You’d be hard-pressed to find a cooler golf story in 2026 than Joe Dean winning the British Masters in August. The 32-year-old Englishman had been delivering groceries as a way to support his golf career just three years earlier. But now another reason to root for this everyman golfer has emerged.
Joe Dean barely does a warmup before his rounds. And, in fact, he once went an entire DP World Tour season without hitting any pre-round golf balls. Somewhere, John Daly is even impressed.
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Dean told this and talked about his unusual path to becoming one of the best players in the world in a recent episode of the Life On Tour podcast. His entire story is fascinating, but here’s the part about his lack of warming up before rounds.
Joe Dean on why he stopped hitting balls before teeing off 👀 pic.twitter.com/yABkEe26gN
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) October 7, 2026
“I think I’m probably 30 years too late in the game,” Dean says in the clip. “I think I needed to be back in John Daly’s era.”
Dean explains part of this came from playing on mini-tours that didn’t have great practice facilities. And the funniest part comes when George Harper Jr. asks him if he hits the gym instead ahead of rounds.
“Definitely not,” Dean says looking down at his mid-section. “That’s breathing in as well.”
Well, whatever Dean’s doing, it’s working. He’s currently 14th in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai and he’s in contention again this week at the Spanish Open. Go, Joe, go.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
