KBS TOUR DRIVEN WOOD SHAFTS

Driver shafts. Possibly the most difficult item to develop and market in golf. Or is it?

Kim Braly approached the design of the new KBS TD graphite driver shaft like he has every other shaft he’s designed in the KBS matrix of shafts. Step one. Who are we creating this shaft for? What type of player category?

He designed the TD driver shaft to fit the widest number of players. Very similar to the KBS Tour iron shaft. This shaft will represent the center performance category for KBS driver shafts.

Designed to fit the widest range of players. The concept centers around the, what is now legendary, Kim Braly Signature shaft geometry. Equal reduction in stiffness throughout the length of the shaft to produce an incredibly efficient engine. The shaft loads and unloads for players at an incredibly efficient rate. More efficient than any other driver shaft in golf.

The TD driver was designed with an EI curve that applies the formulas from the KBS Tour iron shaft. The result is a driver shaft that produces an incredibly piercing ball flight. Smooth, extremely stable feel. And, the signature tight dispersion players expect from a KBS golf shaft. Stability in a driver shaft is critical as it’s the fastest club in the bag.

That was Step one. Step two was to develop a fitting matrix that could be applied to fit players into their flex profile.

To him this could not be achieved simply by applying the standard R, S and X “flex” principles. He looked at swing speed as the base line but assuming that all other variables the fitters address are neutral including tempo, ball speed, launch angle, spin rate, angle of decent, distance and dispersion.

As a result, he developed a matrix of weights and categories. 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 grams. And categories 1-5. The baseline swing speed chart is as follows:

CATEGORY / WEIGHTS / FM# / SPEED

• CATEGORY 5 — 60 / 70 / 80 — 8.2 — 110 – 130*
• CATEGORY 4 — 60 / 70 / 80 — 7.5 — 104 – 112
• CATEGORY 3 — 50 / 60 / 70 — 6.5 — 95 – 105
• CATEGORY 2 — 40 / 50 / 60 — 5.5 — 78 – 97
• CATEGORY 1 — 40 / 50 / 60 — 4.0 — LOW – 80

The system is designed so 1 inch tip cut = exactly 5 cpm, example:

2 inches tip on Cat 5 = 10 cpm or FM, in this case the Cat 5 = 9.2 FM. There is 4” .355 OD, The system is designed to be able to cover stiffness ranges from lower than 2.5 to higher than 9.5 at each single CPM or FM @ ~0.1 increments” a fitters dream.

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If push came to shove and a player wanted to know what category represented what flex it would be as follows:

• CATEGORY 1: L – A
• CATEGORY 2: R
• CATEGORY 3: S
• CATEGORY 4: X
• CATEGORY 5: TX

Again, the system, as with other KBS shafts, is not designed, or fit to a “flex” but a flex profile. It should be noted, as mentioned above, that a fitter will also take into account other factors and conditions when fitting a player into a driver shaft. The fitter can adjust the category depending on those conditions/numbers during the fitting.

In a short period of time, KBS’ first entry into the driver shaft race is off to a very fast start. It’s being added to fitting account matrix’s and is being introduced on the global tours.

The TD design will make OEM R&D and product creation teams jobs easier. It’s designed to fit the widest variety of players. It optimizes the performance of any driver head on the market. It’s the most efficient performing driver shaft in its class.

TD TRIMMING

All TD shafts in each category are designed so one inch equals 5 cpm (3/16” = 1 CPM) same as steel.

CATEGORY / FM / FM(1”) / FM(2”)

• CATEGORY 5 — 8.2 — 8.7 — 9.2
• CATEGORY 4 — 7.5 — 8.0 — 8.5
• CATEGORY 3 — 6.5 — 7.0 — 7.5
• CATEGORY 2 — 5.5 — 6.0 — 6.5
• CATEGORY 1 — 4.0 — 5.0 — 5.0

The TD is not just a shaft, it’s part of a fitting system.

Determining a starting point:

STEP 1: Determine desired weight
STEP 2: Determine correct Category and if needed tip cut.

The system is designed for 3 & 5-woods as follows:

Stay in the same category, move up 10 grams and tip it 1”. IE: If driver is Cat. 3, 60g at no tip, then 3-wood would be Cat 3, 70g tipped 1-inch. 5-wood would be Cat. 3, 70g tipped 1.5”.

The system is designed so that in each category the heaviest weight shaft in that category will, more than likely, be a fairway wood and not a driver.