's never happened to me before. I go with 15, 16 clubs. I think a lot of people here do according to conditions and lessons. You know, I've been going here for a long time and it's never happened,” explained Dahmen, who opened with a 5-over 76 to stay one out of the bottom position.

“I would like to blame (caddie) Geno (Bonnalie). That would be an easy thing to do. It's not his fault either. I played Tuesday and Wednesday out here. We didn't see you there. It was an extra 4 iron, so I had two 4 irons in the bag.

“I don't know how it got there. It sucks. We got to the 4 tee and I got some water and went to my bag and saw that the 4 iron was in the wrong place and our things are always in the right place. It wasn't in the right place.

“He wants to be angry and he wants to be angry about everything. At the same time, I continued to play golf, and I didn't do a good job of that later. It's hard to refocus.

“Pass one to the other side when you give out penalties, which is not good at all here. It's frustrating, it's disappointing, but if you play golf for a long time, strange things will happen here. “

The 36-year-old is 124th in the FedEx Cup standings and is looking to improve his status on the PGA Tour in 2025.

The 14-club rule and its origins

Rule 4.1b states 'The player incurs the normal penalty (two penalty strokes) for each hole on which the breach occurs, plus four penalty strokes for the round (add two penalty strokes for each of the first two holes on which the breach occurs. .'

Interestingly, if a player starts a round with less than 14 clubs, he may add clubs during the round to the limit.

The 14 clubs rule was introduced in 1938 and exists for a number of reasons. It exists to enable the player to decide which clubs will suit a particular course and promote a certain level of shot rather than having a club fit for every yard.

Before the 1938 cut, players carried about 20 clubs to cover all possible shots. Steel shafted clubs were brought in and players would bring their steel and hickory-shafted clubs to tournaments which meant the caddy would have to carry the lot.

Scottish club player George Nicoll was the first to create a similar set of steel shafted clubs and he numbered them from one to nine so, if you put a putter and four wooden clubs, 14 was considered the right number.

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