The Big Review - Royal Collection 6150 TG Wedge

Bag Chatter · November 23, 2008

While Royal Collection is not a completely unknown name on the US and European Tour, the products that it made as the now defunct Sonartec brand enjoyed one of the strongest and most loyal followings of any manufacturer.As Royal Collection, it continues to be one of the most dominant brands on the Japanese Tour.

Best known for their fairway woods and hybrids, Royal Collection also make a full range of clubs, drivers, irons, putters and wedges like the 6150 TG. Royal Collection tell us that this is a super soft forged wedge with a Tour inspired grind that looks and plays great, offering remarkable versatility and controllable bounce from any lie. Bag Chatter got to see exactly how good these are.

Technical Specs

RC 6150 TG	49	52	56	58	60
Bounce	8	10	13	11	10
Swing weight	D2	D2	D2	D3	D4
Lie	63.0	63.5	63.5	63.5	63.5
Length	35.00"	35.00"	34.75"	34.75"	34.75"

Appearance

With a classic teardrop head, this is a wedge that sits very well behind the ball. Compared to the better known OEM wedges, the 6150 is most similar to a Vokey 200 series wedge but with a fractionally straighter leading edge and a noticeably thinner topline. The QPQ (Quench Polish Quench) matte black finish is excellent and prevents any hint of glare and makes the ball look large and inviting to hit, despite the delicacy of the head. The finish is exceptionally durable and refuses to scratch up - over a month of testing hardly made any impression in the finish. The wide grooves and deep face-milling indicates that this wedge has the performance to back up its looks and the marked B/H sole grind (B - trailing edge grind and H - a grind that removes material from the heel section) indicates that real thought has gone into how this club is supposed to perform.

Performance

Spin

Bucket loads of spin. The grooves and face-milling combine to grab the ball even on short chips so you have to remember to be that little bit more aggressive else risk leaving it short as the ball sits down so fast. This serious spin also allows point and shoot on pitching and fuller shots, and flop shots that do stop where they drop. It’s also impressive that the grooves do not shred the ball any where near as much as you would think given the amount of spin generated.

Control

As mentioned above, the high spin gives superb control as you can target your landing area in the knowledge that the ball is not going to be rolling out too far. The standard trajectory is lower than standard wedges as the ball comes off the face strong and with plenty of spin. The sole grind means that the better player has many more options on what they want the ball to behave both in trajectory and spin although with the grooves and face milling doing their stuff, bump and run shots are pretty much out of the equation.

Feel

While it might not be the softest wedge around, it ain’t that far off it and the feel of the head is complemented by the quality grip and the option of either Dynamic Gold S200 or NS Pro 950GH. While the grip is Royal Collection branded, it’s top quality and pleasingly tactile. It’s interesting to know that to keep the swing-weight the same at D2-D4, the Nippon shafted version comes 1/2 inch longer and even in extra-stiff flex the feedback that comes through the NS Pro shaft is immense.

Versatility

Those who use the Utley method for chipping and pitching will love the freedom available with these heads. The grind is versatile enough to be able to present the full loft at impact for precision pitching off almost any turf conditions but you are also able to get the hands in front when delofting the club for chipping without excavating up great clods of earth. The medium-high bounce also allows you a bit of freedom if you have a tendency to hit fat shots as it resists digging. The heel and trailing edge grind lower the front edge both when the face addresses the ball normally and also when it is opened up but the high bounce makes it too much to attempt lobs on tight or bare lies.

Special mention should be made of how well this wedge performs in the sand. Of course that is no such thing as a wedge that will make getting up and down out of a bunker easy for everyone but the combination of bounce and the sole grind on the 6150 allows you to navigate the treacherous sands with great confidence.

Conclusion

The demise of Sonartec left many golfers wondering where they would be able to find clubs that allowed them to play the game the way they wanted. The awareness that almost the entire Sonartec range were re-badged Royal Collection clubs along with the increasing availability of Royal Collection will mean that this is a brand that will be seen more and more and with wonderful clubs like the 6150TG you’ll know why.

For more information, visit www.madeinjapangolf.com/

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