KBS Tour 90 Shafts Review - Forum Testing

I thought so. haha then I started changing things to metal stuff and somehow it started to make sense. Mind blown.
Im such a feel golfer, I can feel the difference in the metals of the clubs I use. That's how serious golfers roll.
Tour 90's feel like whips, which i think is a pretty nice feeling, but i balloon them quite massively :banghead:
They are the opposite of harsh, that's for sure. I know what you are saying though, as they arent as stiff as some shafts I have played by any means, but that's where a nice smooths controlled swing comes in the play for me.
 
Tour 90's feel like whips, which i think is a pretty nice feeling, but i balloon them quite massively :banghead:

Just goes to show the importance of fitting. These shafts have opened my eyes not only in terms of stock shafts vs non stock shafts, but how many different options there are out there to help you get the most from your game.

Tapping from my S3
 
I focused on my wedges for my review today, but forgot about one shot that had me really pumped up;

Hole #5, long par 3 usually plays about 190 yards. Pin was right up front today and playing to 170 yards. My league partner talked me out of a 6iron and told me to grab the 7iron. So I did, and I put a strong swing on it and crushed it. I ended up pin high, just to the left of the green (slight pull). My 7iron has long been my 160 club, but to be able to pull it here had me quite baffled. A smooth, strong strike on the ball and the ball just took off. Quite surprised at the result, but im not complaining!
 
Just goes to show the importance of fitting. These shafts have opened my eyes not only in terms of stock shafts vs non stock shafts, but how many different options there are out there to help you get the most from your game.

Tapping from my S3
Yeah I definitely agree.
 
War just read your last two updates and tempo is key with these shafts. Solid tempo will produce some pretty spectacular results. I'm glad you got the wedges figured out. Nice recaps!

Perry I'm surprised to hear about your issues. I thought these would be a good fit for you. Just as war has preached since he started testing, tempo tempo tempo. With out it you'll be all over the place with these shafts. I found the same with mine in the R11s. If I wasn't in sync I would pull or push the ball. But a smooth delivery always left me with the high soft shot, the ones we all search for in our game. Stay with it, make some minor tweaks and it'll come around.
 
War just read your last two updates and tempo is key with these shafts. Solid tempo will produce some pretty spectacular results. I'm glad you got the wedges figured out. Nice recaps!

Perry I'm surprised to hear about your issues. I thought these would be a good fit for you. Just as war has preached since he started testing, tempo tempo tempo. With out it you'll be all over the place with these shafts. I found the same with mine in the R11s. If I wasn't in sync I would pull or push the ball. But a smooth delivery always left me with the high soft shot, the ones we all search for in our game. Stay with it, make some minor tweaks and it'll come around.

Most definitely Freddie. A sesh with GolfTEC next week will help out tremendously. Something crept into the swing, they'll get me back on track.
 
Just goes to show the importance of fitting. These shafts have opened my eyes not only in terms of stock shafts vs non stock shafts, but how many different options there are out there to help you get the most from your game.

Tapping from my S3

+100 Find a person that carries a couple of brands and knows them and a person will be amazed what can happen...

hackin
 
KBS Tour 90 Testing 8/9/12 League night Best Ball (9 Holes)
Pinelands Golf Course

Let me preface this by saying that I haven't experienced what I'm about to write. This round was an eye opener for me in terms of ball flight, as I saw a completely different one out there today than I've experienced before. Something has changed in my swing and I'm not sure what. Next week I will try to get some video on the range for critique here, as I am frustrated and seemingly stuck. It's the indian not the arrow, as I've had amazing results with these shafts and irons in the recent past...but I want to be honest...today was an absolute debacle.

Rather than go hole by hole in this 9 hole best ball format that my league was playing this evening, I want to give you some highlights (or lowlights as it were) from the round.

