2012: A Shaft Odyssey

[RoverRick]

A friend of mine plays Ping K15 with graphite shafts. A couple of weeks ago he was in a tournament, hit his lob wedge and the head went flying. Broke the shaft. He has decided to change out the shafts to steel shafts, so he asked what I had availible here at Rick's Home for Unwed Golf Clubs. I just happen to have a set of Rifle FCM 5.0, DG R300, S300, X100, and some KBS Tour S.

 

I have been planning on changing the shafts in my Hogans from the FCM 5.0 to the X100 or the KBS Tour S (Hard stepped.) So for giggles last night I changed the shafts in the 6, 7 and 8 irons. I put KBS in the 6 & 8 and the DG X100's in the 7 iron. This gave him the opportunity to compare the Rifles and KBS and we had another set of irons with S300's in them.

 

He absolutely loved the KBS. Even though they may be too stiff for him. He said they did not feel too stiff. I, on the other hand, did not hit the KBS near as well as I did the X100's. With the X100's Every one of them was straight, nice ball flight. But with the KBS I had some really great shots, but several that were not good at all. They seemed to go both high left and low right or perfect. This is probably a flex issue.

[GolfSpy WD]

RR, just curious if you have any new thoughts, specifically in comparing the x100s to the c-tapers. Mainly I'd like to extrapolate whether I should eventually get KBS Tour or S300s based on your feeling of the two brands .

[RoverRick]

I actually typed an update for this thread the other day and decided that no one cared so I did not post it. I guess I was wrong.

 

So here is what I have done. At end of last month, when I posted the thread about the ferrules, and after I did the test I mentioned in the thread above. I removed the C Tapers from the MP62's and put them in some older Hogan CFT irons and installed X100's in my MP62's. I had thoughts of installing the KBS Tours in the MP62's but they were the wrong flex for me and shile I loved the feel of these, I decided they were too much trouble.

 

(I have these shafts still, and I know you want the black shafts but would be willing to trade you for your extra MP FLI HI 21*)

 

I admit that the initial reasoning for what shafts and what ferrules went in each head was purely astetics. The Hogans are 7 years old. They have tiny scratches all over them which gives them sort of a dull finish. Hogan colors are red, yellow, black. The C Taper shafts were satin finish with red and black labels. The Mizzy's are bright new double chrome glow in the dark shinny. The head covers are blue and white (Mizzy colors) so the white ferrules and white grips and shinny chrome X100's looked better together. So I made this swap.

 

WOW. I ended up with the two best sets of irons I have ever swung. Not to mention the two best looking sets I have ever seen. The Hogan's have always had a very high ball flight for me. The have a rather thick sole on them with a deep center of gravity. So they get the ball up really high. Not something that a high spin player in windy Texas needs. But the C Taper shafts have toned this down to a perfect penetrating flight. These shafts in the Mizzies were just slightly low. But in the Hogans they are perfect. I actually used the 3 and 4 iron shafts in a 17 and 21 degree hybrid. This is considerably shorter than a standard hybrid shaft, however, I get exceptional control out of these clubs and honestly think that I hit them farther than any shaft I have ever had in them. (probably 12 to 15 different shafts over the past 6 years or so.) This really is an awesome set of irons.

 

Now for the Mizzies. They of course are beautiful. So much in fact that I have to use head covers, which I generally dispise, to keep them looking good because it is a shame to scratch them. Performance wise, these are now every bit as perfect as the Hogan/C Taper Combo. I think the right KBS Tours would have also been fine but I did not want to spend another $60 bucks making those shafts work when I had some good ones sitting right here. The spin, height, and distance is exactly what I want with each of these set ups.

 

I generally take only a 80% swing with my irons. This ensures they go dead straight and I can control the distance. However, I have an additional amount of distance in the tank if I need it or off the tee I can get it if I wish to sacrifice a little control.

 

I have to admit that when I first went to this stiffer heavier shaft I felt like I was swing a fireplace poker. However, lately I have noticed that I feel the kick in the shafts. This is especially the case of the X100's. They now have the feel that I felt with the KBS Tours but without the wild ball flight sometimes associated with a flex that is too weak.

 

I am interested in getting the MP FLI HI 18 and 21 degree irons. I am hesitant to use the term hybrids for these because I do not think they are hybrids as the club has evolved. I came across one with a KBS C Taper XS in it yesterday, and gave considerable thought to this. I couple get this, and a 21* head and make a complete set of Mizzies and C Tapers, but decided that ultimately I would have a lesser set than the two sets I have now. So I will not be going this route.

