The KBS Tour 80 in particular was designed to give a wide variety of players a smoother feel from a relatively heavy iron shaft. Indeed, when we tested the KBS Tour 80, we were amazed at how smooth it felt for a 100 gram iron shaft.

The KBS Tour 80 is among the smoothest-feeling heavy shafts we have ever tested – and that’s saying something because we have tested and gamed a lot of iron shafts. One thing we really liked about the KBS Tour 80 was that it was versatile. You don’t get an overly stiff profile, it has a smooth feel but it performs like a much stiffer iron. For one thing, this means that many players will feel comfortable with it.

We can imagine a world where mid handicappers transition smoothly from graphite iron shafts to steel with the KBS Tour 80. We can also see how low and mid handicap players will be drawn to the accuracy of the KBS Tour 80. The KBS Tour 80 in particular is a 100 gram steel shaft which sits pretty much in the middle of the KBS Tour shafts in terms of weight.

HOW DOES THE KBS TOUR 80 PERFORM?

One thing we were really surprised about was the active feel of this 100 gram shaft.

You can clearly feel when the shaft loads and releases, which is kind of uncommon for a shaft of this weight. We know what you might be thinking, ‘an active response must mean erratic ball flight.’

That honestly wasn’t the case in our testing. A lot of the release ends in the shaft’s midsection so your club head isn’t adversely effective. Instead, you’re left with a smooth transition and good energy transfer. So long as you are moderately accurate, the KBS Tour 80 will reward you with straight ball flight and a smooth transition.

Plus, the tip section is still pretty stiff so your iron heads aren’t in any immediate danger from the active response. The KBS Tour 80 also launches pretty high for a shaft in this weight class. It wasn;t so high as to cause most of our testers distance loss; but it is something to consider if you have a naturally high launch.

For most of our testers, the high launch was a welcome sight. It made our long irons more viable for attacking the pin on long par 3’s.