The next young American with superstar potential has arrived — and his name is Jackson Koivun.
Koivun, a 21-year-old fresh off his junior year at Auburn, turned pro just one month ago, and he’s already broken through for his first PGA Tour victory. With a four-round total of 25-under, Koivun won the 3M Open in just his third professional start by three strokes — over none other than World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
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“Obviously, having the World No. 1 in the field just makes it even sweeter,” Koivun said.
No kidding.
While Koivun has long been a household name in the amateur game, this past weekend was the first time many professional golf fans got a glimpse of the wunderkid. And with it came plenty of chatter about his game, including the intricacies of his unorthodox swing.
Why Koivun’s swing works
When you watch Koivun swing, one thing stands out immediately: it doesn’t look textbook. You’re not going to mistake its silhouette for the swing of Adam Scott or Tiger Woods. Yet the unorthodox motion is a big reason why the former Auburn star generates so much speed.
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If you slow Koivun’s swing down, you’ll notice how aggressively he fires his hips from the top of the backswing. For most golfers, this can throw the swing out of sequence, with the lower body outracing the arms. But just before impact, Koivun does something unusual: he recoils his hips, allowing for his arms to catch up.
“It’s a fascinating, athletic move,” says GOLF Top 100 Teacher Jonathan Yarwood, who has coached the likes of Michael Campbell, Nelly Korda and Ben An. “The interesting thing is that it creates a lot of torque, a lot of speed. The athletic part is the fact that he moves out of the way so he can manage the face and path.”
Yarwood compares the motion to a slingshot. The hips reach their maximum rotation early, then recoil, helping transfer energy into the arms and clubhead just before impact.
Yarwood explained that the move likely dates back to Koivun’s childhood, when he relied on his lower body to create as much power as possible. Most players are coached out of that pattern as they develop in favor of more conventional sequencing, but Koivun has kept it — and learned to time it with remarkable precision.
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“It’s a very unique case study and a very interesting one,” Yarwood says. “I don’t look at it critically, but I do look at it with fascination.”
That’s also why Koivun’s swing isn’t something most golfers should try to copy. Every elite swing relies on a series of compensations — or “matchups” — that make the motion work. Remove one piece without the others, and the entire system can fall apart.
“Most people who do [Koivun’s move] get really out of whack,” Yarwood says. “They don’t recoil their hips, they don’t move out of the way, and they flip the clubface all over the place. For 99 out of 100 golfers, it’s one of the worst moves you can make. But for him, it’s super effective. He’s perfected the timing of it.”
Yarwood’s only long-term question isn’t whether the move works (Koivun’s results already answer that) but whether it’s sustainable. The amount of torque the motion places on his pelvis, spine and lead side is immense, he says, and maintaining that level of precision over the course of a long career will be the real test.
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“He’s a breath of fresh air,” Yarwood says. “We want to see a lot of these young kids coming through like him.”
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