New Club Day! (Spoiler Alert: C-Tapers)

[LuciusWooding]

So my birthday's coming up, and I decided to treat myself to a new set of irons... Only I have no money so I have to do it incrementally (the irony...), so I decided to start with a 7 iron since my current 7 iron bit the dust, as some of you know.

I went with more of a player's model in terms of look, with traditional lofts and something I could get a custom shaft in. After searching far and wide, I settled on Maltby's TE iron, and got it custom assembled in the mail today. It was like Christmas morning, let me tell you. You can't see the technology, it's all just a cavity that starts a bit higher than some. Topline is actually pretty narrow, not compared to old Hogans or the like, but good looking, barely a hint of offset, and a medium to narrow sole. There aren't a lot of better looking irons in person that I've seen, and if there are I certainly can't afford them.

I decided on a white ferrule, which worried me as it didn't show up in stock. I could only buy it as a dozen, but I just had to beg a little bit and Golfworks hooked me up. It looks awesome and it's a nice custom touch to make the set my own. It looks even more unique since I don't have any other irons in the set... For now.

Golfworks followed my exact instructions, did a fine job assembling, and only charged me around 80$ per club assembled, which for C tapers at 35 apiece is pretty damn good. Plus I got to buy one test club to ensure I like this combo, which looks like a lock to be honest. I really like the looks of this bad boy, I'll update once I get a chance to hit balls with it, probably tomorrow.

I went with a blue GPNDMC midsize, a grip I knew I'd like since I'd used half cords in the past, but was pleasantly surprised by how blue and how high quality it was. No slippage at all, a bit softer than others, and tons of tack.

Finally, the shaft. The C Tapers looked better than the photo. It's worth seeing in person, they have a true brushed look, I was expecting almost a bead blasted finish based on some reviews, but they look lighter than chrome, a lot more neutral, and without glare. I chose X flex in the Taper tip, because I wanted a heavier 130g shaft, and got them soft stepped once, because I didn't want to get possibly the stiffest playing shaft on the market unless I tried it SS and needed more. Fitting on the KBS site, talk on various forums, and my best judgement pointed me at the S+ so this should frequency about the same with enough weight to give me something to push against. I hit my 5 iron over 200 and swing speed is somewhere in the mid to high 90s, though I haven't measured it in a long while, and a moderately aggressive tempo with a big turn. I may post a swing thread before too long, depending on how I hit the ball.

Having taken practice swings, I was really surprised how different this shaft feels at the bottom. This was my first X flex shaft, and it didn't artificially lag at all (which I find to be an annoying feel), unlike the R+ and S lightweight model shafts I'd hit including the Hogan Apex 4, TT Feather Flight, and Prolaunch Red Stiff. I could feel it give just a bit when I released, resulting in the exact swing bottom I wanted. It took neither a compromise to my balance and rhythm, nor an unnecessarily hard release to load the shaft. Plus the shaft is both quiet through the hitting zone as well as giving me plenty of resistance to push against. My older shafts really forced me to slow down or it felt like I was swinging a paper fan. They'd bend at the top and I couldn't feel them again coming through because they didn't basically collapse. These are a different beast, still able to flex on a partial swing, yet seemingly unable to overload so far.

I apologize for the crappy pics, I'll update once I hit some balls and try to take pics with an actual camera instead of my laptop's webcam. At least I had the decency to unmirror the pics. Any requests about this combo or wanting to see a certain angle, let me know. I know how hard it is to shop for this stuff so I'd be glad to help your curiosity.

[Audaxi]

I love the feel of KBS C-Tapers myself, but in the irons I'm saving for I plan on getting the regular KBS Stiffs in them, mainly because the C-Tapers gave me a low 40* landing angle with a 6i compared to 45-46* with just a Stiff.

[LuciusWooding]

Just got back from the range today, and I have to say I'm impressed as hell. I will be sticking with this shaft and head in the set for sure, though I need to get the lies bent upright by 2˚.

There was a 2 club wind, it was only 50 degrees out, and using some pretty worn out range balls. As such, the ball really didn't want to go anywhere. I was probably getting 20-30 yards less than my normal distances, and of course the ball wasn't always feeling too soft. That said, I was hitting the ball really solid with this club, quite unlike anything I'd hit before. The flex and weight meant I was hitting the ball in an extremely tight area of the face, which I had always had to struggle with lighter and softer shafts. Nearly all my ball marks created a 1" circle in the center, about 5% were outside this radius. The exact feeling through impacts hard to describe; solid and tight would be a good start. Though the head was pretty much quiet, it was enough forgiveness for me to keep my distance control tight. Thin hits flew pretty well, but I didn't miss a lot.

As for the flight: I didn't notice increased distance due to all the weather factors, but I'm confident I'd maintain or improve what I have. The trajectory was not nearly as low as expected. The standard ball placement yielded a perfect launch; totally flat but with a mid launch angle. It topped off at 90 or so feet of height into 20mph gusts with no sign of ballooning, and I could knock it down around 15 feet without much loss of carry. I could slide the ball up in my stance and hit it higher with the same carry and direction. Everything seemed to hit a wall at around 150 today except my driver, but I expect 170-180 on the course with real balls.

The real miracle here was the dispersion. With a draw setup, I was hitting between 0 and 5 yards left of centerline, all within 5 yards of the exact distance. The trajectory was picture perfect on 90% of my shots. I lost a couple right due to a block, but still within 5 yards and the same distance. Can't ask for a better dispersion than a 15 foot radius, I can get around a 10 foot landing radius on full wedges at 100y, not counting roll or spin. If I could bend the lies a bit, I expect a tiny bit better location, taking the right side at least a couple yards over and needing a bit less effort to hit a draw. This shaft didn't want to go crooked unless you missed the sweet spot badly; it seemed like there was only ever 1 yard or so of curve in my stock shot, even on misses. It would push and pull a tiny bit, but I could tell I would have been utterly boned had I been using my current shafts; the same shots would be within double or triple the area without the consistent trajectory. I could also hit a cut a lot easier, though I don't use it much. Hooking the shafts was nearly impossible unless I really tried or hit the toe. I also didn't have to swing hard; my stock swing worked wonders and even a 3/4 shot got good results. This is a sign that the flex is good for me, but SS X flex is a board for most people. I feel I could play one half flex down, but I like the weight and tightness. This shaft is really stable and I like that, but it felt so smooth hitting balls compared to practice swings; I had a weird feeling swinging through air but the power transfer at impact is amazing. Other shafts don't do it for me now, though I can use them.

The only remaining mystery is my actual course distances, turf interaction, and how the rest of the set works. I expect I'll be able to check up the ball because the height is good enough, so that doesn't seem to be an issue. This setup made a remarkable change in my results; and it vindicated my swing mechanics. The sheer tightness of the dispersion had me looking up and ready to begin swearing based on how the swing felt, yet it turned out to be a hit green. It was like it was automatic.

I highly recommend giving these shafts a try, they made me at least twice as accurate in dispersion and cut my mishits down to nothing. A shaft absolutely can make you miss the sweet spot, as was the case for me. Too bad summer's over, I could get some serious use out of this set.