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REVIEW: KBS TD Wood Shaft

KBS Shafts For Every Club In Your Bag

Mentioned in our Buyers Guide: Best Driver Shafts in 2024.

Kim Braly had been the architect of many of the most popular steel shafts on the market prior to launching his on brand, KBS shafts 12 years ago. The KBS line was an immediate hit and has since grown into one of the most popular brands of steel shafts. The line has expanded to over a dozen lines of steel shafts so that every golfer can maximize their iron play with the best shaft. Just few years ago now they started venturing into graphite shafts. Those have also been very successful. Just recently KBS entered the driver shaft market with their TD line. You can now have a KBS shaft in every club in your bag; putter through driver.

When it comes to knowledge of the golf shaft, it is hard to list to many people with more insight and experience than Kim Braly. His creations have won numerous majors and have been played at some point in time by many golfers. KBS has become the stock shaft in many irons. Now it was time to take on the driver. The KBS TD Wood shaft has some similar characteristics of their iron shafts. The first thing I noticed was the volume of choices for flex and weight. Each category (flex) has 3 weights. There are 5 categories which allows every swing speed to find an option as well as a weight. Obviously there isn’t a 40gram Tour X Stiff shaft nor an 80 grams senior flex shaft, but appropriate weights for proportionate speed categories. I went with a 60gram category 3 shaft since it most aligned with my current shafts choices.

The KBS TD Wood Shaft is listed as a mid launch/low spin shaft. I installed my in a Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero 9.0 driver. I found their description pretty much spot on. It offers a very penetrating flight with fairly low spin. Maybe not the lowest I’ve hit, but certainly lower than stock. The flatter launch makes for great distance with nice roll out. I really liked the flight as I watched the ball launch at the fairway. It hit that window of launch and continued path in the air that I am looking for.

Flightscope Xi Tour Launch Monitor

KBS TD Wood 60g Category 3 Shaft

Spin: 1927 rpms
Launch Angle: 13.9*
Dispersion: 5.3 yds
Club Head Speed: 108.2 mph
Ball Speed: 162.0 mph
Total Distance: 298.7 yds
Carry Distance: 281.2 yds

The real success for me of the KBS TD Wood shaft is how straight the flight is. Yes, I can still hit a massive slice or crazy hook, but the majority of tee balls went dead straight. I found trying to work with the ball with this shaft often led to poor drives, but aiming for the center often meant hitting the center. While that might seem like an obvious observation; sometimes we get habits because our tee shots tend to curve one way to the other. If slices happen, we tend to aim left and watch the ball drift back to the right and vise versa. With the KBS shaft, just point and shoot. Even my missed were mostly just straight shots off the face that went right or left, not curve balls. This might be the best driver shaft I’ve ever played in the wind, it just wants to hold its line.

The final detail that makes the KBS TD Wood shaft a potential fit for many golfers is the ability to get it dialed in beyond just the basic weight and speed. The longer tip allows for trimming to get an even more precise fit. Let’s say you aren’t quite category 4, but are a little strong in the category 3, you can tip the shaft an inch, even 2 inches to dial it in just a little tighter to your needs. This isn’t common in graphite shafts anymore, but gives the KBS TD Wood Shaft even more potential of making your bag. It also means that your are going to need a good fitter to help figure that out. (I’d suggest the KBS studio in Carlsbad if possible)

The KBS TD Wood Shaft brings many of the great KBS steel shaft features to the wood line. Great feel, tight dispersion and excellent launch numbers. I really like how straight this driver shaft hits the ball. The Red Label shaft also looks great and works nicely with adjustable drivers since the logo is repeated on both sides of the shaft. If you have KBS shafts in your other clubs, why not get fit for a KBS TD shaft in your woods? Now you can have a KBS in every club in the bag.

Check the price online here

For more information: www.kbsshafts.com

Quick Hits:
+Great feel
+Excellent numbers
+Straight hitting
+Lots of fitting options
+Tip trimming for an even better fit

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