KBS Tour-V Wedge Shaft Review

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50 Words or Less

The KBS Tour-V wedge shaft is a great extension beyond your pitching wedge, but isn’t necessarily a spin maximizer.

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Introduction

The wedge portion of the bag tends to be a make or break portion for a lot of golfers from the high-handicap amateur through the scratch player.  The fact of the matter is that understanding your needs and your own game is no easy task.  Some players need a shaft in their wedge to generate as much spin as possible whereas other players are looking for their sand wedge to play as an extension of their iron set.  The KBS Tour-V wedge shaft does the latter and is very strong in doing so.

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Looks

If you have any familiarity with KBS shafts, the KBS Tour-V wedge shaft will come as no surprise.  The look is a plain chrome shaft with steps and a simple KBS shaft band that’s prevalent enough to let you know what your shaft is, but far from distracting.  Simplicity goes a long way with steel shafts and this fact is not lost on KBS.

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Feel

Feel is a bit interesting for the KBS Tour-V wedge shaft.  You can definitely feel the ball, but you don’t necessarily have a super dialed in and in-tune feel.  For comparative purposes, most wedge shafts that are designed to have a little extra response in the hands are going to have more feel than the KBS Tour-V wedge shaft.  Generally, the Tour-V wedge shaft excels on full shots like it’s an extension of your iron set and gets a little stout for the touch shots closer to the green.  If you’re looking for a little more life in your wedge shaft, I would strongly recommend going with a different option.  If you’re looking to hit your sand and lob wedges better with full swings, the Tour-V wedge shaft is exactly the feel you’re looking for.

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Performance

As you have likely noticed by now, I keep mentioning that the KBS Tour-V wedge shaft is a great extension of your iron set and not so much a pitch and chip high-spin monster.  Installed in my 54º sand wedge, I was hitting the Tour-V wedge shaft 100 to 115 yard shots just as easy as a pitching wedge, but when I had to be cute around the green, I struggled.  To “check my math” I dumped the same club in the hands of a scratch player and club fitter at Club Champion, and he found the same thing.  His feedback was that he could really step on it for fuller shots, but he felt the stout feeling and response around the green made it one-trick pony for him near the green.  There’s nothing wrong with that if it fits your game, but it’s an important factor to keep in mind as you set up your bag and decide what’s important to you in your club rig.

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Conclusion

At the time of this review, I’m still in the midst of figuring out what my wedge game looks like at “this stage of my career.”  When I feel good around the greens, I’m terrible using them as full swing clubs.  When I’m good using a sand wedge for that 100 yard shot, it seems I struggle around the green.  What I’ve found with the KBS Tour-V wedge shaft, along with the feedback from some other golfers, is that it’s a great option for full swing shots.  Around the greens, the Tour-V was great for pitches that were kept relatively low and ran out, but not for biting and stopping on a dime.  The Tour-V is a good shaft, you just need to make sure you know how it responds for you.

Bill Bush
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3 Comments

  1. Merlin
    February 19, 2021 at 9:13 pm  ·  Reply

    Hey Bill-
    Thanks for all of your great reviews and insight. How would you compare the Tour V Wedge shaft and the 610 Wedge shaft as far as launch and spin. Also, which, in your opinion, is “easier” to work with as far as different trajectory and spin?
    Thanks for your assistance and input

  2. TonyK50
    August 22, 2021 at 1:20 pm  ·  Reply

    @Merlin
    Both wedge shafts are low spin shafts.
    The KBS 610 wedge shaft is essentially the ‘big brother’ of the KBS Tour V wedge shaft, and also features a slightly larger butt diameter than the Tour V.
    The slightly larger butt diameter might feel ok in the hands of some players, but for others it may not.
    The Tour V wedge shaft is also designed to launch slightly higher than the 610.
    I have been testing the Tour V 125 S+ in my 50*-degree gap wedge, and have found it becoming more and more comfortable to hit as time goes on, as it is basically like a point-and-shoot sniper rifle, designed to reduce dispersion as much as possible when attacking pins.
    The step pattern of the Tour V wedge shaft is also quite condensed to allow for thicker shaft walls to reach further down the length of the shaft, as this is what helps it eliminate dispersion, but may also make it feel too “stout” in the hands of some players.
    The Tour V is quite a stiff feeling shaft I would say, but for players who are physically strong enough to swing it or generally prefer gaming stiffer shafts, it’s a wedge shaft that should work quite well.
    I would also recommend the Tour V as a good shaft to try for players who have a quicker, more violent swing transition from backswing to fore-swing.
    However, the Tour V is also available in lighter iron shaft weights (100g/110g/120g), so the 9i-PW shaft from either one of that trio of weights could potentially be used as a lighter, less stiff substitute for the tour spec S+ 125g mentioned above in this article.
    Most notably, Phil Mickelson uses the KBS Tour V 125g S+ in all of his irons and all of his wedges, as this shaft was originally designed for him by KBS with his input before it was released to the general market.

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