Drive. Pure. Roll.

Three words. Simple. Yet, they have the power to make or break your round. For some of us, mastering golf ’s brick-and-mortar skills remains a mystery at best. So we’ve brought you the best. Enter DUSTIN JOHNSON, JON RAHM and JASON DAY, all-world talents in going big off the box, pummeling greens and getting that little white ball into the hole. Here’s how they do it. Maybe a little star power is all your game really needs.

- Dylan Dethier

DRIVE with DUSTIN JOHNSON

ALL TOUR PLAYERS ARE LONG. DJ IS LETHAL. MATCH HIS SPEED? GOOD LUCK. BUT YOU CAN STEAL HIS BALANCE, AND THAT’S PLENTY ENOUGH.

Over twelve pro seasons, Dustin Johnson has evolved from unbridled long-bomber into the PGA Tour’s most consistent performer. He’ll tell you: He’s put in the work, developing his flexibility and strength off the course to improve the stability in his swing when he’s on it. It’s no coincidence that his driving game has matured, too. The result is a calculated bomb-and-gouge method that marries power and control (he’s placed first or second in strokes gained off the tee six times over his last eight healthy seasons), making his biggest weapon the envy of the game—and maybe the most lethal in history.

As he’s dialed in his wedges and putter, it’s no surprise that Johnson, now 34, has ascended to the top of the world rankings and that he has won more times—19—than anyone not named Tiger Woods over this span.

When you see Dustin Johnson hit driver in person, you know. Long, straight and piercing, with a baby fade. Even among some of the game’s best drivers of the ball, he—all six-foot-four inches of him—stands out. At a recent long-drive competition among TaylorMade Golf ’s cadre of all-star staffers—Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day among them— it was DJ who turned up the juice on the winning blast: a high screamer that carried—carried!—343 yards in the air.

Dustin can hit 122 mph on the swing-speed meter. He’s elite. But as he’ll tell you, the yards pile up only when you catch the ball on the sweet spot of your driver. (DJ plays the new TaylorMade M5; see sidebar, below right.) Strike quality is key. For Johnson, what happens at impact is mostly determined by what’s happening at address.