 

Now I will answer question. If I were to do it over again would I do KBS or Dynamic Golds.???? I think I would do the KBS Tours. While I did not have stellar results with them, that was because they were not what they were preported to be. What I got was a set that were soft stepped and not hard stepped like was advertised. Since they were marginal to begin with the fact that they are soft stepped made them wrong for me. I was originally going to trim them but left them as they were and like I said, I will trade you for them.

 

But I think you said once that you wanted the black shafts. But either way, I think I would do the KBS Tours. I have the KBS Hybrids and really like the kick I get from them. I can get a similar kick with the X100's now but they are not as good.

[RoverRick]

Today, I put my Medicus Swing Meter on my driver while playing around and have found out why the Callaway Razr Fit which was such an awesome driver has been misbehaving of late. All four times I used it I averaged 106 to 108 mph. This is just a stiff shaft so obviously I need an XStiff.

 

 

This is up about 5 mph since February when I picked out the stiff shaft, and even then 101 was the top number. I averaged closer to 98 mph. What a difference 40 lbs makes.

 

It was sort of funny that with the same swing it was simply not as straight as it used to be. But with the tipped Motore F1 in the Titleist I was getting more distance and straighter flight. Now I know. So it is off on another shaft odyssey but this time for the driver.

[BK in TEXAS]

Today, I put my Medicus Swing Meter on my driver

I have never heard of that.....how does it work?

[RoverRick]

I have never heard of that.....how does it work?

 

It is an accelerometer that clamps onto the shaft. You input your height and club length and when you strike the ball it registers your swingspeed. $19.95. Pretty cool since the closest launch monitor is 88 miles from here. I will look and if there has not been a review I will take some pictures and do one. I have had it for at least a year. Keep it in my golf bag.

[BK in TEXAS]

Pretty cool since the closest launch monitor is 88 miles from here.

Same here....googling it now

[BK in TEXAS]

Sneaky bastards....I almost ordered one from their website for $9.95....glad I read the fine print:

Medicus PowerMeter

List Price: $129.95

Price: $9.95 RISK FREE trial for 30 days

After 30 days 3 x $19.95

and this item ships for FREE with Medicus Bonus Shipping.

You Save: $60 (46%)

In Stock.

 

I'll find one on ebay.

[RoverRick]

Sneaky bastards....I almost ordered one from their website for $9.95....glad I read the fine print:

Medicus PowerMeter

List Price: $129.95

Price: $9.95 RISK FREE trial for 30 days

After 30 days 3 x $19.95

and this item ships for FREE with Medicus Bonus Shipping.

You Save: $60 (46%)

In Stock.

 

I'll find one on ebay.

I ordered mine with the intention of returning it but I did not and was never charged the additional amount. I did not contact them to find out why.

[RoverRick]

Edited again on November 2. I felt I did not give the KBS Tour a good chance. Obviously that was true because with the right flex these are great shafts. I included this in the first post on this thread also.

 

 

KBS TOUR. (Edit June 25th.) I just learned that the shafts I reviewed in this were not what they were supposed to be. They were closer to a R Flex than an S flex so keep that in mind as you read this.

 

The Looks.

Theses shafts look like the Dynamic Gold or any stepped shaft. They offer them in black and chrome but chrome was what I got.

 

The Performance.

Well, space fans, the story on these are that they are supposed to be very smooth and higher launching and have more spin and you should be able to feel the kick. I put these into the clubs and went to the course yesterday, and had no time to hit even a ball on the range. I litterally put the grips on and by the time I installed the last one, the other three members of my foursome were teeing off. So, I hit a hybrid, did I tell you how much I loved the hybrid shafts?, to the center of the fairway, 125 out and thought, that should be a pitching wedge from here. I hit the pitching wedge, and went over the back left side of the green. Next hole, I went left of the green. Next hole, teed off with the 4 iron and went left out of bonds. Next hole, left. Well, after 5 holes, I never hit another full iron shot. I hit hybrids, and wedges and drive. I did chip with them, but for the last 13 holes I did not use them. I came home and pulled them out and re installed the C Tapers. They were smooth. They were longer. But they were uncontrolable for me.

 

Was this KBS's fault? No. Do they make an inferior product? No. Honestly this shaft will be awesome for some people, but not me. They were no worse that the S300's that I was playing three weeks ago. But once you have a shaft that you can hit well, there is no comparison to one you can not.

 

Yesterday, November 1, I installed a set of KBS Tour Black Nickel X Flex in my irons. I have just played 27 holes with these. But it is worth redoing this section.

 

The Looks. Well, I actually have two sets of these now. I bought a set of chrome and then that night, I ended up swapping the C Tapers for the Black Nickel Tours. Of course, both sets of shafts came in on the same day. I thought I will either sell the chrome ones or install them in my other irons. But I installed the Black Nickels in the Mizuno MP62 heads. I decided to go with black ferrules over the white ones, with blue and white Lamkin 3 Gen grips. These are very good looking sticks but there is a benefit that I absolutely never even dreamt would happen. Because the shaft is black, and the head is chrome, the bottom edge of the club really stands out. This means that it is infinantly easier to square the face at address. A more square face at address means a straighter ball flight.

