AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bryson DeChambeau has always been different.
But even by his extreme standards, this is wild.
DeChambeau not only took a one-shot lead into Friday’s second round of the Masters after his 7-under-par 65, he’s doing it with a new set of irons he put into his bag this week.
A set of irons that are made by 3-D printing and weren’t approved by the USGA until Monday.
DeChambeau, who’s been known as a “mad scientist’’ for his tinkering with club clubs and his own physical being, is using irons — all the same length — that are made by a little-known clubmaker called Avoda.
According to the company website, it makes two different types of irons: one-length irons like the clubs DeChambeau played when he was sponsored by Cobra, and combination-length irons.
DeChambeau split with Cobra-Puma last year and has been searching for the right next step. That appears to be Avoda.
Interestingly, when he was asked about his new irons after his round Thursday, DeChambeau curiously didn’t mention the brand name despite praising the performance.
Usually, these are opportunities for players to pump up their product in public.
“I put new irons in this week; I think that’s a pretty big change,’’ he said. “And (I’ve) been using this new driver, 3-wood and 5-wood. So pretty much my whole bag is different since Greenbrier of last year, and putter is the only thing that’s remained the same.”
DeChambeau later spoke to the Golf Channel and said of the irons, “It’s a speed thing. When I miss-hit on the toe or the heel, it seems to fly a lot straighter for me and that’s what has allowed me to be more comfortable over the ball.”
The concept of the irons is some curvature on the club faces, a little bit like there is on drivers.
On the Golf Channel’s “Live From,” analyst Brandel Chamblee said, “(Curvature) allows woods to have forgiveness and I thought ‘Why have we never had that on irons?’ As the week goes on, I will certainly be watching his iron play to see if in fact it is an improvement because it really is an interesting concept.”
“The faces have some bulge to them, they are one-of-a-kind,” Mike Schy, DeChambeau’s coach told GolfWeek. “What happens if you hit it on the toe? It hooks a lot, right? What happens if you hit it on the heel? It cuts a lot. When you have bolts, that offsets that.”
Schy called the testing and use of the new irons “an adventure.”
Isn’t it always with DeChambeau?
