Bryson DeChambeau explains why he's experimenting with new irons at the Memorial

DUBLIN, Ohio -- Bryson DeChambeau, defending champion of the Memorial Tournament, comes into this week on “a pretty big low,” as he told the media on Wednesday about his recent performances. DeChambeau, however, is experimenting with new irons this week, and he’s excited about the improvement, especially on into-the-wind shots.

Over the past few years, DeChambeau has used Cobra’s King Forged One Length irons, which are cavity-back irons that each measure the same length. While he and Cobra’s TOUR Operations Manager Ben Schomin are constantly experimenting with different builds, grips and club head designs, DeChambeau has stayed in the Cobra Forged One Length heads.

Although DeChambeau is staying with irons of the same length (37.5 inches) – equipped with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts and JumboMax Ultralite XL grips -- he will be using blade-style Cobra King Forged MB (muscleback) iron heads.

As always, DeChambeau’s decision to change is based more on data than feel.

With the Cobra MB irons (6-PW) instead of the Forged One irons, DeChambeau and team found “a little bit more consistency in the spin rate… because it’s a smaller blade.” DeChambeau said that he thinks the spin is more consistent throughout the set of MB’s because there is “not as big of a change in the gear effect” from iron-to-iron, but DeChambeau stressed that’s only his hypothesis at the moment.

He said that the Forged One irons are “maybe a little more consistent around the board, but the spin rate changes,” thus making the flight of the ball less predictable in windy conditions, as DeChambeau explains.

Since the iron switch from Cobra Forged One Length to Cobra Forged MB irons is still in the hypothesis stage, consider the Memorial Tournament the first big test. DeChambeau is uncertain for the future with the new irons past this week, but for now, he’s hopeful.

“It's not finalized, but for this week we're going to try and see how it works,” DeChambeau said. “This has been working great. Into-the-wind shots are the easiest it's been for me in a long time. I'm very happy about that. And we'll see where it takes us.”