‘Know what you’re capable of’: Jon Rahm’s secret to playing consistent golf

If there’s one player who knows a thing or two about consistency, it’s reigning U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm.

The current World No. 1 had a whopping 15 top-10 finishes last season, and ahead of his first event of 2022, the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Rahm said he’s hoping to maintain the form he displayed during his hot summer stretch, when he finished no worse than T9 over the course of six events spanning from May to September — not including the seeming lock he had on a victory at the Memorial, when a positive Covid test forced him to withdraw with one round remaining.

While Rahm acknowledged that improving on his performance last season is setting the bar quite high, he also shared what he believes are the secrets to his consistency.

Instruction

“Know yourself, know your swing, know your body, know what you’re capable of, know why you swing the way you do,” Rahm said. “And once you know that you’ll be able to come out with basically the three things you need to do to have a consistent swing or at least a consistent ball flight.”

Rahm said that having a checklist on his swing has been a big key for him.

“Maybe setup, maybe a feel, maybe a look, something on your swing that you like to have,” Rahm explained. “There’s got to be something you need to have that, when you’re not hitting it well, you can fall back on to have a consistent, at least a ball flight or a shot that you can at least predict the outcome of more or less.”

The other key to success? Rahm says it’s the ability to work with what you’ve got.

“If one day you wake up, usually you draw the ball, but the ball’s not drawing, maybe try not to hit draws, right?” Rahm said. “Always try to play a shot that you know you can play. Golf is not a hitting contest, it’s posting the best score you can post. Doesn’t matter how it looks, it’s just competing and getting the lowest round out there.”

Sage advice indeed.