NEWS FROM THE TOUR VANS
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Refreshed after a two-month break from tournament golf since missing out on qualifying for the Tour Championship, Jason Day finished tied 20th in the PGA Tour’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort.
But the former PGA champion and world No. 1 from Australia didn’t sit still during his competitive hiatus. Day showed up in Utah with a whole new equipment setup after spending time evaluating his game as his 38th birthday approaches.
Among the 13 clubs (yes, he was one short of capacity) in Day’s bag in Utah were all-new prototype Avoda Golf 3D-printed irons, a Callaway Apex UW hybrid as well as new shafts and grips throughout.
“I’m missing a club,” Day said. “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. It goes about 230, 229 [yards]. The 21-degree Apex, Callaway, that goes about 250 in the air, so I need something right smack between it and that should cover the whole thing. So right now I think we’re in the testing phase. You know, we 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.
“But that’s something that we have to kind of 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 hitting shots into the greens a lot easier.”
Day worked with Avoda Golf to help design the 3D-printed irons with the progressive curve-faced technology that Bryson DeChambeau used for his win at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. The design helps reduce sidespin on off-center hits and Day called the technology “phenomenal” and claimed they immediately helped tighten his dispersion.
“Actually, hadn’t been hitting my irons great at all.” Day explained after the first round at Black Desert Resort. “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 with 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.
“So we met in person. 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. After this week we’re obviously going to get back together and see what needs to kind of be improved. I think currently right now I would like to see a little bit – a tiny bit more offset. Try and get a little bit more turn. If that has a little bit more offset it will actually elevate the ball a little bit more in the air, which would be nice.”
Day also incorporated lighter 110-gram KBS TGI Tour graphite shafts instead of his former Dynamic Gold X7 136-gram shaft, saying the switch is “definitely easier on the body.” And he added JumboMax JMX Zen Lite grips.
“So there is just a number of things from the curved irons to the graphite shafts and the JumboMax grips,” Day said. “The theory is I think I have the same profile shaft from 60-degree all the way up to driver. 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. 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.”
Scott Michaux