Equipment Insider: Day earns first win with unique set of irons

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Each week in the Equipment Insider, Adam Barr -- PGATOUR.COM's equipment columnist -- will provide breaking news, notes and analysis focused on PGA TOUR players. Adam will also appear in video segments for PGATOUR.COM.

A tour through HP Byron Nelson Championship winner Jason Day's bag reveals a lot about the importance of getting the whole team of clubs working toward the same goal.

Check out more of Adam Barr's equipment coverage at AdamBarrGolfGearGuide.com.

Rebounding from a first-hole bogey in a final round can be a crucial mental turning point, especially for a prospective first-time winner. So Day's punch 7-iron from 185 yards on the par-3 2nd hole had to be a confidence builder. He hit it to 15 feet with a TaylorMade R9 TP 7-iron, which combines a tour shape and look with some under-the-hood features ordinarily associated with game-improvement models.

Jason Day's wedges have replaceable faces.

For instance, instead of a muscle back, the R9 TP has a cavity, suggesting perimeter weighting. And there's a vibration-reducing "badge" in the cavity to keep the jarring vibrations out of your forearms while letting the feedback-enhancing frequencies get up there. But the sole is beveled in a way that encourages "thinner" interaction with the turf, which better players tend to like.

If this seems like a hybrid approach to making a modern tour iron, that should come as no surprise; many major manufacturers are now offering "blade-y" look and feel irons with engineering touches that could help all handicap levels. Even set makeup is heading this way, in that many players mix models within their set. Day has R9 TPs for his 6 through 9 irons, but TaylorMade Tour Preferred for his 3, 4 and 5. The Tour Preferreds have a much more pronounced undercut cavity back, and you can see the inverted cone technology that broadens the sweet spot. (The R9 TPs have this kind of face too, but the vibration badge hides the back side of it from view.)

Important note: The way both these irons are built, you can't see most of the back-of-the-clubhead features from the hitting position. That topline-only view is what makes a lot of TOUR players comfortable with them.

And no disrespect to the driver, but a big banger such as Day ended up hitting 3-wood a lot at TPC Four Seasons. In Day's case, it was an R9 by TaylorMade with 15 degrees of loft and an Ozik HD6 graphite shaft by Matrix. The shaft, which comes in X and XX flexes, drops the launch angle and the spin significantly, Matrix says, resulting in a Tour-type flight. It's also only 64 grams. There are lighter and more flexible models for recreational players, but they all work toward mid- or even low launch, something players might want to look into if their natural swing creates a lot of spin.

Day used his 3-wood to set up birdies at No. 4 (leaving himself 145 yards, a stock 9-iron) and No. 12 (he had 130 yards and hit it to three feet). The birdie on No. 12, the second of two in a row, ended up being important when Day dunked his approach on No. 18. His closing bogey was enough to fend off Blake Adams's charge and hang onto the trophy.

Maybe just as important was the up-and-down on No. 15, where Day found himself in front of the elevated green in some junky grass. He wedged it out and saved par with one of his TaylorMade XFT ZTP wedges (see lofts in box). These are the replaceable face wedges that have been raising eyebrows and spin rates this season. Released in response to the new Condition of Competition requiring smaller grooves, the faces can be changed in and out easily, assuring fresh grooves whenever a player feels the need. Like some other wedges on the market, the milled face of the XFT has textured areas between the grooves as well to increase friction and fight any tendency of the ball to slide up the face.