OFFICIAL FORUM MEMBER REVIEW: KBS Tour Proto Hybrid Shaft

[McaseyM]

KBS Tour PROTO Hybrid Shaft

I now it's a looooooooooooooong time coming, but here it is! There were a few miscommunications and a crazy busy fall and winter for MGS, so after chatting with the mods, we got this thing up and running

(Since this review was initially written, I have changed my entire bag with the Get Fit Like a Pro Event with Cleveland Golf. Here's the thread on that, which I will be updating again soon)


Howdy, everyone! First off, I'd like to thank MyGolfSpy and KBS for the opportunity to test out these shafts. I've been very curious about them ever since their launch, as I played KBS Tour shafts in my irons and Hi-Rev 2.0s in my wedges.

I am a high (unofficial) capper, usually shooting in the 90s-low 100s and for me it comes down to consistency. My long game is typically my strength, I “can” do well with my woods, hybrid and longer irons, but 75 yards and in tends to be my weakness. I tend to go for it on longer holes and approaches, even though I can usually play my 9i and PW very consistently.

My ball flight is typically mid-range height and relatively flat with a good amount of roll at the end. When I miss, it is either a banana slice or a hard pull left, that goes straight, but at about a 10-11 o'clock line.

I love golf for the personal challenge it is to get that tiny white ball into a 4.25 inch hole, be it from 100 or 550 yards away. I love being outside, walking the course and appreciating the work from the designer to the grounds crews to make this park into a place that we can get together with friends for fun , money or to challenge ourselves.

I've been playing 24 years, only really taking it seriously since early 2011. I was down to bogey golf in the summer of 2012, but when my twin daughters came 5 ½ weeks early, my priorities, finances and time focus shifted. Currently I get to play a few rounds a year and thanks to a recent conversation with my wife about my golfing priorities, I'll be getting more early morning 9-hole rounds in, as well as some more full 18s sprinkled in.

I've always been athletic, playing sports growing up, doing the typical soccer, baseball, basketball and some summers of golf at the local (now closed) Sunset Whitney Country Club in Rocklin, CA. I played football and baseball in high school and football in college, and now am married with 3 munchkins and working as a physical therapist in Sacramento.

I play out of the Sacramento region, usually rounding at public/muni courses, with the very rare treat of playing Pacific Grove Municipal, Yocha Dehe, and Winchester Auburn. We can usually play year-round out here, except when it rains, so last Winter/Spring were rough thanks to El Nino.

As for adjusting clubs, I don't mess with professional fittings, so my irons and driver are set to what tested out best in my fittings. As for my hybrid and wedges, I find myself tinkering, especially when I don't get a chance to play.

Just prior to being selected for this, my irons had been Mizuno JPX 800 PRO 4i – PW with KBS Tour X-stiff shafts that have been soft stepped once. They are 1 inch over length, 2 degrees upright. My wedges were Mizuno MP T11 52.07, 56.13, 60.05, but bent to 50.05, 55.12, 60.05 as I rarely take full swings. They are all the same length (thanks Big Stu) and 2 degrees up with KBS Hi-Rev 2.0 in X stiff, so as you can see, I've been a big KBS fan.

Now, let's get to what this review is actually about: my hybrid set up. Prior to getting selected for this, I was playing just 1 hybrid, a Wilson FG M3 Tour set at 21-up with an Aldila RIP Phenom Tour X 85 shaft. The RIP Phenom Stiff was stock, but since I'm “soooo knowledgeable” and played X stiff iron shafts, I figured I needed something bolder, so after perusing eBay, I picked up the Tour X 85 and guess what?????? Moderately big mistake. It was waaaaaaaay too stiff for me, like literally swinging a club with minimal feeling of flex or loading.. The ball would go straight, but I could only get it to go about the same as my well struck 4i- 5i, so not much use for me.

