Alright everyone here's my review. I'm not nearly as talented as the writers for THP but I'll do my best.
From KBS - Tour Feel, Money Performance
$-TAPER
$54.95 per shaft
TOUR FEEL. MONEY PERFORMANCE.
KBS Tour $-Taper provides superior feel while maintaining shot workability and tight dispersion for players seeking the ultimate tour shaft with Mid trajectory and Low Spin performance.
The KBS Tour $-Taper shares the same bend profile as the KBS TOUR with elongated step patterns for spin, generating a stable performance throughout the swing. KBS is proud to offer the KBS Tour $-Taper in 2 finishes: Black PVD and Classic KBS Chrome, KBS Tour $-Taper is available in the following Flex and Weights: R 110g, R+ 115g, S 120g, S+ 125g and X 130g. Finally, you have Tour Feel and Money Performance.
Shaft Features
STIFF TIP SECTION
ADVANCED CONSTANT TAPER
HIGHER CG LOCATION
FIRM SHAFT DESIGN
MID-WEIGHT CONSTRUCTION
3-FLEX SYSTEM
Let's start with the LOOKS -
They offer two finishes for the $-Taper. Black PVD and Chrome.
I was lucky enough to get the black PVD finish and man they do NOT disappoint. They look so good. The finish appears to be holding up very well too. I walk 99% of my rounds. I was a little nervous the black shafts would show scratching on them but I haven't seen anything that shows that so far. I also clean my clubs after every use so that may be helping as well. But I'll keep this thread updated if any of that chances.
Moving on to PERFORMANCE -
I wasn't sure what to expect out of the gate to be honest. I've only every played S300 in my iron shafts. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous making a switch considering how well I've been playing as of late but these perform perfectly. To my eye I'm seeing a higher flight with every iron with no distance loss if anything I think I gained a few yards of carry. It's a different flight than what my eye was used to but not negative in anyway. These for me seem to take off from the club head and climb to peak height with a piercing flight but also a "softer" flight than I'm used to. I'm not quite sure how to describe what I mean by "softer". I eluded to this with some of my earlier thoughts but almost like the ball continues to climb by "floating". Even with that flight, again I'm not seeing any distance loss. Also the ball stays on it's line exactly how I'd expect and hope. I expected that flight was from higher spin and I confirmed that with some numbers on the sim. Here are the comparison numbers with the $-Taper and S300. I was a little surprised by some of the differences.
For this test what I did was take 20 swings with each iron and averaged the best 15 of the 20.
S300 9 Iron
Ball Speed: 103 MPH
Launch Angle: 23.4*
Spin: 7101 RPM
Max Height: 93 Feet
Carry: 146 Yards
$-Taper 9 Iron
Ball Speed: 107 MPH
Launch Angle: 22.9*
Spin: 8201 RPM
Max Height: 99 Feet
Carry: 150 Yards
S300 8 Iron
Ball Speed: 109 MPH
Launch Angle: 21.1*
Spin: 7279 RPM
Max Height: 96 Feet
Carry: 157 Yards
$-Taper 8 Iron
Ball Speed: 112 MPH
Launch Angle: 20*
Spin: 7371 RPM
Max Height: 96 Feet
Carry: 160 Yards
S300 7 Iron
Ball Speed: 112 MPH
Launch Angle: 19.4*
Spin: 6214 RPM
Max Height: 96 Feet
Carry: 166 Yards
$-Taper 7 Iron
Ball Speed: 115 MPH
Launch Angle: 18.2*
Spin: 6610 RPM
Max Height: 96 Feet
Carry: 171 Yards
S300 6 Iron
Ball Speed: 116 MPH
Launch Angle: 17.3*
Spin: 4133 RPM
Max Height: 93 Feet
Carry: 177 Yards
$-Taper 6 Iron
Ball Speed: 120 MPH
Launch Angle: 16.7*
Spin: 5779
Max Height: 102 Feet
Carry: 183 Yards
S300 5 Iron
Ball Speed: 123 MPH
Launch Angle: 15.1*
Spin: 4877 RPM
Max Height: 96 Feet
Carry: 195 Yards
$-Taper 5 Iron
Ball Speed: 126 MPH
Launch Angle: 13.4*
Spin: 5144 RPM
Max Height: 99 Feet
Carry: 199 Yards
S300 4 Iron
Ball Speed: 127 MPH
Spin: 3879
Launch: 13.1*
Max Height: 93 Feet
Carry: 204 Yards
$-Taper 4 Iron
Ball Speed: 130 MPH
Launch Angle: 11.9*
Spin: 4281
Max Height: 90 Feet
Carry: 208 Yards
What surprised me the most was the lower launch and similar peak height on the sim. I knew they were going to be higher spin but didn't really see them being lower launch. Also I wasn't really expecting to see a good jump in ball speed. The sim I used was AboutGolf PGA Tour Sim. It's not perfect but it's pretty accurate. Outside these are the carry distances I play to depending on conditions.
*Disclaimer: I know I can play a little golf and know I'm a decent ball striker but I am in no way claiming to be perfect so I may have had a better day striking the ball with the $-Taper but the numbers are exactly in line with what I'm seeing outside as well.*
9i - 150
8i- 160
7i- 170-175
6i- 180-190
5i- 190-200
4i- 200-210
Last but certainly not least FEEL -
The feel of the shafts are my favorite part. Again I've only ever played the S300 and I had no idea what I was missing. "Smooth" is a term often used with the feel of KBS shafts and that couldn't be more true. It feels stable and smooth throughout the entire swing. I can feel where the club head is in the swing and that is a feeling I have to have. I'm not sure I'm good enough to feel a shaft loading and unloading so I won't get into that because I have no clue if I actually feel that happening or not but these shafts do feel great. At impact I feel like they have a much softer feeling than what I'm used to with the S300. What I mean by that is I feel like they aren't nearly as harsh on the wrists almost feel like a graphite shaft at impact vs steel. For me that is awesome considering how many balls I hit on the range.
In summary I have been absolutely loving my time with these shafts. Their look is second to none, the feel is so much better than what I'm used to, and the performance is exactly what I was expect from a company with such great reviews. They certainly delivered an incredible product with the $-Taper. I'll continue to add my thoughts as they come to me. If anyone has any questions, comments, statement please ask away because questions will probably help me formulate my thoughts better! Just want to take a second to say thank you to KBS and THP for an AWESOME opportunity in testing these shafts.
Very interested in these shafts, but what flex did you get in the $-taper. We have very similar stats with the s300 so I can curious.
I was considering s+ as my miss is a little hooky.
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