Royal Collection is probably best known for it’s awesome fairway woods and utilities but they also have produced some really stellar irons. 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.

BBD’s for the better golfer…

As a smaller company here in Japan, Royal Collection puts a lot of emphasis on design and quality.  They have long taken feedback from top professionals all around Japan as well as world wide on many of the design aspects in the clubs. The new Tour VS line are premium compact clubs made for the better player and part of their BBD’s athlete lineup.

S20C Forged by Endo…

Part of this new lineup is the compact cavity Tour VS Forged iron. Forged from premium S20C steel by Endo, the Tour VS is made for feel and control for the lower handicap player. The Tour VS is a muscular more boxy looking iron with a thin undercut/pocket cavity. The cavity helps increase forgiveness by reducing distance and lost accuracy on off center strikes.  Typically, pocket cavities can be associated with a change in sound and feel at impact ie a click when the ball strikes the face of the iron. I did not notice much of a click if any at all and the iron as as soft as most I have tested.  This is probably due to depth and width of the pocket which as you can see is very small.

V-Cut Sole…

One of the key aspects of the new Tour VS line, in all the clubs in this line, is the new V-cut Sole. Yes that is what VS stands for. This V-cut sole has been incorporated into all the Tour VS woods and probably has the largest impact on the Tour VS iron. This sole is very forgiving and is made to move through any lie cleanly thanks to it’s blunt leading edge, cut away toe and heel portions and trailing edge relief. The sole design aids in creating more pure impact with the ball as a player is able to get cleanly “under” the ball as the sole clears through the turf with less friction and resistance.  The below video demonstrates the sole in action:

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Sets up well with nice lines…

The Tour VS has great lines. It’s a bit boxy but the sharp lines are probably preferred by the better player. Some people may not like the large RC on the back part of the sole edge cavity but I think it’s better than having Royal Collection engraved on their which is much longer and busier. It’s lines translates into a nice setup at address with it’s thinner top line and less offset very eye appealing for the good ball striker. The face is not long, as a matter of a fact the score line area is barely larger than the diameter of a golf ball. So this makes you only have one place to hit the ball and that’s right on the sweet spot for that butter soft feel. The most surprising thing for me was, this iron was easier to hit than I expected. Some say forgiveness is all in the mind. Looking down at the iron at address, I can most likely say that I concentrated more on striking the ball cleanly as the face is smaller than what I’m used to. Well hit balls are rewarded with awesome sound and feel.

[flv:http://blog.tourspecgolf.com/videos/rc_02.flv 640 427]

Performance and recommendation…

Trajectory is mid to high and the iron is very accurate. Lofts are more on the traditional side as the Tour VS focuses on feel and control, not distance. Spin is rather good from the conforming grooves much in part due to the irons ability to catch the ball very cleaning resulting in optimal spin produced. This is a wonderful iron for the player 10 handicap and under but those good ball strikers and mid handicap players looking for a challenging iron to get to the next level should not shy away from this iron as it provides some very forgiving features and is surprisingly easier to hit than one would expect. I was actually testing this side by side with the much larger Tourstage GR Forged and I found I could hit it just as well as the Tourstage.

The Tour VS is beautifully finished in satin and has that great muscular look I mentioned earlier thanks to the muscular cavity and head shape. The Tour VS is available with S200, 950GH Stiff or Regular, and 1050GH Stiff.  Custom orders are also available directly from Royal Collection.  As always if you need help with specs or information, feel free to contact me through the blog.  This is probably one of Royal Collections best cavity backs to date and I highly recommend it!

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