KBS Tour - weights vs flex

[Guest]

Hi - First post here despite being a regular lurker for information. Hopefully you guys can help with what might be a simple question if anyone has been through a similar decision before.

I am inches away from pulling the trigger on a set of Sub70 699 irons but need to decide on shaft.

For background I am based in the UK so cant use their demo program and a bit too polite to waste time at a shop fitter. I'm a 15hcp (hopefully going down), currently play Wilson D7's with KBS Tour 105 stiff shafts, i'm hitting a 7 iron about 160-165yrds with a swing speed of 85-88mph. i'm 6'4" so need longer custom clubs (+1.5" in the WIlson, 2" in Sub70).

I find the the Tour 105s are a nice weight but definitely find shorter irons go very high (partly my height, partly my swing but must also be club/shaft too).

I'll probably choose the KBS Tour in the Sub70s (due to the import tax jacking up the prices on custom options), but wondered should I go regular flex to match the WEIGHT of the 105s (both 110g, 2.5 torque in 105 vs 2 in Tour) or match the FLEX and stay in stiff and therefore how would this feel (110g vs 120g)?

TIA

[larryd3]

Have you spoken with Jason at Sub70? He should be able to help fit you into the correct shafts. I've found him to be very helpful.

[scooterhd2]

KBS has an online shaft fitter as well.

 

I dont know what your age and physical condition, but if you think your swing speed is going to stay stable then I would be looking at an S flex.

 

[Guest]

The tool suggested the Tour Stiff but was wondering what people’s experiences were with feel.

i did indeed speak to Jason who was helpful, just wanted a third party view

[geochitown]

I think you'd want to stay in the stiff.

I have played the KBS Tour 105 stiff, but only the parallel version (0.370).

If you were playing parallel shafts, I'd say consider hard-stepping the stiff (additional tip trim).

 

[geochitown]

if you find you have to crouch down more for the short irons, you might want to consider going to 3/8" increments in length versus 1/2".

[geochitown]

I totally misread your post.

KBS Tour Vs KBS TOur 105

You could try soft=stepping the KBS TOur Stiff to get a little lighter weight in the shaft.

Or try hard-stepping the KBS Tour Regulars to get a little stiffer feel.

 

[Stinger83]

I used to play KBS tour's. I find they play soft compared to something like a dynamic gold. They are higher launch than most shafts as well. The benefit of this is that you can go "up in flex" and typically get that "in between" range. In my experience the KBS Tour 130x played between an S300 and X100 in terms of "feel" of stiffness. Which Is why I played them. However if you want a lower flight in short irons (as I do) I would recommend looking at the Tour V range. I ended up switching to tour V's. And then progressing into Project x lz's.

[Tommyj]

Getting specs from the Titleist shaft performance guide, the butt/tip frequency for the KBS 105-S is 308/874 cpm and for the KBS Tour-S it is 326/907 cpm. I've played KBS Tour R for may years and have also hit the Tour 105 on a number of occasions. For me, the 105-S feels a bit firmer than the Tour-R and I would feel comfortable playing it. The Tour-S feels quite a bit stouter and is not a shaft I could play, I feel like I have to work it and I start overswinging. I'm about 5-7 yards shorter than you with a 7 and more lower 80's swing speed.

I play standard length. At 1.5-2.0" over standard the shaft will play softer for you. Taking that into consideration, I think you would be fine going with the Tour-S, provided you are in pretty good shape and think you'll be all right with the extra 10 grams shaft weight. Your 7 iron specs certainly put you into the S flex. You might consider soft stepping the Tour-S if you are concerned about it being too stiff. Too bad Sub70 doesn't offer the R+, I think that would be perfect for you in terms of weight and flex.

What has Sub70 recommended for you? BTW, I love KBS shafts, but their online fitting tool is completely useless.

[shanx]

I love the C Taper Lites @ 110gms and a slightly softer tip.

[Guest]

Thanks for the comments and experience. I think the Tour S will work for me, I’m still quite young at 38 so hopefully I’ll manage!

[ChipNRun]

Concerned about too high a flight on your short irons? Consider the KBS Tour FLT shafts.

FLT stands for flighted, meaning the longer iron shafts give help on launch, while the short iron shafts give comparatively lower launch to prevent ballooning. TOUR FLT Series - KBSThe model has five different weight/flex options, and captures the same weight range as the base KBS Tour.

Another option is the True Temper AMT series: the longer iron shafts are lighter, and shafts get progressively heavier as they move into the short irons. The AMT Black variant might be what you want.

[bvanlieu]

Another vote for to look at the FLT series. I gamed them a few years (have since gone to graphite because older :) Good KBS feel and control I found and for me the constant weight I enjoyed in the shaft. I hit the 120 and my SS is right around yours and it helped give the short irons a bit more penetrating flight. Its not enormous but something you an see with a launch monitor looking at the data.

 

[dmeeksDC]

OP it’s a smart question. This suggestion from @geochitown is a good one to consider as you can close the weight gap a little if you want, though a 15 gram difference should not be too much and you’ll adjust quickly. Only basing this off your swingspeed and you saying your short irons go high, but I would say you’d be fine in the Tour 120 stiff or the Tour FLT stiff. You have plenty of speed. They feel great. A lot of fitters will tell you that more weight helps feel, does not detract from it. For example, I find the DG 120 shafts feel much better than the 100 and 105 versions.

[Stuart_G]

 

Weight is generally considered more important than flex BUT for some people flex can be equally important. Some people can swing a wide range of stiffness feels w/o it effecting anything but there are others that must get a very specific feel. Well, those are the two extremes, one can fall anywhere in between.

If you want to see how you might do with the heavier weight, just get some lead tape (high density is better), take one of your irons and wrap first 10 gm around one of your current irons. Wrap it around the shaft about 4" below the bottom of the grip. That will give you and idea of what the heavier weight will feel like and if it might be suitable for you or not.

Unfortunately, the only way to know how well the softer flex will work is to find one to test. Normally R flex would be considered a bit soft for your swing speed although it might not be a problem, especially if you have a very smooth transition. Jim Furyk uses KBS Tour R's hard stepped x1. If your transition tends to get quick or aggressive, I would not recommend going down in flex. Even if the feel doesn't cause any problems, there is a good chance the softer flex would increase the launch/spin even more than with what you are playing now.