Our league decided to play the back 9 of the course (the harder of the two nines) today. No biggie, I've seen this course many times and thought I had a great game plan...rely on my iron play as it is a shorter course, and keep the ball in play for my partner. Off of the first tee, it's a short par 4 that doglegs almost 90* left. I pulled my 6i to hit to the center of the dogleg in order to get to about 145 in to the green, put a seemingly smooth swing on the ball, feel great compression...and see the ball go severely right, turning over and going even further right. A dreaded pull hook that I rarely see in my game (my usual miss is a slice). As shocked as I was to see this result, I chalked it up to me not being warm...but boy was I in for a frustrating round ahead. The 90s felt great in the hand, and the impact felt crisp, yet the ball just went right. WAY right.

Another shot that comes to mind is on the par 3 16th, about 160 yards to the flag. I pulled a 7i thinking that a smooth swing would put me to the middle of the green for a chance at birdie. Again, the shaft felt great in the hands, smooth as a KBS shaft could feel, and the contact was crisp...yet my eyes followed the ball going right again. I would have been a bit more satisfied if I had just pulled the ball and flighted it straight, yet my shot went right and turned over going even more to the right than it should have. Another pull hook. At this point in the round my partner (who had chosen me due to my past performances) had been jokingly ridiculing my play and I was fuming.

My only good shot of the round with these irons was early at the par-3 11th hole, about 150 yards, which I pulled my 8i and hit a shot that I was familiar with: a high, right-to-left fade that hit the middle of the green on the upslope and I kid you not, spun back 6 feet. I knew what kind of spin that these shafts gave me, and I was using a Bridgestone e5 ball (which has given me a lot of spin off of iron shots and chips) but still that shot proved to me what I could do with these in my hands. I made a good swing, great contact, and the ball just penetrated a slight headwind en route to the green. I had to remind myself later in the round of this shot, as to not think that the round was a total wash for me.

But in summary, I felt lost out there today due to a horrendous case of the rights. My usual miss is a slice, as I've said before, and it really is troubling to me that this has crept into my game. And I do not for one second think that it is the shafts, for they have performed for me quite admirably in the recent past, and overall through this testing so far. It seems that perhaps my OTT move has now created a "hook monster" if you could call it that, and I intend to have a lengthy range session at the beginning of this upcoming week to try and see what I'm doing differently in my swing. I know that I can hit better shots, and it's frustrating to come back to THP with this kind of a writeup knowing that I didn't play my best. But we all know that this is golf, and that is what this game throws at you sometimes. Just have to get back to work, I suppose.
 
JN, were you only pulling your irons? Or was it something you were seeing throughout the entire bag?

I know for me, in the past my big miss was a huge slice, but as I worked on my game and worked on my swing, the slice became almost extinct and developed in to a sever pull at times.
 
JN, solid update there. I know when we played I dont remember seeing you miss like that too much. Not with the irons at least. Might be something very simple such as set up or your takeway creating a different path. When Im swinging OTT real bad that usually results in the slap across the ball and it ends up a weak slice. But if your closing the hands real quick it could be the pull too maybe.
 
KBS Tour 90 Shaft Testing
8/8/12 - 9 Hole League Play


Im not going to go with a shot by shot review, or anything like I have done in the past for this review. What I want to focus on here is something that just got the gears in my head turning...

What I want to try to get across here is something that I talked with Conrad @ KBS prior to the testing, and something that I kind of got away from here a few weeks ago. That being keeping a consistent feel throughout my bag, specifically when going from irons to my wedges. When I was talking with KBS pre-testing, the offered to send me some wedge shafts to completely reshaft my entire set. The reason for that? So I wouldn't go from a light weight iron to a heavier wedge, as it would throw my swing off.

During the first few weeks of the testing, my wedge play was a strength of my game. I was accurate and able to get the perfect amount of spin on the ball that I wanted, even though I wasn't playing a wedge shaft that is designed to increase spin (but actually does due to ball flight and descent angle, make sense?). After a few weeks my new wedges came in, all excited they went in to the bag immediately. I played them well on half shots, but when it came to full shots (which I hit a lot of), I was so inconsistent it isn't funny. So I tried to figure out where my miss was coming from, what was my swing flaw causing this, was I too steep? Was I pulling my head up? I couldn't pinpoint it. Then, all of a sudden, it hit me. Weight. The weight of the wedge was causing me to be inconsistent with my shots.