Since we were receiving 2 shafts for this testing, I felt that I would be doing a great disservice to both KBS and MyGolfSpy to only test for my current hybrid, so just for you and the sake of research I decided to “invest” in a 2^nd hybrid and ended up with a Cobra F7 16-19 hybrid with the Fujikura Pro 75X shaft (picked it up the day before the Most Wanted Hybrid results came out, I swear). In order to give a good comparison, I ordered a spare shaft adapter so I could swing the Fujikura Pro and KBS hybrid shafts on the same head side-by-side. I know that their weights, stiffness and launch profiles differ, so it's won't be a Golden Delicious to Fuji apple comparison, but it's the best I could do. I tried to pick up a Wilson adapter so I could do the same for the Phenom 85TX, but since the club was 3-4 years old, not even Wilson had it anymore and I didn't want to pick up a whole other club just the cannibalize the adapter and try to sell off the other parts for scrap. Picking up the Cobra in the 16-19 loft range would also give me the opportunity to trial the shaft in a full progression from my 4i, to a 3 Hybrid to a 2 Hybrid, since I know some people like my Father-in-Law choose to play a low loft hybrid instead of a fairway wood.

For the KBS PROTO Hybrid shaft selection, I called KBS to get their take and it was suggested to do the 95 Stiff+ shaft as my irons are soft stepped X-stiffs weighing in about 130 grams, and since I wasn't looking for a higher trajectory, the 95g would keep it most similar to my irons. (At the time of this review, the 105 gram shaft was not available). I like to play my hybrids off the grass (even in the tee box ), when I need to place it around the opening of a dog leg if it's 210-30ish, if I am having issues with my fairway wood that day, or if the grass is a bit thicker. I will use it for punch outs as well.

Set up

First off, this shaft is damn sexy, I will cover this more in the looks area. For the build, I used what I had in stock at my house as follows:

Wilson: trimmed to 39.5 and added a beautiful bright pink PURE Wrap with 2 wraps underneath as it closely matched the Golf Pride Tour Wrap 2G Midsize on my irons, plus allowed me to just blow the grip on versus taping in case I had to make more butt-trimming adjustments.



Cobra: trimmed to match the Cobra F7 spec length of 41.25 and I added the Jordan Speith Super Stroke S-Tec grip with 2 extra wraps underneath to fatten it to be close to midsize. (Man, this is a nice, tacky and soft grip and the grey on black looks pretty badass as well). I was also able to just blow this one on without tape and it hasn't shifted.






I could immediately feel the difference between the KBS Hybrid shafts and the previous Aldila and the Fujikura Pro on the practice swings. It felt firmer but not boardy, and after switching back and forth between the Fujikura and the KBS, the Fuji felt almost whippy and slightly looser, almost like a fairway wood shaft.



It took several swings to get used to the feeling as the weight was different, but the bend/load felt much different than the Fujikura, but it was so much more fluid than the RIP Phenom TX
First of all, I am very short on time and funds for golf, testing at the range in the wee hours of the mornings, thanks to Haggin Oaks, my 24 hour range on my way to work, and evenings and playing when I can, so trying to scratch up more money to utilize a launch monitor was not really an option for me for this review. Yes, I did just purchase a new King F7, but that was possible through a gift card.

This does feel much more like an iron shaft than the Fujikura does and is very confidence inspiring. The flight trajectory is very similar to my irons, flat with middle range flight, staying about 20-30 feet off the deck with a good amount of roll. Where I can really feel the head when I either waggle moderately and on the downswing transition with the Fujikura, the heads on the KBS feel more a part of the club, but overly stiff like the Phenom TX, more like swinging an iron. For me, this translated into using a more iron-like downward swing versus a more sweeping fairway wood swing.

On the par 5 18^th hole of our charity golf tourney, I was back and forth between laying up and going for it with the F7 on a slightly downhill lie. Well, since it was the last hole, I decided to go for it and uncorked a perfect 230-240 yard shot that rolled just on the edge of fairway on a dogleg right to set up a soft wedge shot to go for birdie.

On my January t trip to Monterey, I actually used this instead of a fairway wood as I was still getting used to my new 3 wood. I set it to 16.5 and it absolutely money for me. I used it off the tee box the most at Spyglass, usually landing within 15-20 yards of many of our threesome's drives. At Spanish Bay, I found my drive again, utilizing it less, but still effectively on most shots.

Last month, I played Dark Horde, a narrow, mountainous course in Aubrun and I used this beast off the tee the most. It was a near driverless day (for me at least) and nearly matched my buddy's drives. It produced a mid-trajectory, boring flight and landed mostly where I wanted it to go.


