KBS Tour 90 Shafts Review - Forum Testing

Got these back today, and they are reshafted and ready to go. Hoping this Tropical Storm clears out tonight and league is on for tomorrow night so I can get these out on the course.

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That green looks so sick! Great work Freddie! I think I may try to do a reshaft on my own after watching those vids!
 
I will be participating in this thread to fill in for Iceman due to time and am about to put these shafts in a set of CG16 irons that I have. Pretty excited because they are some of my favorite shafts. I will have full updates coming soon.

Glad for you to join us, JB!

Freddie has the grips and the ferrules...the irons and shafts will be arriving tomorrow at his casa. So excited!
 
I will be participating in this thread to fill in for Iceman due to time and am about to put these shafts in a set of CG16 irons that I have. Pretty excited because they are some of my favorite shafts. I will have full updates coming soon.

Exact same set up in my older set and I loved that combo


^^^^^^ I Tapped That.....On My iPad ^^^^^^
 
Got these back today, and they are reshafted and ready to go. Hoping this Tropical Storm clears out tonight and league is on for tomorrow night so I can get these out on the course.

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While Im not a huge Pure fan those irons look phenomenal dude. Really really sharp.

I will be participating in this thread to fill in for Iceman due to time and am about to put these shafts in a set of CG16 irons that I have. Pretty excited because they are some of my favorite shafts. I will have full updates coming soon.

I love the CG16 irons. Look forward to your thoughts on that setup.
 
I just caught up a bit in this thread.

WE - The color scheme of the new install looks great. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Tad - Great videos on the installation. I have done most of those steps myself, but it was good to see how easy it is to remove a head with the heat gun (one of my next purchases).
 
I got to take the newly shafted KBS Tour 90 shafts out for their maiden voyage this morning and I have to say its as if an old friend came back home. A little background on me first is that I used to play these shafts when they first came out and loved them. As I made a couple of small tweaks in my swing, I went through a fitting and was fit for the KBS Tour shafts and I love those equally as much and my ball flight worked well. However one thing I notice is how much I miss the lighter weight shafts during those hot days or slow days on the course when I get tired. A few grams does not seem like much, but throughout a day it seems to add up.

When I first got out with the KBS Tour 90 shafts, I was pretty impressed with how easy the transition was back to the lighter weight. My first few practice swings I worked on keeping my tempo smooth the way I like it and then proceeded to hit balls with my 8 iron. Its the same club I always use to warm up and this was no different. Start with half swings and feel the shaft as I make my transition and then proceed to three quarter and full swings and continue to pay close attention to nothing but the shaft at transition. This is where the KBS Tour 90 shafts are the best I have ever used. The smoothness at the top as you make your transition to the impact zone is like nothing else on the market today. Once I have it all set in my head, I begin to hit all of my irons.

My routine is 5 good shots in a row with each iron during things like this, and I start with the PW and work my way down. What I found with the performance of these was not only my distance very good, but the ball flight was nice and high and coming in for a soft landing. To get a higher ball flight without any sacrifice of distance in my opinion is worth its weight in gold. Before I go on, I want to say that I saw absolutely no ballooning or distance loss out of any club I tried.

The go to club for me is the 8 iron during these drills and I wanted to play close attention to both distance and ball flight. I was at a range with good range balls, so I thought it would be a pretty good test. They have a small hoop at the 150 yard mark that has a net in it and I decided to play a little game. The net can be had, but could I hit the bar on top of the net, that would make the shot (according to my laser) exactly 150 yards on the nose. Ball after ball I hit (about 35 total) and I came close about 7 times, but nothing hit it. I did hit 4 in the net which I was pretty happy about, but the reason that this is brought up is not because of working on my game, but because of ball flight.

The way the net is situated and the bar is done, you would only be able to hit it by hitting it high. A lower ball flight would hit the foam or go into the net, but a nice high flight that comes in soft is what I am looking for in a club head and shaft combo and the KBS Tour 90s do that better than any I have tested to date. I got after it a few times with no issues of ballooning or losing it right or left. I came in smooth a few times and had no issues either.

All in all for a first test, I was darn impressed and as mentioned before, it was like a visit from an old friend. They are just so good.
 
I got to take the newly shafted KBS Tour 90 shafts out for their maiden voyage this morning and I have to say its as if an old friend came back home. A little background on me first is that I used to play these shafts when they first came out and loved them. As I made a couple of small tweaks in my swing, I went through a fitting and was fit for the KBS Tour shafts and I love those equally as much and my ball flight worked well. However one thing I notice is how much I miss the lighter weight shafts during those hot days or slow days on the course when I get tired. A few grams does not seem like much, but throughout a day it seems to add up.