The wedges that were working for me had the KBS Tour 90 shafts in them, weighing in at 102g. The wedges I switched to? 120g+. Believe me, there was a difference. And it was glaring. So back in the bag my old wedges went, and I hoped I would see some good shots come back to me with a wedge in hand.

Tonight I played 9 holes for my weekly league play, and my wedges with the 90s in them came along for the ride. I got to put them to the test right away, and here is what happened;
  • Hole #3 (my 2nd hole of the evening), Par 4. I had hit my 3W dead down the center of the fairway, and was sitting about 113 yards in. 55* wedge, and hit it perfect, right on the button. The ball hit the green and stuck where it landed, about a foot away. I would say it was a tap in birdie, but instead it was a conceded birdie...even better!

So here's the thing; With the wedges I had been playing, while I would hit a good shot here and there, it was almost like I was grinding through the process to hit a good shot, rather than letting the club do the work. Tonight, what I found was that even with my wedges, I could keep my same smooth swing and get my desired results. I was able to hit my full shots with ease, as well as still have great results when I needed a 3/4 swing or a 1/2 swing.

Most importantly here was the fact that I hadn't been to the range or short game area since changing wedges, and was able to pull a wedge from the bag and hit the shot I needed. I was able to flow from my irons to my wedges and keep my same smooth swing tempo. I had changed to a wedge that has a shaft designed to give the golfer increased spin on their shots, but what I find is that with the Tour 90 shafts in my wedges, I am able to get the spin that I need on my shots without having to grind to get it. A lot of this, I feel, has to do with the trajectory that my ball takes and descends at.

It was quite interesting to see my wedge game come back to life for me, and I was glad that I could get back to some things I had seen early on in my testing. In the past, weights of my irons vs the weights of my wedges had not been something that I had really thought about...that goes back to me having the "I hit stock shafts well" mentality. I know one thing; going forward, it is something that I will definitely pay attention to, as I can definitely see what benefits it can have for ones game.

War, I apologize for the Chunkyresponse here but I just read this. I was like you, to me a wedge shaft was a wedge shaft, stock is good enough. However for this year I ended up with KBS tour shafts in my wedges and thought oh boy what did I mess up. Instead I found that it played perfectly when going from irons to wedges. The feel was very similar when swinging irons as it was to wedges. It certainly made me more comfortable. While its a little more of a hassle, I'd try to keep those 90's in whatever wedge you end up with because I think it can only benefit you. Glad to see that it worked for this round.
 
War, I apologize for the Chunkyresponse here but I just read this. I was like you, to me a wedge shaft was a wedge shaft, stock is good enough. However for this year I ended up with KBS tour shafts in my wedges and thought oh boy what did I mess up. Instead I found that it played perfectly when going from irons to wedges. The feel was very similar when swinging irons as it was to wedges. It certainly made me more comfortable. While its a little more of a hassle, I'd try to keep those 90's in whatever wedge you end up with because I think it can only benefit you. Glad to see that it worked for this round.

I'm thinking that may be the plan in the future, unfortunately it's just a pain due to the expense. I'm curious how a regular KBS wedge shafts will work when transitioning from irons to wedges. I'll know more this weekend.
 
JN, were you only pulling your irons? Or was it something you were seeing throughout the entire bag?

I know for me, in the past my big miss was a huge slice, but as I worked on my game and worked on my swing, the slice became almost extinct and developed in to a sever pull at times.

I was seeing a slight fade with my woods that day. I seemed to only pull my irons...its just strange.

JN, solid update there. I know when we played I dont remember seeing you miss like that too much. Not with the irons at least. Might be something very simple such as set up or your takeway creating a different path. When Im swinging OTT real bad that usually results in the slap across the ball and it ends up a weak slice. But if your closing the hands real quick it could be the pull too maybe.

I think that is the issue. With my trying to correct my slice I've exaggerated rotating my hands over and through the ball with my driver. Perhaps that is leaking into my iron swing and I'm closing the face too quickly.


