Jason Day’s equipment overhaul led to the veteran Aussie playing with just 13 clubs Thursday at the Bank of Utah Championship.
Day put a set of 3D-printed Avoda Golf irons, like the curved-face prototypes that Bryson DeChambeau won last year’s U.S. Open with, in his bag this week, as well as a 21-degree Callaway Apex UW hybrid. Day, an equipment free agent, outfitted all his clubs with lighter, graphite shafts and JumboMax grips, too.
“Hadn’t been hitting my irons great at all,” Day said Thursday. “I decided to have a chat to my coach, Colin, [Swatton] and say, ‘Do you reckon we can go out and just maybe have a look?’ I don’t have an OEM sponsor, so I’m a free agent there, so I can go out and see what the best of the best is. Stumbled across Avoda in a way that like obviously Bryson had some success with it. … But I just told my coach, just have a chat to the guys, see what they think. He got off the phone and called me and he goes, ‘Man, in all the years I’ve been doing this, I’ve never come across the guys the way they explained everything.’”
Day ranks No. 125 in strokes gained approach this season as he’s gone through a couple different brands of irons. He says he is still testing a potential 23-degree club that would complete his gapping, thus the reason for the missing club this week. He also would like to see a little more offset in the irons, which would give his shots more height.
“The goal is to be able to swing, just pretty much have one swing like whatever ball flight you want, whether that’s a draw or a fade,” Day added. “For me it’s a draw. To go up there and hit a draw and pretty much put the same swing on it, and hopefully it produces the same shot over and over again.”
Day shot 3-under 68 on Thursday at Black Desert Resort, missing just two fairways and four greens.