KBS Tour, Tour 90 and Nippon Options

**wolverine_man** · September 15, 2009

Okay, I am still researching shafts for my MacGregor PCB Tours. The clubs currently are on the heavy side and I have always felt that the DG S300 produces a shot that is a little too low and short, distance wise.

I am looking at the following:

KBS Tour Stiff
KBS Tour 90 Stiff
Nippon 1050
Nippon 1150

I want a lighter shaft - not super light - which will produce a higher trajectory without a loss of distance from a ballooning effect. I currently hit my 7-iron 150 yards and I would like to be hitting my 8 iron that distance. My club head speed is around 85-86 mph with a 5-iron and 98-100 mph with a driver.

**EDIT - The only shaft I was able to try is the Nippon 1050, and it seemed pretty smooth and nice, but possibly a tad light. I couldn't tell because I was only hitting into a launch monitor and they were not installed in my irons heads - they were the proprietary version shaft (1030 I believe) installed on some cobra irons. Part of the problem is that there is no actual shaft fitting center near where I live, so I am kind of doing this in the dark.

**golf_junkie27** · September 16, 2009

I've either played or hit most of the shafts, available. Just some food for thought.

1) The Nippons are flighted shafts. You are going to get the height you desire but you will sacrifice distance. The PX that I have in my mizunos are four to six yards longer than the Nippons that I have in my Wishons.

2) The KBS Tour shafts are very smooth and they gave me a medium to high trajectory which was very nice.

Aside from swing speed, what type of swing do you have? Sweeper? Digger? Do you take a big divot with your irons?

FWIW, I liked the KBS more than the Nippons when it came to going after the ball. I felt I could step on it a little more than the Nippons. I chose the Nippons in hopes of improving tempo and my desire to hit the ball higher with my mid irons.

Hit them both, side by side and see what type of flight you get.

Good luck with the purchase.

**TinCupTampa** · September 16, 2009

The KBS Tour are more on the heavier side so be careful which ones you get. I have them in my wedges, and they lower the trajectory but my wedges are SM so the combination works well together. I do tend to get more distance with the heavier shaft though.

The Nippon are lighter and I lose distance with them. I have a Nickent Pro 6 iron that I wanted to try out for both the shaft and the club itself. It definately felt head heavy to me.

I would suggest the Project X... medium weight with a higher ball flight.

**Happy Dragon** · September 16, 2009

I'd suggest the KBS or the Project X. With your swing speed, I'd go regular KBS or Project X 5.0 You may want to try normal Rifles at a 5.5. The KBS is pretty expensive though. Probably a $100 premium. You sure have exotic taste.

Good luck.

**wolverine_man** · September 16, 2009

I've either played or hit most of the shafts, available. Just some food for thought.

Thanks for the great insight. I am more of a sweeper, perhaps in part, because I play most of my irons toward my front foot - even my wedges are just a tad front of center. I rarely ever take much of a divot.

**wolverine_man** · September 16, 2009

I also hit the Project X in some Mizunos at GG and found them to be very harsh. I could imagine my elbows aching the next day after a around of 18.

I have a set of non-fllighted Rifle 5.5 in a set of Mizuno GRADs, which I recently picked up on my last trip home to my parents. Unfortunately, my dad had started using them and put stupid midsize grips on them so I could tell if I liked the shaft or not because I kept worrying about how big the grips were.

I was looking at the KBS Tour 90, which, in stiff flex, is only 100 grams. That is about 30 grams or so lighter than the DG and some people have had to add weight to the clubs to bring their swing weight back up. I am actually looking for something lighter the the DG. The Mac heads with the DG shafts I currently have, feel heavier than any forged iron I have ever swung, including my Mp-14s. I just don't want the irons so light that I feel like I am swinging a hose with a club head attached to the end of it (i.e. the feeling of the disconnectedness).

**golf_junkie27** · September 16, 2009

I also hit the Project X in some Mizunos at GG and found them to be very harsh. I could imagine my elbows aching the next day after a around of 18.

When you find a fitter, ask him to set the clubs at a swingweight of D2.5. This might be exactly what you are looking for. The Nippons I have weigh 110grams but I have the SW at D5. It sounds like you don't want anything that heavy and D2.5 might be perfect.

**wolverine_man** · September 16, 2009

Thanks for the info. I'm having a hard time finding out what swingweight the stock PCB Tours are.

**wolverine_man** · June 14, 2010

Well, I finally got some new shafts and they are going to be installed this week. I ended up buying Cobra S2 Forged shaft pulls, Nippon 1130 in 4-PW (Stiff), brand new. I presumed that they were standard length but they were over standard when I got them by little bit. I measured them up ferrule to ferrule, and they actually would fit a 3-9 iron perfectly, which is what I will have done.