Tapping from my S3
 
Did some short game and wedge work today at a little executive course, and will be playing 27 holes tomorrow morning at one of my favorite courses...so I will have a full writeup coming tomorrow afternoon.

Just curious if anyone had any questions related to the KBS Tour 90 shafts, or any questions in general about making a transition to a lightweight shaft? If so, please ask!
 
KBS Tour 90 Shaft Testing
Thoughts on the transition to a lightweight shaft...


Didn't mean to let this thread drop so far to the bottom, will do my best to keep it bumped up.

With the announcement of "The Smooth Contest" heading to the THP Tour Van stops, it really got me thinking about iron shafts and what a lot people refer to as "smooth" and how that can be viewed in different ways by different folks. Obviously, we don't know what the contest in entails for those attendees, but regardless, it made me start thinking immediately about the KBS Tour 90 shafts and how they have helped me smooth out my swing with an even tempo.

I want to highlight something from my round this past Sunday in regards to what I think moving to a lightweight shaft has done for my swing in terms of helping me provide solid contact on a more consistent basis. This took place on the 18th hole, a Par 5 (my second shot);
  • Hit driver to the middle of the fairway, leaving myself about 230 yards out with the fairway sloping down to a green that was slightly below us. I hit a hybrid and left it at the front edge of the green, and was pretty happy with the shot giving myself a good opportunity to chip on and putt for a birdie. My playing partner decided after about 3 holes that day that he was going to see how well he could score without hitting driver as often, nor hitting his fairway woods and just keeping the ball in front of him with his irons. After I hit my hybrid shot, he asked why I didnt hit my 5iron for the shot, as I had been hitting my irons well and he thought that there would be plenty of rollout to get me in a similar distance as the hybrid had. The longest I have ever hit my 5iron is about 200 yards, and that was with wind at my back and absolutely struck perfectly. So...we put it to the test, and I dropped a ball and pulled the 5iron...
  • So here I was, knowing I had to hit the ball absolutely perfect to get it even remotely close to where my hybrid had left me. What do I do? I swing out of my shoes, hit the ball as fat as I possibly can, take a divot the size of a small child and watch the ball dribble forward about 50 yards. What happened? I knew what happened, it was my swing, out of control and off tempo, with me trying to kill the ball.
...So, why? What happened on that shot?

Well, since I began testing these shafts, I have been repeatedly talking about keeping myself in a smooth motion with my back swing, making a nice move with the transition at the top and allowing myself to get in the proper position at the impact zone to put a solid strike on the ball. On the shot I mentioned above, I did none of that. I jerked my swing back fast, hitched at the top of my swing and tried to swing as hard as I could to maximize my distance. Rather than maximize my distance, I put myself completely out of position to make contact with the ball and just absolutely missed.

I had always struggled with the fat shots, and this example from my round shows me why that was such a common miss for me. Since having these in my irons and focusing on my swing, my fat shots seem to be less and less, only really coming through when I am not working to keep my swing within itself. When I began testing the KBS Tour 90 shafts, I made a comment that one thing that I saw that was not working well was on shots that I tried to swing a bit harder, I would try to swing harder and would result usually in getting too steep. Since that time, I have focused on what it means for me to swing stronger for a few extra yards. I had always focused on just swing faster to swing harder, well, that never worked for me and the results were always less than great. Over the past weeks, what I have focused on is keeping my same speed at takeaway and once I got to the top of my swing, really making a good turn and moving my hands through the ball to get a strong strike on the ball. I have found this to give me results that are quite good, and have been able to really gauge my ability with these irons.

I am still seeing a slight distance increase with my irons. I attribute that to a few factors, a majority of it being the amount of work I have done with my irons since the testing started, and really getting my swing where it needs to be. I really cant say enough about how pleased I am with the shafts. Through analyzing my struggles with my irons and working hard to correct a few swing flaws, they have helped me improve my ball striking with my irons. Through working to really keep my swing in check, getting a higher ball flight that I have struggled to achieve in the past, and to seeing my scores improve due to being able to have a tighter shot dispersion and eliminating the big misses to the right, the KBS Tour 90 Shafts have me quite impressed. After this experience of re-shafting my irons to a new set of shafts, and seeing my game improve, I dont think I will ever consider myself a "stock shaft guy" anymore.
 