Between the Fuji (75X), KBS (95S+) and Rip Phenom (85 TX), the KBS has a more penetrating and flatter flight, whereas the Fuji was higher more arching with a softer landing and the RIP Phenom was just harsh. I really appreciated the firmer feeling of the KBS without it being too boardy, there was more slight feeling of the shaft loading versus the slight whip of the Fuji or the uniform of the RIP Phenom.
As for this shaft, I felt that it lacked nothing. I really like how they have the S, S+ and X flex options, allowing someone like me to play it in the middle of the offering. I found this shaft to be everything as advertised, it truly performs like an iron shaft for me. Compared to the Fujikura Pro 75X and the Aldila RIP Phenom 85TX, this would be a go to shaft if I was looking for continuity from my irons down to my hybrid. I would love to try this in a Utility iron head, hopefully one of my fellow testers had this set up.

I found it performed very well on the course for what I was using it for, tee shots, second shots that I topped to the front of the fairway, and longer approach shots. With how I hit the ball, with the flatter mid-range flight, I know that with the state of my game, it is a matter of practice to improve that ability, but for me, this shaft works for the hybrid to replace a 3-4 iron, and also as low as a 2 iron/fairway replacement. Also, depending on your weather and locations, this would be great for windy days when you just want to keep the ball down.

Course Score: 60

Subjective

Looks & Durability
This thing is just badass in appearance. The matte black with the dark grey and red accents make you feel like you've got the sword of the Witch King from Lord of the Rings ( okay, nerd time over….for now) I could imagine any hybrid head would look absolutely magnificent on the end of this shaft, but the matte black and charcoal colors of the Wilson and the black Cobra F7 are dynamite!
It's amazingly eye catching but blends in at the same time. It stands out that it is solid black and stealthy, but doesn't scream “look at me” like some of the other crazy shaft color options do. I'm a big fan of bold colors, but this just works perfect for me.







Looks Score: 10




Likelihood of Purchase

• As a previous KBS shaft player, the Tour hybrid PROTO definitely feels like a very smooth transition from the irons to the hybrids. The way I hit the ball with more roll versus a softer landing, this is an awesome shaft for me. The shaft is a bit pricey at $175.95, but I use my hybrid quite a bit, so I could see this an investment in my game especially as I am looking to continue the same flight for my hybrids from my irons. I don't know if I could pull the trigger on a new hybrid AND upgrade another $176 for the shaft, but if I already had the hybrid that maybe I fell out of love with and wanted to upgrade the shaft, this is an awesome option.

• As KBS has grown and been a stock offering in more irons, hopefully they can offer this in some hybrid offerings from OEMs in the future.

LOP Score: 25




Conclusion & Final Score
Overall, this is a 95/100 for me, an awesome shaft that fit my needs perfectly and delivered on what it promised. I am very impressed with the KBS Tour PROTO shaft. They claimed that it would provide a seamless transition from irons to hybrid, and for me, it truly felt that way. The look is unbelievably cool, but the performance is what matters most and as I use my hybrid for more distance and roll (at this time) It is a winner. I will be keeping this in my Cobra F7 and my Wilson may be sticking around longer than expected.

UPDATE:
With my new Cleveland clubs, I didn't need the higher lofted Wilson hybrid anymore, so i pulled the head and sold it. At my fitting, I was fit for a x-stiff Miyazaki Kaula 7X hybrid shaft, weighing in at 75 grams with teh 19 degree hybrid. Well, with my current results, i was getting about 200-215 with both the 4i and the hybrid, so it wasn't gapping the 3W and 4i like we had hoped. With how well this KBS shaft has performed in the Cobra F7, I pulled the Miyazaki and installed the KBS.

I also changed the grips to all match across my set for consistency, and damn they are sexy clubs





First range session was good and i could feel the difference. My new CBX irons are DG S300 hard stepped 1x and i am love them, so this 95 S+ hybrid shaft is a good transition from the 4i to the 19H.

I'll keep it updated as I go

[tommc23]

Nice write up Casey

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[cnosil]

Like Casey, I was selected a long time ago to review the KBS Tour Hybrid Prototype shafts.  Time passed and we never got around to getting these reviews posted.  Anyway better late than never,  here is my review on these shafts.