When I first got out with the KBS Tour 90 shafts, I was pretty impressed with how easy the transition was back to the lighter weight. My first few practice swings I worked on keeping my tempo smooth the way I like it and then proceeded to hit balls with my 8 iron. Its the same club I always use to warm up and this was no different. Start with half swings and feel the shaft as I make my transition and then proceed to three quarter and full swings and continue to pay close attention to nothing but the shaft at transition. This is where the KBS Tour 90 shafts are the best I have ever used. The smoothness at the top as you make your transition to the impact zone is like nothing else on the market today. Once I have it all set in my head, I begin to hit all of my irons.

My routine is 5 good shots in a row with each iron during things like this, and I start with the PW and work my way down. What I found with the performance of these was not only my distance very good, but the ball flight was nice and high and coming in for a soft landing. To get a higher ball flight without any sacrifice of distance in my opinion is worth its weight in gold. Before I go on, I want to say that I saw absolutely no ballooning or distance loss out of any club I tried.

The go to club for me is the 8 iron during these drills and I wanted to play close attention to both distance and ball flight. I was at a range with good range balls, so I thought it would be a pretty good test. They have a small hoop at the 150 yard mark that has a net in it and I decided to play a little game. The net can be had, but could I hit the bar on top of the net, that would make the shot (according to my laser) exactly 150 yards on the nose. Ball after ball I hit (about 35 total) and I came close about 7 times, but nothing hit it. I did hit 4 in the net which I was pretty happy about, but the reason that this is brought up is not because of working on my game, but because of ball flight.

The way the net is situated and the bar is done, you would only be able to hit it by hitting it high. A lower ball flight would hit the foam or go into the net, but a nice high flight that comes in soft is what I am looking for in a club head and shaft combo and the KBS Tour 90s do that better than any I have tested to date. I got after it a few times with no issues of ballooning or losing it right or left. I came in smooth a few times and had no issues either.

All in all for a first test, I was darn impressed and as mentioned before, it was like a visit from an old friend. They are just so good.

GREAT initial writeup, JB. The KBS 90s will only be a couple grams lighter (literally about 2 grams lighter) than the TX Flighted shafts that I had in my Ci11s...I'm curious as to whether I'll notice the difference. I don't think I will in weight, but I am very interested in seeing how the shaft feels in the transition as you have said. I agree that a high ball flight is great as long as you don't lose distance, and even though I might sound like a broken record, but I am just itching to start gaming these (should be back to me by the beginning of next week at the latest).

I'd love to have a range that had those kind of clear targets at the 100, 150, 200 yard ranges. The range I go to has flags with greens at the 100 and 150 yard marks, with flags out at 200 and 250 as well, but yours sounds so good for completely dialing in distances.
 
Great comments JB. It really says something when you, who has access to many of the different toys in the toy box can single out one product, in this case the KBS shafts, that you feel are the best you have played. Knowing your competitive side, I like how you made the testing a little competition with yourself and glad to her you had results close to what you wanted. Maybe you'll hit that bar next time!! Keep up the great work!!
 
that's pretty sweet JB....getting into an immediate comfort zone with 'an old friend' is always good.
 
I like the idea of the game JB played, I need to do those more rather than just firing at random pins.
 
Great thoughts, JB. I will be hitting the range for the first time with the Tour 90s this afternoon, and it will be the first time I have ever swing a club with these shafts in them. Really interested to see what kind of difference in feel I see going from a shaft of 120g to one of a significant lighter weight.
 
Glad you fell right back into the arms of an old friend JB. I too enjoy that high distance ball flight with soft landings, works well on hard greens. I'll be interested to hear you later thoughts once you start working the ball. Nice first review...
 
good thoughts JB, Im a big fan of the CG16 irons and a big fan of KBS shafts, so I will definitely be following along to see how they continue to do for you

really love the ball flight of the KBS's
 
Great initial thoughts JB. I am interested in seeing how they differ from my CFS shafts. But in the mean time here is Freddie's handy work on my clubs that will be arriving this weekend.

EDIT: Sorry JB back on topic
Spoiler

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Very nice, Pmoa! Just checked the tracking number and it should be out for delivery to Freddie today via UPS. Those irons look great!
 
Guys, lets try to keep the thread about reviews and less about when irons are getting to a place, or arriving. People want to be able to come in and follow the reviews and we have to remember that.
 
irons looking great pmoa
 
WE I'm late on this, but I like how the green ferrule and grips look on those J40's. Will be real interested in seeing what kind of ballflight differences you see between these and the PX flighted that you had in them prior.
 
6/28/12 First Range Session with KBS Tour 90 Shafts

I took the KBS Tour 90 shafts out for their first range session this afternoon. I was quite excited to get out on the range, as the rain and junk weather we have had for the past week has kept me off the course. Anyway, as I have stated previously, my big struggle with my game is the line drive ball. I often struggle to get the ball up in a high trajectory, and this leads to me missing a green, as my ball flight will be lower and hit the green and roll out and off the back of the green. Through talking with Conrad at KBS about my game and the previous shafts I have gamed, he told me that he expected that I would see a higher trajectory on my iron shots and tighter dispersion. With the higher trajectory, my first thought was that I would lose distance, but the guys at KBS said that I would not see a distance loss, and if anything, would see a slight distance gain! This had me thinking that my full shots with my irons in to the green would really help me with holding my shots on the green.