LOL at the small child divot. I've made a few of those. Glad to hear these are still working for you. Do you still feel like they offer enough stiffness for you?
 
LOL at the small child divot. I've made a few of those. Glad to hear these are still working for you. Do you still feel like they offer enough stiffness for you?
To be honest, that thought has crossed my mind over the past two weeks. As I work on my game, and hopefully continue to be better, will these still be a good fit?

I would have to say yes, they would be. While at times I feel the stiffness could be an issue, I havent seen anything that would cause me to call it in to question when I am playing.
 
I think your dispersion would tell part of the story, as well as distance (ballooning) and neither seem to be an issue for you. Your reviews here and your ability to play well with these was one of the main reasons I went back to the R Flex KBS dude.
 
I think your dispersion would tell part of the story, as well as distance (ballooning) and neither seem to be an issue for you. Your reviews here and your ability to play well with these was one of the main reasons I went back to the R Flex KBS dude.
Glad it was helpful! Testing these out has me wondering how different it would have been for me playing those V2s with the Tour 90s in them or even the Tours in reg flex.
 
I wonder that as well. Compared to others, we seem to be on the lower end of the trajectory spectrum. Figuring out that higher isn't necessarily a bad thing was a hard one for me to grasp.
 
Just goes to show the importance of fitting. These shafts have opened my eyes not only in terms of stock shafts vs non stock shafts, but how many different options there are out there to help you get the most from your game.

Tapping from my S3
This is what confuses me to high holy He!!! about shafts and what is right for me. There are so many that what if when I get fitted they only have 1/4 of what is out there? Should I piggy back on someone that is like me on the forum to see what kind of shafts they are using and what they are having success with? Why does a shaft cost $350 compared to one that cost $79?

It makes my head hurt to be honest.
 
Did some short game and wedge work today at a little executive course, and will be playing 27 holes tomorrow morning at one of my favorite courses...so I will have a full writeup coming tomorrow afternoon.

Just curious if anyone had any questions related to the KBS Tour 90 shafts, or any questions in general about making a transition to a lightweight shaft? If so, please ask!

WE, did you keep the swingweight the same by adding some tip weights, or have you simply switched out your old shafts and put these in?
 
I wonder that as well. Compared to others, we seem to be on the lower end of the trajectory spectrum. Figuring out that higher isn't necessarily a bad thing was a hard one for me to grasp.
I know exactly what you mean. So often people are trying to bring ball flight down, and here I am trying to get a high launching shaft and get the ball flight up.

I love when people ask if I have a problem with shots ballooning. It's an easy answer, "I cant hit that high."
This is what confuses me to high holy He!!! about shafts and what is right for me. There are so many that what if when I get fitted they only have 1/4 of what is out there? Should I piggy back on someone that is like me on the forum to see what kind of shafts they are using and what they are having success with? Why does a shaft cost $350 compared to one that cost $79?

It makes my head hurt to be honest.
First thing is first when looking at shafts, need to figure out what properties you are looking for, and sort your choices from that.
 
WE, did you keep the swingweight the same by adding some tip weights, or have you simply switched out your old shafts and put these in?
Swingweight was kept the same at D1. That is something that I discussed with KBS prior to the testing.

So, while the total weight of the club is lighter, the swingweight of the club remained the same. The lighter weight shaft hasnt caused me any problems with losing the feel of the head of the club during a swing, nor has it made me feel that the clubhead is all of a sudden "heavier."
 
War I have a question for you regarding the weight of these shafts. Since you're quite the hoarder, ha, other than the Blacks which are graphite have you played with another set of irons that have "traditional" weighted iron shafts? I'm curious if you would see the same results/scores with a heavier weight shaft since you have put so much into your game the past few months.
 
Back
Top