The Majesty Royale line of woods and irons may not be on your equipment watch list. Thousand-dollar drivers and $500 irons (per club) might not be aimed at the meat of the U.S. golfing market, it’s true. But it’s also clear the Tokyo-based company believes there’s an opportunity.
Consider this: Founded in 1971 under the name Maruman, Majesty was once a division under Maruman. (Equipment geeks might remember that Ian Woosnam used Maruman clubs when he won the Masters in 1991, as did Jose Maria Olazábal in his 1994 Masters victory.
According to president Adam Sheldon, the Majesty brand’s success led to it becoming the company’s new name last year.
“The two names basically traded places due to the large growth of Majesty,” Sheldon said. “These innovative, new products are in a class of their own. We spared no expense in creating them. From the exotic materials to the jewelry quality finishing techniques and overall performance engineering, we built the ultimate product for moderate swing speed golfers.”
At that price, that’s literally true. But the Majesty Royale woods and irons from their gold-toned finishes, exotic face milling and paper-light shafts utilize rare materials and technologies. It’s a pursuit aimed at enhancing the distance potential of moderate speed golfers, with a distinct appeal to those who see golf clubs as a kind of jewelry as much as technological tools.
While the Majesty Royale driver does use a fairly common 6-4 titanium alloy in the crown, the three-piece construction includes fullerene titanium in the neck and high-density titanium in the sole. Fullerene titanium uses microscopic nanomaterials to strengthen a lightweight titanium. Those materials can be smaller than strands of human DNA. The shaft features dual layers of stabilizing high-elasticity carbon in the middle and tip of the shaft, aimed at providing stability in a shaft that weighs between 41-45 grams. That construction is designed to allow the extra-long 46.5-inch shaft to remain stable at a weight that’s 15-30 percent lighter than most other driver shafts on the market.
The internal walls of the driver head features a thick-thin honeycomb structure to reduce weight, while a spider web-like variable thickness internal milling pattern on the face is designed to expand the way the face flexes on both the driver and fairway wood. The fairway woods and hybrids both use titanium alloys in the face and body and tungsten alloys in the sole.
The Majesty Royale irons feature multiple pieces in the construction, including a face insert of maraging steel that gets as thin as 1.5 millimeters, or slightly thinner than a penny. A groove within the hollow cavity structure is 10 times wider than previous Majesty irons for more face flexibility, and a tungsten insert in the hollow cavity helps lower the center of gravity for higher launch in the 5- through 8-irons. The tungsten is necessary, given the severely strong lofts, which include a 21-degree 5-iron loft that would be similar to a strong 4-iron in typical iron sets on the market. Like the woods, the irons also utilize ultra-light and slightly overlength graphite shafts. The shafts weigh 46-51 grams, which combine with 35-gram grips, to make clubs that play 60 or more grams lighter than traditional irons but maintain D-1 to D-0 swing weights.
The Majesty Royale driver ($1,000) will be offered in 9.5-, 10.5- and 11.5-degree lofts. The Majesty Royale fairway woods and hybrids ($500 each) come in 15-, 18 and 21-degree options in the woods and 18-, 21- and 24-degree options in the hybrids. The irons ($500 per club) are available in 5-iron through sand wedge. The Majesty Royale lineup is available Oct. 1 at select retailers across the U.S., including in California, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Virginia and Washington.