KBS Tour 90 Review

[smoky25]

So I won a set of KBS Tour 90 shafts here with the agreement that I would write a review. A little about me first. I am a 58yo lifelong golfer, low handicap for about the last 20 years (presently a 4). About 2 years ago, after my 3rd back surgery, I started drifting towards the idea of lighter, softer flex shafts in my irons. I was gaming MP 68s with DGs300 at the time and was looking for something a little easier to swing and for higher launch. So I put in a set of TT GS95's in reg and really liked them. I have a very smooth tempo, non-aggressive swing (easier on the back) and the lighter, less stiff shaft was easier for me to load than the DGs300. I worried about the reg being to soft and going left but that never was a problem. Then about 6 months later I bought a set of Black Nickel MP 68s off the BST which had Nippon NS Pro 950GH in reg ( I hate glare off chrome). They felt and launched virtually identically to the GS95's and became my gamer set.

Conrad Miller from KBS contacted me after I won and we we discussed what flex to get and we decided on staying with regular since I'd been having success with regs in the others, even though my 6i ss is 86. Before the shafts arrived, I thought it would be a good idea to get on the Flightscope at my club and get some pre-change numbers on my gamers with the Nippons and my back-ups with the GS95's.

 

6iron Carry Total SS Ball speed spin LA

Nippon 154 159 86 110 5980 17.4

 

GS95 155 160 86 110 6050 17.6

 

As I stated before, I can tell very little difference in feel and performance between the Nippons and the GS95's as the numbers above show. They are both very smooth feeling high launch shafts with basically the same dispersion. My misses with both are slightly offline with loss of distance.

When the KBS arrived, I swapped out the 6i shaft in my gamer set and hit it back to back against the GS95 6i.

 

6iron Carry Total SS Ball speed spin LA

KBS 90 156 162 86 112 6040 17.5

 

GS95 154 160 85 110 6100 17.1

 

Basically the same again. Smooth feeling, high launch, but a touch better dispersion with the KBS. The asst pro with me thought the dispersion was a little better with the KBS too. No big difference, but just enough to be noticeable.

So I swapped out the Nippons in my gamer set to the KBS, and have played them about 6 rounds now. My impression so far is that I am much more accurate 6i-wedge and a little less in my 4i-5i. With my 4i-5i, I'm not hitting them flush as easily as I did my Nippons on par 3s, but that's probably just me. I sometimes get on bad streaks with my long irons. But my scoring irons are noticeably more accurate (noticed by my playing partners too). Full swings or when I take a little off, it doesn't matter. Just a smooth, solid, accurate shaft.

For those of you looking to get into a lighter shaft with a higher launch, I can highly recommend the KBS Tour 90 (the other two are solid shafts too). Thanks to KBS and Conrad Miller for setting me up with the shafts (4i- PW, + wedges) and the advice.