Dropped everything off this morning at the golf shop. I had them measure the swingweight of my current PCB Tours, with what I believe are S300 shafts. The clubs have always felt pretty heavy to me and I bought them used. Well, they measured out to be a D5.5!! I was like holy crap. No wonder why they are heavy. Also, no wonder whey I am just not getting much of any distance with my irons.

Anyways, I am going to have them reshaft the 6 iron first to have it checked out for weight, etc. I would like to be around a D2 - hit some Diablo forged with Nippon 1110s in an S2 and loved the weighting - so I may have to have some weight added, depending on how much the weight changes.

Any comments?

****EDIT: I was particularly curious as to whether moving the 4-PW gripped shaft pulls which are overlength to my 3-9 iron heads, would be a problem. I mean, the Nippons are butt trim shafts and if the overall length is correct for each club when moved up like that, I think I should be okay, right?

**wolverine_man** · June 15, 2010

Well, I tested out the MacGregor 6 iron tonight. The club measures right around a D 1.8 in swingweight. It is quite a bit lighter than previously. I don't know if I am just not quite used to the difference but the club feels pretty head heavy. Probably just not used to it after playing a D 5.5 for a year. Anyways, the shaft felt a little stiffer than I had thought it would, as well.

Did I do anything wrong by putting a 7 iron shaft in a 6 iron head? I mean, I was going by length and because the shafts were over length the 7 iron was perfect in length for my 6 iron.

I tested the irons side by side with my old set of MP-14s with DGS300. Ball flight on the newly shafted MacGregor was just a little higher than the S300. Distance seemed to be close to a little longer but I was hitting on a range, so with those balls and the hard ground, it was hard to tell.

Also, any suggestions on how to get rid of a slight head-heavy feeling? Should I add weight to the butt end?

**jpalermo** · June 15, 2010

if the are not butt trim you have just hard stepped them once.... it will make them play stiffer in the tip section and lower the ball flight.

i have KBS tour stiff shafts, soft stepped once to raise my ball flight, which was moving them down one club then butt trimming them to length. instead of 6.0 they play about 5.7

couldn't be happier with the kbs's beautiful shafts

**wolverine_man** · June 15, 2010

Well, taper tip Nippon shafts are butt trim only. So did I actually hard step my 6 iron? Wanting to know before I proceed to have the rest of the irons shafted because I def don't want to hard step them. Should I have instead placed all the over standard length shafts in the iron heads they were meant for and the butt trim them to a standard length?

**JWL1957** · June 15, 2010

I have reshafted a couple of set s of PCB Tours. They ranged between D-2 to D-3 on my scale before reshafting (according to my note book.)

I fitted one set with Dynamic Gold Lites @ D-2. If I remember right, they took a fair amount of lead to get them to D-2 with the new shafts. The DG Lites are no longer made.

I fitted the other set of PCB's with KBS Tour 90's. I didnt know much about KBS before then, but the guy insisted on them and was quite happy with the results. I weighted the the 3-6 irons D-2 and the 7-PW at D-4 at his request. I did this set about 2 months ago.

**wolverine_man** · June 15, 2010

Interesting. So I guess I am still wondering if I did actually did to a hard step. I'm not sure what protocol is on using .5 inch over length shafts and getting them to std length. You just install in the respective heads and butt trim, or do you actually move the shaft one up so that the length is correct (i.e. 7 iron shaft at +.5 into a 6 iron head).

**jpalermo** · June 15, 2010

Just read the trim instructions for Nippon..... They are butt trim only, I guess I would say no to the hard step, but then again you don't know what someone did b4 you got them, someone may have tipped them a little bit.... not advisable but some people do some crazy shizz to their clubs.

**wolverine_man** · June 15, 2010

I got it now. The shafts were brand, brand new with the shrink wrap still on the grips directly from Cobra. I am having the 4-PW pulls put into my 4-PW heads. Golf shop actually thinks they will be standards length. I will find out tonight. If over-standard, I can remove the factory grips, butt trim them, and then install a new set of grips I have. I confirmed everthing with Nippon by phone. All of their irons are discrete lenghts, meaning a 4 iron shaft is a 4 iron shaft period. It has a specific raw length from which you trim. So, my 6 iron which was shafted with a 7 iron shaft and which came out to a standard overall length was actually hard stepped. Problem is being solved. Thanks so much for the advice.

**jpalermo** · June 15, 2010

nice..... glad that got figured out for you

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