Jason Day has added length to his already prodigious golf game with new clubs and believes it can provide an edge for next month's Masters.
The world No.5 Australian has taken the risky step of changing all of his irons and wedges - a move usually reserved for the off-season - just three weeks out from the season's opening major at Augusta National.
Seeing Bubba Watson win two of the last three Masters green jackets and fellow long-hitter Dustin Johnson overpowering Trump National Doral two weeks ago at the World Golf Championships has Day making the change now, despite winning on tour just over a month ago.
With updated Taylormade club heads and stiffer shafts, Day is already seeing added distance of an average seven yards in the lead up to this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, his last start before the Masters.
Day is no slouch in the length department anyway, ranked seventh on the US PGA Tour in driving distance, but he wanted more from his irons.
While the new clubs will go into play at Bay Hill, Day has kept his old set close by just in case, but the Queenslander seems pretty determined to eke out any edge he can.
"I feel really good about the change. Obviously I need to wear them in a little and get used to the changes but I feel confident," Day told AAP.
"I just felt like I was hitting my old clubs a little too high, getting too much spin on them and wasn't hitting them as far as I should be.
"You don't typically change now, usually in the offseason, but my mindset behind the changes was to sacrifice a bit of ball flight and get more distance.
"Funnily it didn't bring down the flight much but I am hitting it further, and that's a good combination to have not only this week but going to Augusta.
"You need some height and length around there to attack certain pins and get an edge."
Day will play with world No.1 Rory McIlroy, another noted long, high-trajectory hitter, in the opening two rounds at Bay Hill.
It is just the pairing he needs to keep his mental game sharp after a poor week at Doral saw him finish tied 31st despite matching winner Johnson's birdie tally for the week.
"I just want to really come back after a poor week," said Day, who leads the PGA Tour with an average 4.8 birdies a round.
I was very angry at myself for making so many mental errors and finding so much water at Doral.
"I practiced hard in the lead up to here to work the kinks out.
"There was only one guy who had more birdies than me at Doral so I know I am doing a lot of good stuff. It was just I had a lot of bad stuff as well that week."
Adam Scott, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, John Senden, Rod Pampling and Steven Bowditch are also in the By Hill field with Scott returning with unfinished business.
World No.4 Scott led by seven shots at the halfway point last year, and by three going into the final round, only to fade to third.
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