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KBS Shafts


saevel25
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Great interview about KBS.

On a side note, the guy there in the video created Project X. He had a falling out with True Temper, and started KBS shafts. I have these in my Mizuno, and they are just amazing golf shafts.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
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*Note, I don't have KBS Tour V shafts, I have the original KBS Tour. KBS Tour V is just a less spin version of the KBS Tour.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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*Note, I don't have KBS Tour V shafts, I have the original KBS Tour. KBS Tour V is just a less spin version of the KBS Tour.


I noted that Kim's philosophy is all about the stiffest shaft you can load, and the stiffer the shaft the lower the dispersion.

Interesting.

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Which I agree with. When the original Ping Eye 2 irons came out, they were with a very stiff heavy iron shaft. Amateurs had no problem playing one of the best selling irons of all time. ;-)

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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I use the KBS shafts in my Eye 2's. I really like them myself, but I know the decision of what shaft to use is based a lot on how you swing your club. The KBS stiff just worked out for me since it's between the Project X 6.0 and 6.0, with a rating of around 6.2-ish I believe. I could be wrong on that one though.

When I bought my Eye 2's they came with X-Stiff ZZ Lite's in them since the owner previous figured that the shaft that bent the least would always be the most accurate. Swinging those shafts you could definitely feel a noticeable lack of flex to them.

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Yeah had KBS Tour's in my Anser and MP 59 irons.  Really like them, not a big fan of the Project X shafts, the "boardier"  feel doesn't fit me.

Mike McLoughlin

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Yeah had KBS Tour's in my Anser and MP 59 irons.  Really like them, not a big fan of the Project X shafts, the "boardier"  feel doesn't fit me.

I have the KBS Tours in my RocketBladez Tour irons. For me, it's Project X > KBS Tour > TT DG, but the wave that Project X was riding seems to have died out a bit, replaced by KBS. Also, I haven't gotten to hit the KBS C-Tapers in an iron set. Those could be up there.

In my bag:

Driver: Titleist TSi3 | 15º 3-Wood: Ping G410 | 17º 2-Hybrid: Ping G410 | 19º 3-Iron: TaylorMade GAPR Lo |4-PW Irons: Nike VR Pro Combo | 54º SW, 60º LW: Titleist Vokey SM8 | Putter: Odyssey Toulon Las Vegas H7

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Lots of love for KBS from me.

I just bought a set of x stiff c tapers because I finally added the 4,6, and 8 irons and I convinced myself a couple of my existing irons were showing slight damage and didn't feel right. I also decided to go for the X straight in rather than soft stepping it once even though I loved it, since I have been loving some of the stiffest shafts on the market in my other clubs. Well, I pulled the more heavily used irons and sure enough, they were all slightly bent in the same direction at the hosel. Granted I had built my swing this season through trial and error with tons of balls hit hard off range mats, and I had noticed my 3 and 7 iron acting up which were bent the most. I don't blame the manufacturers one bit for it though, they were built to be hit off grass.

Even though I think a dynamic gold might be a bit more durable, I got the same shafts again at a decent deal and put them in. As long as I don't get the same problem so quickly again, I'm happy to pay for the quality. I'm sure whatever else I buy will be worse performing and just as easy to damage so why bother.

After a couple rounds, I decided to soft step them after all, since I'm thrown off by the extra stiffness. Shots that were supposed to draw just don't finish coming back though they do with my woods, and I can't get my timing or setup quite right.

Also, the KBS wedge shaft; not the hi rev or the KBS tour's PW length shaft, is incredible. I have it in my SW and LW and I enjoy the crisp feel and spin control on pitches as well as the controlled trajectory and stability on full swings. Plus the black nickel looks amazing. It's really debatable whether I want to get one for my PW as well, but I think I'm better off matching the irons since the head is part of the set.

A note on the C tapers: I've never hit a shaft in my life that's been anywhere close to too stiff until I hit the X straight in. I could swing them as hard as I possibly could when they were soft stepped and they just worked better and better, but the standard X required me to shorten my swing and jam the ball to get any loading. Trajectory was great either way, in fact it barely made a difference, but the soft stepping was crucial. I suppose I could have gone with the simple S+ flex, but I like the extra weight. Anyone considering X straight in needs to either add weight to the head or have very strong hands. I can easily get a triple digit swing speed with my long irons so I usually fit into the stiffest shafts on the market; consider the CT x soft stepped to be like an x100 straight in, but the CT x straight in is like a tipped x100. If you buy your components from the folks at the Golfworks, or use their shaft MPF system, their rating for the C tapers would be more accurate if you soft stepped whatever flex you're getting, as a stiffness of "5C1H" works great for me in my other shaft models but the CT x plays more like a "5.5C1H" straight in. I'd strongly advise people to give them a shot but they aren't for everybody and you need to be realistic about the flex and installation you choose. There's a reason the KBS Tour is used by so many pros; not all of them get the best performance from the c taper.

