The whole online golf community was glued to the Internet Invitational last week. The six-episode tournament has more than 23 million views and has been the talk of the golf world in November.
One of the main takeaways from the Internet Invitational? The prowess of Brad Dalke.
Dalke was the key member of the three-man winning crew which also featured Francis Ellis and the late Cody “Beef” Franke. The three winners split the $1 million prize.
To say Dalke was the best player at the event would be a gross understatement. He barely missed a shot the entire tournament.
One commenter wrote: “I’ve watched a concerning amount of YouTube golf and I’m convinced Brad Dalke could be a high-end PGA Tour player.”
That’s a little extreme but it’s not all that farfetched. Relative to other YouTube golfers (non-Bryson division), he might as well be a god.
Where did Dalke come from? And how did he end up on YouTube?
He’s a national champion who played in the Masters
Dalke was born in Yukon, Okla., just outside of Oklahoma City.
He was a highly successful junior golfer who won the 2015 Junior PGA Championship, a prestigious event featuring some of the best high schoolers in the country. That victory earned him an exemption into the 2016 Valero Texas Open, a PGA Tour event. His junior career included being named as a first-team All-American AJGA performer five times and earning a spot on the 2014 U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team.
Dalke famously committed to play for the University of Oklahoma when he was just 12 years old. That made him among the youngest athletes to ever commit to a D-I golf program.
His career at Oklahoma was decorated as he was a fixture on the 2017 NCAA Championship team. He won the NCAA Stanford Regional as an individual that year.
But perhaps the biggest accomplishment of his career came in 2016 when Dalke finished runner-up to Curtis Luck in the 2016 U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills Country Club. The finish gave him exemptions into the 2017 Masters and U.S. Open. He missed the cut in both, shooting 78-75 in his Masters appearance.
Dalke also qualified for the American teams in the 2016 World Amateur and 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup.
“I was a very decorated junior golfer and I hit the ball so good all the time,” Dalke said in a video earlier this year. “It was so much fun. I had no fear. I just striped it. I had bad days, too, but my bad days were not all that bad.”
While he wasn’t necessarily a star player in college, he was a great junior golfer and a very good college player who had every reason to believe he could be a successful pro.
Dalke’s pro career hasn’t developed as expected
It’s important to keep in mind that Dalke is only 28 years old so his story is still being written.
However, professional golf has been a struggle to this point.
After turning pro in 2019, Dalke only competed in one Korn Ferry Tour event, which resulted in a missed cut.
Struggling with full-blown driver yips that had started to creep into his game as early as 2014, Dalke found himself grinding on mini tours and going nowhere fast.
“It started off as a physical thing but it turned into a mental thing because I was scared to hit driver because of the possibility of that big miss. I struggled with it all throughout college. Driver yips are not fun. It’s hard to play a normal round of golf when you can’t even hit driver on property.”
Dalke had switched coaches after college but his ball striking continued to deteriorate.
“The only thing I had going for me was I was a really good putter. I would putt the eyes out of the ball and shoot 76.”
A few months before he was planning to quit pro golf—his finances had nearly run out and he was struggling with alcohol consumption—Good Good came to Oklahoma and shot a video with Dalke.
It was a perfect match and Dalke ended up traveling with the group. In 2023, Dalke decided to go full-time with Good Good so he could build his career as a content creator who didn’t have to rely on professional golf.
Seems like that decision has worked out for him. Without the constant pressure of pro golf, Dalke found his game.
He just won $333,000 at the Internet Invitational, in addition to winning $100,000 at the Creator Classic in August. There will surely be more money to come in these events.
When you look at the other top YouTube golfers—Sean Walsh, Luke Kwon, Peter Finch, the Bryan Bros. and others—Dalke has clearly proven himself as the top dog.
Time for a comeback?
Now that Dalke has a little bit of freedom, he’s considering a comeback into the pro golf ranks. He said he would still remain with Good Good while chasing that dream.
“What does it look like getting back into pro golf? I don’t know … the Good Good guys want to see me give it another shot.”
Nothing has materialized in terms of Dalke entering pro events but he promises to pursue opportunities in 2026.
It will require a change in the Good Good schedule because it’s been too busy for him to take a serious run at professional golf. He also got married in 2025 so that took up a lot of his focus this year as well.
Do you think Dalke will make a comeback? Will he reach the PGA Tour if he does?
Let me know below in the comments.
Top Photo Caption: Brad Dalke has established himself as the best golfer on YouTube. (GETTY IMAGES/Ben Jared)
Colby Goodson
7 months ago
LIV ???