KBS Tour Steel Hybrid Shafts

Hybrid clubs have become the golfer's favored club selection for trouble lies and for those distances where fairway woods and long irons may be a tenuous choice.

Hybrids come in many shapes, lofts, and lengths. Notably, any of these variables can change the moment of intertia of a club, and thus, affect how a head reacts as the shaft loads and unloads during the swing. Shaft stability has become a key issue for hybrids and, for many, this factor has not been addressed.

FST's shaft designer, Kim Braly, realized that a universal model that would fit all hybrids would be difficult, if not unrealistic. However Braly did conclude that improved shaft stability would be a major factor in optimizing all hybrid performance.

Braly stepped outside the normal parameters of club design and researched other tubular structures that have to endure a variety of stresses or loads. Interestingly, he studied why flagpoles are able to remain stable under so many stressses and load changes such as wind speed, wind direction and varying flag mass.

The KB Hybrid uses "flagpole technology," briefly described as a gradual stepless taper starting at the anchor location (between the hands) and continuing to the tip just above the hosel (the flag). The wall thickness proportionately increases as the outside diameter decreases. The stability provided by this design keeps the hybrid head tracking toward the target.

The KB Hybrid also incorporates overall lighter weight and more tip action to enhance the benefit for which hybrid clubs were intended.