In My Bag:

Adams Super LS 9.5˚ driver, Aldila Phenom NL 65TX
Adams Super LS 15˚ fairway, Kusala black 72x
Adams Super LS 18˚ fairway, Aldila Rip'd NV 75TX
Adams Idea pro VST hybrid, 21˚, RIP Alpha 105x
Adams DHY 24˚, RIP Alpha 89x
5-PW Maltby TE irons, KBS C taper X, soft stepped once 130g
Mizuno T4, 54.9 KBS Wedge X
Mizuno R12 60.5, black nickel, KBS Wedge X
Odyssey Metal X #1 putter 
Bridgestone E5, Adidas samba bag, True Linkswear Stealth
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There seems to be some problem with the KBS tour shafts getting bent near the hozel over time. It looks like it happens more in the longer irons. I am shocked at this. I'll have to keep a look out for this.

C-Tapers are monsters. When I was getting fitted for my Mizuno's the C-taper actually gave me better numbers. I was swinging pretty fast to, so I wasn't comfortable with them if I let up. So I went with KBS Tour X. They have about 500 RPM more spin, and slightly higher launch than the C-taper, but I think that will help if I keep my swing in a smoother tempo. I don't think the slight difference in numbers was worth the up charge.

As for soft and hard stepping, here's a great article on it, http://www.golfshaftreviews.info/index.php/soft-stepping-and-hard-stepping-iron-shaft-sets/

Quote:
Here again is the KBS Tour. Soft stepping, putting the 5 iron shaft in the 6 iron, moves the flex of the shaft about 1/3 of the way toward the R flex shaft.  A double soft step, 4 iron in the 6 iron will move the flex another 1/3 toward the R flex. The weight of the shaft changes very little with stepping. The 120 gram S flex is still 120 grams while having a stiffness similar to the 110 gram R flex model.

The reason why the stepping does this for KBS is because all KBS does is increase weight to increase stiffness. This makes their golf shafts very consistent through the same model on the EI charts (stiffness along the whole shaft). It also makes available that you can soft step to get a whole range of different stiffness with out changing the characteristic of the golf shaft.

Quote:
Now lets look at the same EI chart of the True Temper XP105. We see the same change of profile from hard or soft stepping. A slight change of overall stiffness of the shaft. However, when we look at the R flex shaft we see that it has a significantly different Ei bend profile.

True Temper doesn't do this. They change the stiffness profile from their regular to their stiff flexes. So if your getting fitted and you change flex from a stiff to a regular in True Temper be very careful because the EI chart changes a ton. But if you like the EI characteristics of a True Temper but its a bit to stiff, then soft step.

Just two different mentalities. I get why True Temper does this, they can hit a wide range of people with one shaft model. I personally like KBS because I swing fast, and their golf shafts look designed for better players.

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
 fasdfa dfdsaf 

What's in My Bag
Driver; :pxg: 0311 Gen 5,  3-Wood: 
:titleist: 917h3 ,  Hybrid:  :titleist: 915 2-Hybrid,  Irons: Sub 70 TAIII Fordged
Wedges: :edel: (52, 56, 60),  Putter: :edel:,  Ball: :snell: MTB,  Shoe: :true_linkswear:,  Rangfinder: :leupold:
Bag: :ping:

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Yeah had KBS Tour's in my Anser and MP 59 irons.  Really like them, not a big fan of the Project X shafts, the "boardier"  feel doesn't fit me.

[quote name="jamo" url="/t/71141/kbs-shafts/0_20#post_921040"] I have the KBS Tours in my RocketBladez Tour irons. For me, it's Project X > KBS Tour > TT DG, but the wave that Project X was riding seems to have died out a bit, replaced by KBS. Also, I haven't gotten to hit the KBS C-Tapers in an iron set. Those could be up there.[/quote] C-Tapers have a bit of a dead feel to them. Not as bad as PX, but definitely less lively feeling than either KBS Tour or TTDG. But I like what they do to the ball....

Kevin

Titleist 910 D3 9.5* with ahina 72 X flex
Titleist 910F 13.5* with ahina 72 X flex
Adams Idea A12 Pro hybrid 18*; 23* with RIP S flex
Titleist 712 AP2 4-9 iron with KBS C-Taper, S+ flex
Titleist Vokey SM wedges 48*, 52*, 58*
Odyssey White Hot 2-ball mallet, center shaft, 34"

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I had an odd experience when I tried out the C-tapers when testing clubs (before deciding to just keep what I had). In some clubs it gave me a higher launch and a higher spin rate, but in others it would make my launch and spin unbearably low. If I were to ever look at them I'd definitely want to look at them in combination with the specific model of clubhead that you would be using it with. One thing that's interesting about the KBS shaft is that they sort them by their stiffness rather than weight. I know True Temper sorts their shafts by weight, but Project X and KBS get sorted by their stiffness. Basically, that means that there is effectively 0 variance in the stiffness between each shaft, but the weight won't be completely consistent. True Temper is the opposite where every shaft is the same weight, but the actual tested stiffness may vary. I personally can't feel a couple grams difference in weight if it's still only +/- 3 grams or so, but I feel as though the difference in stiffness might be detrimental.
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Note: This thread is 3781 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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