I’ve always had a soft spot for Royal Collection clubs and wedges. RC compared to most brands is a very small company with only 20 employees dedicated to designing and producing golf clubs that look great and perform great. While Royal Collection is probably best know for their woods and utilities, they are no slouch when it comes to releasing quality irons and wedges.

Dent Back…

About 5 years ago the original DB Forged became quite a cult classic among enthusiast golfers. Designed and grinded by Masahiro Tomaru (now owner of Grind Studio and former creator of Fourteen’s MT-28 series of wedges) the DB Forged was treasured among better players looking for premium feel, spin and a versatile grind. While Tomaru-san may no longer be involved with RC’s new 2011 DB Forged, RC looks to have released another winner. DB stands for Dent Back and as you can see from the wedges cavity, there is an area of the cavity that is dented in. What this does is allows RC to move the weight and CG higher in the wedge to create a more spin heavy stronger and stable trajectory.

Very well designed all around…

The new DB Forged has a very nice shape with minimal offset. It was originally released as a two wedge prototype set with raw finish. These sets sold out very very quickly and RC proceeded to release a retail model, one with a nickel chrome finish and one with a black finish. All the DB Forged wedges are forged from premium S20C steel by Endo. Another key characteristic of the new DB Forged is its grind/sole. RC sought to make a very versatile grind by creating lots of toe and heel relief as well as huge trailing edge relief. This allows for the wedge to really get under the ball in all different kinds of lies and situations and allows for the wedge to be closed or opened easily for higher trajectory shots or lower pitch and runs all while aiming straight at the pin.

Milled face…

I had been using a 52 and 58 setup but I found the need for a change as my Titliest VG3 Forged PW has a very strong loft of 44*. This left me with a very big 8* gap between my PW and 52*. I found myself using the PW with 3/4 and 1/2 swings to fill in the yardage gap. I decided to go with a 50 and 56* which would create a more consistent 6* gap between my PW AW and SW.  I love a wedge with a long flowing neck, less offset and a tear drop like shape and that is what the DB Forged has. However as an average golfer, I do not necessarily have the swing speed or technique to generate as much backspin as I would like, especially with new conforming grooves. This is another reason why I looked at the DB Forged as my gamers this season as their faces are milled to add additional bite to its USGA conforming grooves.

Clean pure impact…

The DB Forged do have higher bounces ie my wedges are 50/8 and 56/13 however I’d say the bounce is just right as the sole is not overly wide or rounded. Its specs are well suited for the lush courses here in Japan and the soft sand in the bunkers. I took the DB Forged out to a neighboring short course which specializes in allowing players to practice approaches from 120y and in across its 10 holes. Two key things stood out for me, the ability for the wedge to easily get under the ball thanks to its rounded leading edge and the soft but not mushy feel.  Direction is very good and even with the high bounce, setting up the 56 for a higher flop shot or a pitch and run were easily doable thanks to its grind and narrow sole.  Spin is as good as any conforming wedge I’ve tried and I really love how the black head frames the ball. On full wedge shots you are not punished for missing the sweet spot though feel can suffer if you hit it too much towards the toe. The 13* bounce on the 56 was great for slicing through the powdery sand and control distance out of the bunkers.

Overall I like this wedge and look forward to gaming it this year. My only concern which I cannot measure yet is the durability of the black finish. So far so good as I wiped it off after each shot and it looked again like new unlike some black finishes where your first shot practically removes the finish. If you are the type of player that does not care for maintenance and doesn’t want to worry about long term wear, you’re probably better off going with the nickel chrome model. I should note my wedges came with Nippon 950GH Stiff and DG s200 is also a standard shaft. RC will do custom orders including all Nippon models like the new Modus 3 and DG shafts and graphite as well. Once again RC has put together another club that looks great, feels great and so far performs very admirably.

You can check it out here in the pro shop.

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