 

Background:  

My name is Chris I am 51 years old and I live in Southeastern Virginia.  I started playing golf when I was about 14; unlike a lot of people that post their story there wasn't anyone in my life that pushed me toward golf.  What I remember is that a group of kids in my neighborhood had some golf clubs so we started hitting them in a cemetery behind one of my friend's houses.  Thinking it might be fun I asked my parents to get some lessons to learn how to actually play.  I didn't play that often and wasn't very good.  After high school golf fell off the radar as I life continued…college, job, and marriage (you know the usual stuff).   Back in the early 90s I started getting back into golf a little bit and was still pretty bad but I enjoyed playing.  At this point I was playing with my father-in-law and some scramble tournaments through work.  After a while I decided that playing golf and scoring in the 90s wasn't fun so I took some more lessons and found an instructor that I clicked with.   Within 2 lessons I went from scoring in the 90s to shooting a round of 76.  My game was coming together and I was hooked with some new-found confidence that I could actually play this game.  I had a friend invite me to play with his Sunday group; about 20 guys, in about 2002 and have been playing weekly since then.  Today, I play golf as long as the temps are over 40*F and am just as happy playing by myself as I am with friends.  I enjoy the time outdoors, the scenery, and the challenge of the game.

 

So that is the personal background, I guess now you want to know more details about my game, my swing, and my equipment preferences.  Well, here goes.

 

Assessment of my Game:

I currently play to a 7.0 handicap and have been as low as a 4.  One of my strengths is my tee game where I hit 70% of the fairways.  My weak areas are approach shots where I hit about 8 greens in regulation and ultimately getting up and down from there.  I also think I am a good putter, just don't leave myself close enough to save par.   

 

Where does the ball go?

I generally play a fade off the tee and draw the rest of my clubs. My ball flight is mid to mid high with my irons and mid with woods and current hybrids.  My biggest miss is a push/push slice.  

 

What is my swing like:

When people see my full swing, they think I am better than my performance indicates.   I have a smooth moderate tempo swing.   Driver swing speed is in the 100-107 MPH range.

 

Equipment:

I just love the game of golf and trying new equipment.  While I am always eager to demo the l latest and greatest my bag typically stays pretty consistent from year to year. Now that I have found MGS I get my equipment cravings satisfied by visiting the MGS Headquarters and participating in the Most Wanted Testing.  So how does something new end up in my bag?  It may not be professionally fit, but it has been tried numerous times in the store and tested on the course.   Fortunately, I have a store that lets you check out used equipment to try before you buy. 

 

You can see my current bag setup in my signature.  Instead of talking about the whole bag, let's discuss the hybrids since this is ultimately going to be a review about hybrid shafts.  When the hybrid/rescue craze started, I tried various hybrids but they were all hook machines and I found them really difficult to control.   That was until I found the Titleist 585h with an Aldila NV 85gr hybrid shaft.  The club was workable, had a great ball flight, and replaced my 3 and 4 irons.   I was hitting it so well, I decided I wanted to get another hybrid to replace my 5 wood.  First thought was another 585h but finding one in the right loft turned out to be fairly difficult.   After reading reviews and hitting lots of hybrids on launch monitors I decided on the Titleist 816h and 915h hybrids.  Reason for the mixed set was that I found used for a good price.  When I first put them in the bag I was hitting them okay but not as well as I had hoped.   After reading the description and videos on the KBS Hybrid Prototype shaft I felt like it was designed to work with my strengths so I applied to be a tester and was ultimately selected; I guess that is obvious since this is stage 1 of said review.

 

Since I was not completely satisfied with my current hybrid performance; when I applied, I was excited to be selected as a tester.   Needing to pick shaft specs and not sure what might be a good fit be put me into research mode.  I spent some time on the KBS site going through their online iron shaft fitting since the club is supposed to be a progression from their iron shafts.   The online iron fitting put me in a KBS Tour V Stiff shaft.  I then contacted KBS through email and even though I got several out of office replies due to July 4^th holiday vacation.  However, a quick reply was provided that answered my questions and helped me make my decision on the specs I was going to request.  Based on feedback from KBS, lighter shafts have a tendency to launch higher and that I should go lighter than my actual iron shaft weights. General Internet research identified an approach to shaft selection where shaft weight gets progressively higher as you move from driver through the set.   My current shaft weights are Driver (57g), 3W (50g), hybrids (70g), irons (95g).  Based on all the input I received I ultimately decided to go with 85g due to my prior success with the NV shaft and went with stiff flex based on the KBS iron fitting results.

