What makes Jon Rahm's Masters-winning irons unique

It may be painfully obvious to state, but Masters champion Jon Rahm is a top-tier ball striker, even amongst his peers of world-class golfers. Throughout his green jacket-winning performance, Rahm picked apart Augusta National with precision iron play, and he dissolved any potential drama that’s seemingly a staple of Sunday afternoon at the Masters.

For Rahm, however, his iron performance was nothing new.

Rahm currently ranks No. 1 on the PGA TOUR in Strokes Gained: Total this season. Within that all-encompassing stat, Rahm’s approach play is particularly stellar – he ranks 4th in SG: Approach the Green, first in approaches from 200-225 yards, second in approaches from less than 200 yards and first in approaches from less than 100 yards.

Typically, Rahm relies on a slight cut shot that starts just left of the right-hander’s target, and the ball falls gently to the right, ending up back at his target line. Rahm’s bowed left wrist and downward attack angle also help ensure solid ball-first contact. The combination of his reliable cut shot and consistently pure contact makes for predictable approaches that eliminate big numbers and provide him more chances to roll in makeable birdie putts.

Hitting the ball close to the pin is a plus on any golf course, but given how penalizing Augusta National is around the greens, and how complex the green contours are, it’s particularly helpful to have full control on approach shots. Rahm found all the right spots last week.

Hole after hole, even down the stretch on Sunday with a slew of chasers behind him and his first green jacket on the line, Rahm stuck to his patented cut shot and wore down the competition with consistent approaches placed away from danger.

Aside from his swing style, another important factor in Rahm’s consistency is that he doesn’t mess around much with his iron set. Although Rahm spent time tweaking his Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver ahead of the Masters, he hasn’t changed his irons since joining the Callaway staff at the beginning of 2021.

Rahm’s Masters-winning Callaway Apex TCB (tour cavity back) irons are bent a half-degree weak compared to the standard Apex TCB specifications, according to Callaway PGA TOUR rep Kellen Watson, who works closely with Rahm on his equipment needs.

Rahm also uses what are called “soft-stepped” Project X 6.5 iron shafts. “Soft stepping” is a club builder trick to make the shafts play slightly softer than standard – the builder will put a 5-iron shaft in a 6-iron, a 6-iron shaft in a 7-iron and so on throughout the set to help achieve slightly more launch and spin. The combination of weaker lofts and softer shafts helps Rahm to hit the spin, launch and carry numbers that he wants while still allowing him to hit down on the ball and deloft the club at impact.

“When he came over [to Callaway], we found out quickly that we needed to have soft-stepped 6.5s in his irons,” Watson told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the 2023 RBC Heritage. “Usually what we do with all our guys is do a performance combine. We do about 60 shots using clubs throughout the bag and never two of the same shots in a row. So, it could go 4-iron to 9-iron, 9-iron to 5-iron, 5-iron to 6-iron, 6-iron to wedge. We capture all that data and it’ll give us pretty much everything we need to know. During that process, when he first came over, we did that, compiled the data, we ate lunch, then we went back after bending all the irons loft and lie wise, and we got to the numbers that are his current loft and lie. They might appear like they’re a half-degree weak from standard, but there is no standard on the PGA TOUR.

“Spin-wise, he’s going to be right around 6,000-6,300 in spin [with the 6 iron], and that pretty much stays the same at whatever launch angle he hits it. If it’s lower, it’s going to spin more, and if he hits a higher one, it should spin a little bit less. But fulfilling those parameters is where we wanted to be as we started. Then obviously he took those irons, right after that, and shot 59 at the course.”

Yes, that’s correct; in Rahm’s first practice round in Scottsdale, Arizona using his new Callaway Apex TCB irons, he fired a 59. Those were the same iron models, specifications and shafts that he used to win the Masters.

“We have not changed anything in his irons since he’s come over [to Callaway],” Watson said. “Not one loft, not one lie, anything. But that’s him.”

Rahm isn’t one to change much when it comes to his equipment. The only change Rahm made to his wedges since 2021 was a 1-degree lie angle adjustment in his Callaway Jaws Raw 60-degree wedge. Watson says that Rahm wanted to present slightly more sole bounce at impact. That’s it.

On Tuesday at the RBC Heritage, the TOUR’s seventh designated event of the season, Watson told GolfWRX.com that he has a brand new iron set for Rahm that matches up exactly to his Masters-winning set. There are two reasons for that: 1) it’s about time for fresh grooves, and 2) the Masters-winning set would be a perfect addition to Rahm’s pseudo museum of clubs that he keeps in his golf simulator room.

“We built up a new set up just because, well, it’s almost that time…he’s very old school, and he doesn’t like to switch anything,” Watson said. “If I can get him to look at them this week that’d be nice, because he can take that set and put them in his house. He has, like, a museum at the bottom of his house, because he has a simulator. If only those clubs could talk.”

If Rahm’s Masters-winning irons could talk, they would probably ask to hit something other than a cut that lands softly and safely on the green – that has to get boring. But, boring approach play is how Rahm eliminated the competition and earned his first green jacket. His Callaway Apex TCB irons have done their jobs and it just may be time for them to join Rahm’s museum-worthy collection.