No Love for Scor caused changes bag wide.

[RoverRick]

I was first introduced to KBS Shafts shortly after joining MGS. They were all the rage, and I decided to try some for myself and see if I liked them. Well, I loved them. I loved the feel of them. They seemed to have a kick that I could feel in the swing, and KBS is all I have played for the past 3 years in my irons.

 

A similar thing has happened with my wedges. Scor Wedges are all the rage, now. Post after post of members stating how great the Scors are and how they have changed their game. So, I bought three, a 48, a 53, and a 59. I must say, they certainly changed my game. I played with Barbajo and others a few weeks ago and it truly changed my game. I had 22 dropped shots inside 100 yards. Not total shots, screwed up shots. That is a game changed for someone who gets up and down 90% of the time from inside 100 yards.

 

I was blaming Scor, but in reality, I had the same issues with Callaway, Taylormade, Scratch, Ping, some newer Titleist wedges I have tried, and many more I can't even remember. I have tried several times to switch wedges, but the bottom line is 20-40% up and downs, or 90% with my old Titleist Series 200. The Scors, however, were the worst. I had no tempo control and would jump at the ball on one swing and stop halfway through on the next. It was horrible.

 

While talking to a friend from here, I mentioned that because the grips that are on the Vokeys can't be removed, I still had the Dynamic Gold Wedge shaft in them. He pointed out that there was my problem.

 

Of course, one of the reasons I loved the KBS Shaft was because it is counter balanced. The Vokeys on the DG felt very head heavy. He pointed out that may be why I liked them and felt so comfortable with them.

 

So I of course had to experiment, and replaced the KBS with DG Wedge shafts, and BINGO.

 

This lead to not only using DG Shafts in the wedges, but I installed DG shafts in all my irons. They feel head heavy, but I can feel the head throughout the swing and this lead to one of the best iron striking days I have had in a while.

 

I have been using longer than normal shafts but found that with the DG shafts at standard length I am able go with the shorter length and actually gained distance and accuracy. I have only had one day with the set up but I am loving the preliminary results.

 

This has changed the complete bag. I now have the Fli His 2-4 and the MP53 5 iron and MP68 6-9 and the three Scor Wedges.

 

My swing has changed over the past few years so some of the things I liked and needed are no longer the case.

 

So, long story short, your short game issues could be caused by your shafts, not necessarily your wedges. Any others out there notice this?

[jbil8802]

I'm not sure if it's that I'm not good enough or just haven't been playing for long enough/don't have enough experience hitting different types of shafts to notice this in my wedges. I will say that I was able to notice it in my irons when I got fitted going back and forth between shafts and even more so when I got the Fli Hi's with the same shafts. I wonder if putting the same shafts in my SCORs might be beneficial?

[RoverRick]

I thought that the most important thing was that with the slower partial swings, the effect of not being able to feel the head was more pronounced than it was with the full swing. Obviously, it effected the full swing also, but it was more noticeable with the partial swing.

 

To me, knowing where the head of the club is on the partial swings is the key to distance control. And wedges are all about controlling the distance.

[markb]

Great great post about the importance of shaft and weight in irons and wedges.   I had a similar problem with tempo etc on irons and I switched to a very light, high launching shaft on all my long and mid irons and the problem cleared right up.  Unfortunately, too often we have to find these preferences and fixes by trial and error after much searching.

[RoverRick]

Great great post about the importance of shaft and weight in irons and wedges.   I had a similar problem with tempo etc on irons and I switched to a very light, high launching shaft on all my long and mid irons and the problem cleared right up.  Unfortunately, too often we have to find these preferences and fixes by trial and error after much searching.

 

I am not sure I said it plain enough but my error with the irons has been tempo. I am all the time getting too quick with the tempo. Last week, playing with Bones, I repeated the mantra "Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast, therefore Slow equals fast."  Unfortunately, I was unable to accomplish that while with him. Something about playing a 300 yard hitter on a 7500 yard course in the wind and mud made me want to swing fast.  However, I was able to do that with the new iron shafts last weekend, and by the fifth hole, it had transferred over to the driver.

