Royal Collection has been known to make some of the best Fairway woods over the last 10 years or so. Many golf enthusiasts in the West may be familiar with their Driving Cavity design through that was borrowed by the now defunct brand Sonartec. Sonartec has long been a popular choice of many PGA and LPGA professionals for their superbly designed and super performing fairway woods and utilities, most of which were passed down from Royal Collection years after their model release in Japan. In the past however, RC focused more on the  “Athlete” golfer (what they call low handicappers or scratch golfers in Japan) or professional. In 2008, RC released the ★ FD Fairway wood and in 2009 the FD Utility for the Average golfer. I played the FD Fairway wood for a few months and while I really liked the sole design and feel, I found the head a bit too large and the club length a bit too long.

For 2010, Royal Collection once again introduces an average golfer line of clubs, the SFD III. The new SFD III fairway wood has the typical RC channeled sole but is a mid sized wood with shallow face like the FD was. I was excited about trying the SFD III also because the shaft is slightly shorter than other fairway woods making it easier to make consistent contact for the average golfer, some of which struggle with low lofted fairway woods. The 3W is about a 0.25″ shorter than most average 3 W’s while the 5W is almost 0.75″ shorter than most 5W and a whole inch shorter than the 3W.  I received a strong 14* 3W for testing and I was excited to see how this would perform both off the deck and tee’ed up.

Click read more to continue the review, see more pics and watch video of the live club in action!

The new SFDIII is typical Royal Collection design. Even though its mid sized it still has a rather tradtional shape at address which is great considering the head is pretty flat with its shallow face. It does not look huge, but at the same time its not tiny like the Pro TP model which was sub 145cc. The 3W is in fact 177cc which is bordering on big but RC does well to hide its size. The SFDIII has Royal Collection’s signature driving cavity channel which makes it very versatile in any lie and actually minimizes contact with the ground which reduces friction. Less contact and less friction mean more head speed and better contact. In my hands the SFDIII felt very balanced and easy to swing.

Great Shape…

At address it has that very nice pear shaped which could appeal to any level golfer really. The face angle is also 0* square which I think is a good thing for a shorter shafted fairway woods that could easily be pulled or hooked if the face angle was closed.  This seems to be a new trend as in the past, many average golfer fairway woods had closed faces like drivers as the thought was to help average golfers who sliced the ball.  I’m an average golfer and my bad driver shot is a slice but I found that I could square the club much better with a shorter fairway wood than a driver which resulted in my bad shoot becoming a pull or hook. Even average models like the PRGR GN502 Hit came out with square to open faces for the average golfer. There is no alignment mark which I really like. For me an alignment mark is just a distraction.

Shallow face…

Another trend that is evident in many average golfer model fairway woods is the shallow face. This helps get the ball up in the air and allows for the CG to e pushed further back creating that higher trajectory with more forgiveness towards the toe and heel of the club. Some players have found many of these shallow faces to be almost too shallow leading to strikes too high on the face or even coming under the ball. The SFDIII does have one of those shallower faces but the sole at the center line of the face is more like a V shape, creating more height in the face where the sweet spot is and actually allowing for better ball striking on uneven lies.

Automatic and great feel…

So how does this club feel and perform? After a test session at the range I have to say I really like this club. I have been looking for a 7W to complement my irreplaceable EGG Spoon and I think I may have found the club. The SFDII has a soft SUS630 body matched with a 455 high maraging face which feels awesome. It features that soft but crisp feel that we all have come to love and has a great sound to it at impact. The club is ultra easy to get the ball in the air, even with a 14* 3 wood.  Trajectory starts low and strong and then climbs high and comes down rather soft. The club is rather straight and draw and fade is doable even with the shallow face. Off the tee you do need to tee it a bit lower but its definitely long. There is minimal distance loss on off center hits towards the toe and heel as the face is pretty long heel to toe.  While the swing weight is D1, some might feel that the 3W is a bit on the light side at around 310g. The shorter FW’s are heavier with the 11w topping out at 330g at 40.25″ (this would be a very good average golfer 5 iron replacement and probably easier than some equivalent 24* utilities).  Moving over to the grass range I could really tell how well the channeled V shaped sole cuts through the grass minimizing friction. Pure contact was quite easy to make and yes I love the feel! It is as long as any FW I have hit except for the PRGR EGG Spoon which is an unexplained phenomenon.

An Average golfer model for everyone

The SFDIII is an average golfer model aimed at players with a 15-25 handicap. This is not to say that those with single digit handicaps could not play this club cause really anyone wanting a versatile and forgiving fairway wood would love the SFDIII.  Faster and more aggressive swingers should most likely opt for a heavier shaft upgrade as the 50g range stock Motore shaft may be too light and soft. The SFDIII is a great choice with its square face, great looks and wonderful feel and performance. The average golfer will love its ease of use and versatile sole. Those who have a hard time with fairway woods will appreciate the shorter lengths and shallow face.

Once again we have a Golf Digest video with Kanatani pro doing testing of the club so you can see video as well as hear sound at impact and Japanese only comments… (we should make videos like this!). Windows Media player or plugin required.

Simply click on the image below to watch! (this will open a pop up window with the video)

The Royal Collection SFDIII is available now in the TSG Pro Shop with stock shaft as well as custom order shafts directly from RC. Check out some of the other pictures I took below!

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