Welcome to GOLF’s Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Each Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh will run you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.
Some golfers think they might need 15 clubs, but Jason Day only has 13 in the bag this week at the Bank of Utah Championship.
But playing a $6 million PGA Tour event with one less tool in the bag than everyone else is not the biggest story about the former World No. 1’s gear this week.
That honor would fall to his new set of Avoda protype irons.
You may recall the Avoda name from last year, when Bryson DeChambeau had the company build him a set of 3D-printed irons which got approved for play just days before the 2024 Masters. DeChambeau went on to win the U.S. Open with those irons, which featured a unique bulge-and-roll design to help mitigate side spin on mishits, similar to woods.
Day’s prototypes are 5-AW combo set of muscle backs and shallow cavity backs and also feature what the company calls a “curved face” design. Instead of going with a single-length set like DeChambeau, Day’s irons are standard length.
In his first round since the BMW Championship in August, he opened with a three-under 68 on Thursday at Black Desert Resort. After the round, Day explained what led to this point; he said he felt like his iron game wasn’t where it needed to be, so he started looking at options with coach Collin Swatton. Day hasn’t ranked inside the top 100 in strokes gained: approach on the PGA Tour since 2016, when he was the No. 1 Player in the World.
“I’m a free agent there so I can go out and see what the best of the best is,” Day, who was most recently playing a set of TaylorMade P7CBs. “Stumbled across Avoda in a way that like obviously Bryson had some success with it. He won with the Avoda irons at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. But I just told my coach, just have a chat to the guys, see what they think.
“[Swatton] 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.'”
PGA Tour Live host Lisa Cornwell reported on Thursday’s broadcast that Swatton’s conversation with Avoda’s Tom Bailey and Tom Lewis lasted 90 minutes. That led to Day going out to meet the Avoda team in person and they 3D-printed multiple prototype sets of irons to his specifications.
Day still lost shots on approach in his first rounds with the new irons, but he led on that he doesn’t believe this is his final setup.
“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,” Day said. 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.”
He also added that he wants to look at the grooves to see if he can get more spin.
The 37-year-old Day also made two other changes to his iron setup with longevity in mind. He’s long been a user of the True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 shaft, the heaviest and stoutest shaft in the Dynamic Gold lineup. This week, he’s gone to a 110-gram KBS TGI 110X graphite shaft in his irons and two Vokey wedges. He also added JumboMax JMX Zen Lite grips, which together with the lighter shafts have made it “easier on the body.”
The TGI shafts also match the KBS Proto shafts he put in his woods for bend profile.
“The theory I think I have the same profile shaft from 60-degree all the way up to driver,” he said. 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.”
Finding the 14th club
With the new iron set, Day has joined a growing number of players on Tour who are dropping 4-irons completely from their bags, which brings us back to the lede of this story.
Day hasn’t yet found a replacement for the 4-iron slot in his bag, which was previously a TaylorMade P790.
He did become the latest player to add Callaway’s new 2025 Apex Utility Wood to his setup, adding a 21-degree head bent to 18.6˚ to serve the slot after his 6-year-old TaylorMade M6 3-wood. The next club is his 5-iron.
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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway
“I’m actually playing 13 clubs here this week. I’m missing a club,” Day said. “I would like to play a 23-degree [UW], and that would fit perfectly between the 21-degree and the 5-iron that I’m playing. It goes about 230, 229. 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.”
Day seems to be doing all sorts of testing this week… not just on the range, but during the actual tournament and he said he’s still got more to work on coming up.
“I think we’re in the testing phase,” he said. “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.”
With Day’s spot in Signature Events next season locked up, he can be pretty free in any of the fall events he chooses to play. It’s almost like he’s using this week as a testing ground of sorts for his new gear setup.
It will be interesting if other pros who finished in the FedEx Cup top 50 also utilize this strategy moving forward, the rest of this season or next year.
Check this out
This section is dedicated to one cool photo we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Paul Peterson’s Nike Vapor Pro irons. Peterson shot a five-under 66 in round one as he fights to retain his PGA Tour card.
Odds and Ends
Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.
Not many notable changes this week … Although with no report last week, Ping’s S259 wedge launched on the DP World Tour.
3 things you should read/watch
A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.
Can Cobra’s 3D Printing completely change the irons market? – You can see custom Cobra Golf 3D printed irons on the PGA Tour, but how soon might we see these custom options available to the consumer?
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I added 10 yards to my drives with this speed training system – For the past six months, I’ve been trying out Super Speed Golf’s new Speed Sticks Pro speed training system and the results have been surprisingly good.
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This trendy putter design is popular in junior ranks, too (INSIDERS ONLY) – I just came back from Pennsylvania’s PIAA State High School Championships and I saw dozens of low torque putters. Has the real onset boom only just begun?
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Want to overhaul your bag in 2025? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.