 

While I have been waiting for the shafts to arrive, I have been using my hybrids both off the tee and as a layup club to get some more reps on the course and participated in the MGS Most Wanted hybrid testing.  The additional focus on my hybrid use has helped me iron out the kinks and improved my overall hybrid performance.   As of this writing, my current hybrids are some of my favorite clubs in the bag providing me with good ball flight, workability, distance.  This will now be a good shootout between the shafts to see if the KBS Hybrid Prototype shafts will narrow shot dispersion and better performance numbers.

 

To start you off, here is a YouTube video from KBS that will introduce you to the shaft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9b-alCtHi8

 

 

Fast forward from our product selection date to delivery day.   Shafts arrived in a basic white box and were well packaged.  I definitely like the matte black shaft and the red painted on shaft band makes the shaft very noticeable.  Unfortunately, beyond an initial impression raw shafts are not an immediate gratification kind of toy since you can't hit a ball or see how it works.  As a result, off they went to get some shaft adapters installed so I can do some head to head shaft comparisons. 

 

 

 

 

Performance

 

From the first swing, these shafts just performed well.  While I didn't use KBS shafts in my current clubs, they were definitely more iron like than the stock Diamanna shafts.  In both my hybrids the ball launches high and just seems to want to go straight.   As of now, these hybrids are not coming out of the bag.   During my full bag fitting at club champion, while I was getting my hybrid from the bag, he was assembling a club for me to try.  Ironically the shaft he picked based on what he has seen from me was the KBS Hybrid Prototype shaft.  I hit a few with my current club and based on the trackman numbers, he said there wasn't room for improvement.

Course Score: 60

 

Subjective

 

Looks & Durability

The appearance of these shafts is great.  The logo looks good no matter how the shaft is turned in the head and the matte finish keeps away any glare.  They have been in my bag for about 8 months now and looks just like new. 

 

Looks Score: 10

 

 

Likelihood of Purchase

Would I buy these shafts?  These shafts won't be coming out of my hybrids anytime soon; however, if I was not selected to test them the $175 list price would be a turnoff for me.  I don't change clubs often and when I do I generally purchase used.  Looking on ebay buy it now auctions put the price in the $100 range.  Even at that price,  it would still be a questionable purchase for me. 

 

LOP Score: 15

 

Conclusion & Final Score

 

 

With a total score of 85 out 100 this is a solid shaft and delivers on what is promised.  Solid feel that doesn't feel boardy or too soft and does provide that iron shaft feel.  For the bargain hunter, this shaft does come at what I consider a premium price although not in the $300+ exotic driver shaft category.  I was talking with Sam at MGS LXB about the shaft so I brought in one of my hybrids for him to try.  Overall, he was impressed with the shaft.   If you are looking for a new hybrid shaft and the price tag doesn't scare you away put this shaft on your must try list. 

 

 

 

if you have any questions,  let me know and I would be happy to answer. 

[JAGolfore]

Very nice review!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using MyGolfSpy

[fozcycle]

Nice reviews.......wish I could hit a stiff one like that.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using MyGolfSpy

[cnosil]

Nice reviews.......wish I could hit a stiff one like that.

 

They do come in other flexes and weights. Regular flex goes down to 65g. The difficulty is trying the shaft since I isn't a stock option.

[JTexGolfer]

Nice reviews guys! 

[Vegan_Golfer_PNW]

Sorry to rehash this. Love the reviews. Are either of you gaming these still? I am tempted to try these in my 3H and DI since they seem like they would feel similar to my KBS steel irons shafts. 

[cnosil]

10 minutes ago, rbsiedsc said:

Sorry to rehash this. Love the reviews. Are either of you gaming these still? I am tempted to try these in my 3H and DI since they seem like they would feel similar to my KBS steel irons shafts. 

I have them in all three of my hybrids.  I think it is an amazing shaft.