Major champ follows Bryson DeChambeau’s lead in latest equipment switch
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It was Bryson DeChambeau’s preferred irons choice when he won the US Open at Pinehurst – and now Jason Day is giving them a go…
As an equipment free agent, Jason Day can put whatever he wants in the bag.
There’s one major flaw with that plan, though. You have too much choice.
The former World No.1 has, it seems, tried everything this year. He’s put bladed irons in the bag, he’s had a go with a cavity-back set, and he’s tried a number of the game’s biggest gear manufacturers.
Now it looks like he’s settled on a little-known brand that just so happens to be the preferred iron choice of Bryson DeChambeau.
In his first start since the BMW Championship two months ago, having failed to make it through the second phase of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, Day showed up at Black Desert for the Bank of Utah Championship with a bag full of prototype 3D-printed Avoda irons, complete with curved faces. He went on to shot a 3-under 8 in the opening round.
Explaining his decision, 2016 PGA champion Day said he “hadn’t been hitting [his] irons great at all”.
He continued: “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 can go out and see what the best of the best is.”
Day, who said he “stumbled across Avoda” when DeChambeau won the US Open with them, asked Swatton to reach out to the boutique brand which is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“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 guys [who explain] the way they explained everything.’ So we met in person [and] did a lot of 3D printing of the iron head the way that I wanted to look at it.
“Obviously there is a process there, [so] after this week we’re going to get back together and see what needs to be improved,” Day, who hit 14 greens in regulation in the opening round at Black Desert, added. “Right now, I would like to see a tiny bit more offset [to] try and get a little bit more turn [and] elevate the ball a little bit more in the air, which would be nice.”
Day has also switched to graphite shafts.
“So, instead of playing the X7s that I have played in the past, which is 136 gram shaft, I [am playing] a 110 gram shaft, which is nice,” he explained. “Definitely easier on the body.
“The theory [is to] have the same profile shaft from 60-degree all the way up to driver.”
“And then playing the JumboMax grips, as well, so there is just a number of things.
“The goal is to be able to have one swing [for] whatever ball flight you want, whether that’s a draw or a fade. 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 also noted that he’s “missing a club” – with 13 in the bag instead of the permitted maximum of 14.
“I would like to play a 23-degree, and that would fit perfectly between the 21-degree and the 5-iron that I’m playing,” he explained. “It goes about 230. The 21-degree Callaway Apex goes about 250 in the air, so I need something right smack between it and that should cover the whole thing.”
Day said that he is using the offseason events as a “testing phase” for 2026.
“We’ve still got to get the gappings right, have to get the spins right, so obviously that is going to be more testing coming up for me,” he added. “But that’s something that we have to mess with the grooves a little bit, try and make sure that like we get a little bit more spin, but also make sure that they’re up to regulation.
“Hopefully that makes things like hitting shots into the greens a lot easier.”
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Jason Day has put the Avoda irons in his bag.