 

The Performance: They have a very nice high ball flight with lots of spin. I will tell that these shafts are shorter, standard length, than what I have been playing. All the other shafts have been 1/2" longer, but these came standard length and that is fine with me. I was prepared to give up distance, but that was not the case. I hit the 7 iron the distance I have been hitting a 7 iron. The accuracy of these are wonderful. and because the face is easier to square at address, the ball flight is straighter than I have experience with any shaft. This is not rocket science or some miracle, if you hit the ball with a proper swing path and a square face it goes straight.

 

Early on I found myself right of the green because, I have, had, a tendency with the other shafts to set up with a bit of a closed face. I did this for two reasons, one because I did not want the ball to slice or even to hit a weak assed fade. And two, because it looked right, however when I came through the ball it always curved to the left. I decided that this was something I could live with and simply started all the balls at the right of the green and let it draw. With these shafts and the straighter setup/ball flight, I did not draw the ball so I ended up right of the green the first few holes. When I decided that it was not going to draw unless I wanted it to, I began to set up straight at the flag and hit the ball straight.

 

All in all, I was way wrong about the KBS Tour Shaft. These are basically the same as the Hybrid and Wedge shaft that I love. I am now glad I have two sets because I will have KBS Tours in X Flex in all my clubs from now on. I liked the C Tapers but honestly they were more shaft than I needed to play on a daily basis. I could play the C Tapers great when I was 100% (sadly that is becoming more rare with age.) But at 95% and below they were more shaft than I needed. After most of the season wrestling with this notion, I finally admitted it and got the Tours. A great choice.

[robbo32]

 

 

First the hybrids:KBS Hybrid Shafts.

 

I decided to try the KBS Hybrid steel shafts.

 

The Looks.

These are a stepless design and look much like the Rifle shafts. They are very nice looking and as fine a looking shaft as any graphite on the market.

 

The Performance.

I had played some steel shafts before in hybrids and fairway metals, but honestly, they did not help. Looking back, i have always had a spin problem, too much, and this caused control and ballooning problems. The steel shafts I tried were all too weak and just did not do it for me. I got the KBS Hybrid shafts in stiff and then tipped them so that they were S+. These clubs for me have been called "sniper weapons" by my competitors in the past couple of weeks. I ended up putting these in some Hogan heads that I have played since 2004. These have had probably 20 different shafts in them over the years trying to find the right combination. I will look no further.

 

The KBS Shafts, give me as much or more distance than any graphite shaft I have ever tried. But they give me more accuracy also. Today, I hit the 14* off of the tee twice when everyone else was hitting driver, and had the second longest drive both times (but only by 10 and 8 yards) and was right in the middle of the fairway. I could not have placed the ball better. I also hit the green on three par 5s from 240+ and made one of the eagle putts.

 

 

I play KBS Tours in my Adams CB1's and I am considering going either KBS Tour or KBS Hybrid in my hybrid. My question for you his how much did you tip the Hybrid shaft to get it to play to S+. I contacted KBS but they told me I couldn't tip the shaft at all. My main reason for tipping in because my Tours are hardstepped once and I love the feel and want to basically duplicate it.

[RoverRick]

I play KBS Tours in my Adams CB1's and I am considering going either KBS Tour or KBS Hybrid in my hybrid. My question for you his how much did you tip the Hybrid shaft to get it to play to S+. I contacted KBS but they told me I couldn't tip the shaft at all. My main reason for tipping in because my Tours are hardstepped once and I love the feel and want to basically duplicate it.

 

The KBS Tours with the .355 tapered tip, KBS says not to tip these to change the flex. I talked with them about it when I had as set of KBS Tours that were not the right flex and wanted to tip trim them. There spiel about it changing the flex but not the stiffness was confusing to me so I sold them and then sometime later I bought the XStiffs that I play now.

 

However, the KBS Hybrid shaft is .370 parallel tip only. I actually had to bore out my 909H's and MP FLI HI for these to fit. The parallel tip shafts can be tip trimmed. As a matter of fact you only get 43.5" shaft and have to trim the tip no matter what flex you get. I bought the S flex and then instead of trimming the 1" like it said for S flex (6.0) I trimmed it 1 9/16" to get an S+ (6.5) then butt trimmed it to length. Here is the link that tell how you should do that.

 

http://kbsgolfshafts...itting-info.pdf

 

Bottom of the page tells about Hybrids and parallel tips.