 

My favorite quote of the day, last Saturday, was on the fifth hole, "You slowed down and crushed that ball."

[Blade]

I hear ya on feeling the weight of the club head. I have KBS C Tapers. I have my swing weights increasing through the short irons into the wedges so they feel right to me. I don't have my club building stuff up here in CO yet to check. But if I remember right, my SW is a D8 while my long irons are D2 or 3 I think.

 

As much as I fought my back troubles and now don't have a backyard range and indoor hitting bay, I think I need to get softer shafts. I haven't been swinging like I used to, and it doesn't feel like I'm loading the shafts and feeling that kick as much. Maybe I need to do some experimenting too. If only I had a garage up here to tinker.

[RoverRick]

I played a few holes yesterday (12) with the "new" set up. The 48* Scor still feels a bit light in the head so I will be adding a weight to it, but all the clubs feel so much better.

 

These shafts really helped my major fault which is tempo. I had a smooth swing all day. The wind was gusting up close to 30 mph, and on the first two holes into the wind I did not use enough club, costing me bogie and double bogie. After that I missed just two GIR and had 3 birdies.

 

An added bonus was the smoother swing with the wedges and irons transferred into my driver also and missed just one fairway.

[revkev]

Very interesting thread - I've found (through trial and error) that I prefer a lighter shaft because it helps increase my meager club head speed while still allowing me to feel the head through the ball - that's very important I think. 

 

The one club that I still have a heavier shaft in is my primary sand club - its my SCOR 60 - I rarely hit that full and yet almost only ever swing it hard (sand, flops, shut down short chips where I want tons of spin.)  I do have to remind myself to swing harder in rough or out of sand with one of the less lofted wedges.

[RookieBlue7]

That's one of the reasons I switched from KBS back to DG's. The KBS had an in characteristic bullwhip feel I liked but they also balanced so much different and you couldn't find the head at times in the swing. Some may not mind that but I need to feel where the head is at at all times for a mental thing. Even swingweighting the KBS is more difficult because of the balance point. Lots love the shafts and I know why, that bullwhip feel and they're incredibly solid feeling at contact. But I had the same experience after switching back. Bells and whistles went off, all that good stuff lol.

[Blade]

You're right about the snap of the whip feel. That's what hooked me on them.

[wbealsd]

Very interesting thread - I've found (through trial and error) that I prefer a lighter shaft because it helps increase my meager club head speed while still allowing me to feel the head through the ball - that's very important I think. 

 

The one club that I still have a heavier shaft in is my primary sand club - its my SCOR 60 - I rarely hit that full and yet almost only ever swing it hard (sand, flops, shut down short chips where I want tons of spin.)  I do have to remind myself to swing harder in rough or out of sand with one of the less lofted wedges.

I haven't had much of an opportunity to play with my new graphite shafts yet, but I'm finding myself in a similar spot.  I really like the feel and results with the lighter shafts EXCEPT in the bunker.  I'm going to take along an old steel shafted wedge with me this weekend, just to compare and practice some bunker shots.  I really like the way my 56* wedge performs otherwise, so I'm more likely to add a steel shafted wedge than change the shaft on it.

[jaskanski]

Agree with most others on here. I too had a brief honeymoon period with the KBS shaft in my irons and at one point they were pretty much perfect. However, the one spot in the bag where I could NOT make them work was the wedges. To date, nothing has been more reliable, predictable and controllable than the good old DG shaft in wedge play. The feel and spin is absolutely spot on - I won't use anything else.

In terms of irons, the KBS mojo wore off when the tips started to bend and fail on mine and numerous other sets I saw - not good. Instead, I tried out a set of 1150GH Nippons and found them to be a delight - great feel and control without the added weight of the DG. No issues with tip failure either - so for the time being they're my go-to shaft in irons. But for wedges, my shaft of choice is and always will be the DG.