KBS $-Taper

[danielt823]

These are easily already my favourite shafts. Got these installed in my new MP-20 combo set in black PVD.

Came from the KBS Tour 130 but they ballooned too much in to the wind and I lost distance. It's great to have the Tour feel and a lower ball flight and keep my carry distances.

Love the fact that I can get after one without losing it left and I can get a pretty fast transition if I'm not careful.

I haven't played many other shafts, mainly being the KBS tour and Project X LZ 6.5 (I hated these) but I reckon I'll be sticking with this current choice for a while.

If I have 130's in my irons should I look at the S+ in my wedges? Should I install them in all 3 wedges? Or just my gap wedge and the leave the standard SM7 shaft in the 56 and 60?

[drvrwdge]

I'm curious as to which wedge shafts people are playing who have the 130 $ Tapers in their irons.

[pcs11]

Any updates on tips bending or anything with these?

[mackepa]

I Still have the 125 S+ Prototypes in my irons and have been using the 120 stiff $-tapers in the wedges. I know the trend is to go a little heavier in the wedges but I wanted to make sure my wedges weren't too stiff since I literally never hit them full bore. That gave me a nice soft feel to the shaft and I can control the launch and spin a bit more. I haven't noticed the difference in weight at all.

[mackepa]

I can take pretty big divots and I've used the same sets of shafts in 3 different heads and i haven't had any bent tips on these. Honestly I haven't seen too many reports of bent tips from KBS in a while.

[wobgon]

I normally play PX 6.0, s300's, s400s or similar...…..looking at some irons with $ taper 130X. Would these be to stiff for me?

[mackepa]

They’ll be heavier for sure. I think the 125 S+ would be a better match to the 6.0’s.

[wobgon]

Thanks.....I am sort of a the heavier the better guy. Just not sure about stiffness. If I was ordering, could not see me going this way, but this is one of those situations where I am bored and am looking at a deal on some irons that happen to have these shafts in them.......I will say that I played my best golf with PX6.5's, but that was a few years back….I can always change the shafts but would prefer that the shafts have at least chance at working.....Taking a little road trip this week. Maybe I will get a chance to test these shafts.

[Krt22]

They have a high balance point though. I did not realize this, had a set built from Mizuno and they came in D0/1 even with a 130g shaft, I should have specified SW.

 

IMO they are an easy X to load/elevate, but still very stable

[kooch1221]

Can anyone compare the stiffness of the $ taper to the equivalent regular KBS tours?

[getitdaily]

$taper much stiffer but very similar in feel. Tours have just a touch of looseness compared to $taper.

[kooch1221]

So if I would be looking at S+ in the tours I would want to stay with the $tapers in stiff? I dont load the shaft hard and would like to stay on the softer side.

[getitdaily]

I'd say so. I hard stepped a Tour S in a 4 iron and it still feels a tad looser than the $taper 120S in the rest of my irons.

[kooch1221]

Great thanks for the feedback

[COmedic]

Just purchased a new set of $-Taper S+ shafts and trying to decide where to place them. I have a nearly new set of Srixon Z785 irons with Modus 120x shafts which I am largely hitting very well. I also have a decent condition set of MP32’s with S300 shafts. I hit them well but have never felt like the dispersion was great due to the shaft being a little soft for my swing. So am I crazy to put these sweet new shafts in an old set of clubs? Should I just sit on them til I find another set of heads to throw them in?

[Wardonation]

I played this shaft for 2 years. It is a GREAT feeling shaft BUT I could not spin these enough. I switched to PX and love it...

[drvrwdge]

Annnddd that why you should get fit, ha. Exact opposite for me. PX didn't spin enough, DG spun too much. These are a happy medium or me ha. Always trips me out how the same product can perform completely different for different players.

[mwcallison]

I agree completely. I think there will come a day and age when even recreational golfers are as familiar with their face angle/path/AoA/tempo as they are their distances/swing speeds today. The data will eventually become too accessible once they can get club data on the Skytrak level LMs, then on MEVO level LMs, and eventually smart phone/tablets. Sure, it won't be consistent for most people, but neither is swing speed, ball speed, distance, or spin for most players.

That will be a great day. There's so much money being spent in this industry compared to the amount of fittings. But, I hate fittings because I get nervous/swing different indoors/hate basing years' worth of equipment off of my swing for one hour/etc. I'd much rather rent a hitting bay with a LM with club data along with 3 heads to try and 6 shafts.

Self-fitting rentals should already be a part of this industry I think. It's still pretty awkward to walk into most golf stores and just take one of their hitting bays up for an hour while getting to try the components you're looking for, especially if you don't want anyone to bother you haha

 

Digression aside - I love the KBS $-Tapers. Just found a set of 120 Stiffs in Black to MOI match into my z545s with new BB&F Co. Ferrules. The balance point really gives you flexibility for SW tinkering.

[IL2AZ]

How do the $-Taper swingweight compared to the KBS Tour shaft in the 120 stiff flex?

[jhaw]

I would have got these in my new Titty 620 cm/mb's if they weren't a crazy upgrade charge. They demo'd so nice. Went with the KBS tours instead

[COmedic]

Well I’ve decided to throw a set of $-taper S+ shafts into some MP32’s. Unless find a set of MP-20 SEL heads within the next two weeks... will report back this next spring!

[dmeeksDC]

I actually felt like the 120g $Taper felt less stiff than the Tour 120, but it could just be the $Taper is smoother because it is smooth. Very fun shaft to play. I prefer the $Taper out of the two and I bet the stiff works well for you. I’ve been working on moving slowly to lighter weight shafts, probably even graphite, but of 120g steel shafts the $Taper is one of my favorites.

[mwcallison]

I like them because you get the smooth feeling that you normally get with an easy tempo even if you have a quick tempo and swing hard like I tend to. I think they're a great match for modern iron heads.

You can find great set pulls on eBay for less than $200. I got a 5-PW Black PVD 120s set for $115.

[counselor79]

Easily the best iron shaft I’ve played.

 

I have searched many years for the right shaft from KBS Tour, Ctaper, and most recently back to project X. Long story short I always loved how the tours played but didn’t like the spin and high flight. With the $taper I have the same high flight without so much spin, result is high shots that land soft without losing distance. In a lot of ways they just seem to keep rising without that Feeling where they’re stalling out and falling back down.

[mortimer]

Interested in this also, anyone? Thks

[mwcallison]

For me it was about a 2.5 SW point difference on average - some were 2 SW and some were 3 SW points

[wobgon]

Have a set of Callaway apex pro dot irons coming with $- taper 120's.....Not sure what to expect.

[br61]

You do? Ha, I have a similar set with $-Tapers right next to me that belongs to a friend that tried to get me to buy them. I do like them but sticking with my smoke Apex Pros. But I might buy them anyway and hang on to them.

 

[wobgon]

How you been.....What's even more crazy is, the set I have coming are gold (I deg. flat) just like the one you pictured.....Since I have you here, how do you like the shafts and how much difference between the dot and the non dot?

[mortimer]

Thnks great info. So $Tapers are not counter balanced then as the Tours.