How Jon Rahm adapts to new drivers

Each major manufacturer has a tour driver assigned to some of the largest staff players, and for Callaway, the job fell to Kellen Watson.

Watson is Tour Rep, who works directly on top of bags from Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Min Woo Lee, etc.

Watson explained to host Johnny Wunder that on the full gear of this week’s Golf, the process is the process of turning players like Rahm into new drivers before each season becomes very specific.

Watson said that it is first necessary to determine which header RAHM will test. This year’s Callaway Elyte range also has five different retail models, and several tour-only models, but Watson only picked two to test the new product before he went to meet with Rahm.

“I won’t choose another option,” Watson said. “I’m not even going to take them.

“It’s worthless to bring a lot of different options because if the first one doesn’t work and the first shot isn’t good, then it’s thrown to me.”

The two heads brought by Watson in the loft will be the same, and he will adjust the CGS to closely match the 2022 Rahm’s Rouge ST Triple Diamond LS. That year, Rahm finished first in the PGA Tour: he won the PGA Tour on Tee, more than one game. So he compared everything to the driver.

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It was also a good thing for Watson, when he was testing with Ram for the first time every year, it was usually not the first time he showed someone a new product.

“I’m not using them as lab rats or anything, but I’m getting more familiar with what others say and then trying to connect it to his work,” Watson said. “So, I’m looking at what the player is doing and Player A might just play a full-blown draw. Player B, I’m looking at him, he might just hit a down bullet and hit a direct shot. Player C might be a two-yard cut, right?

“So, I’m trying to figure out how these things work. Yes, like I want to figure out what these things work for them and then calculate in my mind what needs to be done and what lofts need to be set up. Does it need to be a more loft than last year? There are fewer lofts than last year than last year?”

To determine if the settings are worth exploring, Watson said he and Ram were looking for patterns instead of looking for numbers from the startup monitor.

“If the pattern is a pattern, just a pull cut that looks like it still has energy after it’s top and some sort of flat and a little flattened, then we’ve done our job,” he said. “We’re right.”

For more information on Watson, including why Callaway’s new blades quickly gained admiration, listen to the full episode of Golf Applective here or watch it below.

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