Swing Sequence: Jon Rahm

The name of the game with this modern swing? Smash it high and hard

How this rising star smashes it high and hard.

Only a few players come to the PGA Tour with the “can’t miss” tag. It stems from a top amateur pedigree and the power and polish to compete with the high-horsepower modern stars. Jon Rahm brings it all. A two-time Ben Hogan Award winner as the best player in college golf, the former Arizona State Sun Devil had an impressive 2016 professional debut, recording two top-threes in his first four starts on the PGA Tour. In six events, he won more than $1 million and earned full-time status for 2017.

Rahm does a lot of his damage with his longest club. “Driving is the best part of my game now,” he says, and his long-ball statistics back it up. His money shot is the same one favored by another notable bomber with a similarly bowed left-wrist swing—U.S. Open champion and 2016 PGA Tour Player of the Year Dustin Johnson. “A high fade is my go-to shot,” Rahm says of his 305-yard rockets. “I can hit it hard with low spin, and I still get good launch and consistency. I don’t quite get it out there as far as D. J., but I hit it far enough.” Plenty far from what these swing images imply. —