I hit the range and started with my normal warmup routine; 8iron w/ half shots, ¾ shots and full shots. For me, the first thing that I noticed was the difference in weight of my club during my swing. Hard to put into words, but it just felt that I was swinging on a much more even plane, with an all around smooth swing. I started hitting full shots, taking it right out to the 150 yard marker, with a few going just beyond it. This is a normal distance for me with the 8iron, but the difference I noticed with the Tour 90 was the flight my ball had. Often times, my shot will have a lower trajectory and will land and roll out, the results I was seeing on the range today was much different. My shots were hopping off the face of the club and getting up in to the air quick, with a nice, high ball flight. Didnt feel that there was any balooning, but the arch of the ball flight was quite nice to see. I was hitting my shots the same distance as I am used to, but much higher, and a very sharp trajectory downward to my target landing area.

My focus on the range was keeping the ball in the middle of my stance, and just hitting to my distances. I was stoked to see that my distances remained the same, even with an increased height on my shots. I stood on the range, and hit ball after ball, directly at my targeted area, and was hitting them on my line. It seemed most of my shots were right in the area that I wanted, and I felt that I was hitting my shots quite consistently. I didn't work on moving the ball around in my stance to try to do anything fancy, just keep the ball in the middle of my stance, and hit to my numbers. With the ball flight I was seeing, I don't recall ever having so much fun watching my shots after I hit them. When you struggle at times with line drives as I do, a nice, towering iron shot gets you a bit excited.

One big aspect of these irons that I took away from my range session was that the lighter weight of the shaft allowed me to really groove my swing and keep a nice even tempo with my transition at the top. I tend to often hitch my swing at the top, that will get me a bit out of sync and result in a not so great shot. With the Tour 90 shafts, I felt that I was keeping that even tempo from my start of the swing all the way through to the finish. When hitting through my irons, the thing that kept creeping into my mind was that my swing was smooth, consistent and repeatable. I was seeing consistent results on my shots, in part to having a swing that I felt I was repeating with each shot. Smooth tempo, a flowing swing through the ball, and good results. Sounds good to me. I hit about 10 balls in a row with my 7iron to see where I was hitting the ball on the club face, and was pleased with what I saw;

Spoiler
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I hit a large and a small bucket, about 175ish balls with irons only today. I felt that my swing at the end of my range session was just as good as it was at the beginning. Working my way through my bag, I was consistently seeing a higher ball flight. Being able to get my iron shots with a higher trajectory is something that I have worked on for quite some time. I have adjusted my stance, ball alignment and swing, but before today, I had never adjusted the shafts in the irons that I am playing. I didn't try to do too much with my swing today, was really just working on hitting my shot straight and focusing in on my distances and the ball flight that the shafts were giving me. I am really looking forward to dialing them in throughout my irons and wedges, and seeing what results I see on the course.
 
Great initial write up there War Eagle from the range session. I know that you were pretty darn happy with the 5.5's in there and the fact that you are seeing that consistent higher ball flight with the KBS Tour 90's sounds like you may have a real winner on your hands.

Anxious to see how these perform in the "real world" situation so to speak. Awesome start man!
 
Nice write up WE. I really loved these shafts when I had the CB2s. Glad they are working out for you.
 
Great initial write up there War Eagle from the range session. I know that you were pretty darn happy with the 5.5's in there and the fact that you are seeing that consistent higher ball flight with the KBS Tour 90's sounds like you may have a real winner on your hands.

Anxious to see how these perform in the "real world" situation so to speak. Awesome start man!
Thanks Cookie. It was my first range session, so we will see how the perform for me going forward, but hitting my shots with that ball flight was something that had me quite happy. I am a big fan of the shafts that were previously in my DPCs, and they served me quite well, but if the Tour 90s provide me with a consistently higher ball flight, then I think it could benefit me quite a bit on the course.
 
Sounds like the first range session went well War. Nice update but I'm ready for some course actin to see what happens there. That will be the real test.
 
Sounds like the first range session went well War. Nice update but I'm ready for some course actin to see what happens there. That will be the real test.
Indeed it will be, Kmac. I am playing a beauty of a course out on the island this weekend, should be a good opportunity to put them to the test.
 
Great write up, WE. I thoroughly enjoyed the feel of the KBS 90's when I hit them in the CB3's. They felt so smooth (I know, KBS and smooth is almost played out, but its true) and almost effortless. I hit the ball so dang high to begin with, or they would have been a serious option, based on the feel alone. It's great that you are getting a higher trajectory, without the loss of distance.
 
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