Kai’li Dark Waves Golf Shaft Reviews

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The Kai’li Dark Waves series of shafts is included in the 2025 TaylorMade Custom Shaft Options catalog as a no upcharge shaft. The Kai’li name goes back to to my early days of shaft profiling. When it was used as part of the Diamana model family I recognized as a Blue Archetype. Over the years the name was reused in 2023 with White, Blue and Red models. I have limit access to the new Dark Wave Kai’li models from the TaylorMade shaft options catalog which will be expanded as missing models arrive. Rather than posting separate reviews for each model I will cover the White, CB, Fairway and Hybrid models is this overview.

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Russ

Graphite Designs Tour AD VF Driver Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

Graphite Designs introduced the Tour AD VF, Victories requires Force, driver shaft in late 2023. The Tour AD VF is available in a wide range of weights from 40 to 89 grams. Stiffness is not completely determined by weight. There is a range of stiffnesses available in different weight shafts. As with most shafts, torque is a function of weight. Graphite Design tells us, “the shaft profile is Firm in the butt section, Stiff+ in the center section and has a Very Stiff tip to promote Low/Mid launch angles and Low-ball spin rates.

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Russ

Fujikura Axiom Iron Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The 2023 Fujikura Axiom is a new iron shaft concept. They are parallel 0.370 tips which Fujikura states can be sanded to 0.355 tapers. The wall thickness at the tip is thick and I have no reason to doubt this can be done without damaging the tip integrity. Typically parallel sets are made from a single “blank” tip trimmed to increase stiffness in shorter lengths. The Axiom comes in three different models, short for 8, 9, W, mid for 5, 6, 7, and long for 2, 3, and 4. The idea is to create “specific performance throughout the iron set.” Lets see how this can be seen by virtual trimming a set of shafts.

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Russ

KBS PG Hybrid Golf Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Builder
The Highlands Performance Golf Center, Carrollton Texas 
Golf Digest Certified America’s 100 Best Club Fitter

The KBS Players Graphite Hybrid PGH is designed to partner with the KBS Players Graphite Iron. It is available in lighter weights that the earlier KBS Tour Graphite Hybrid Prototype, and is designed to promote a higher launch. It is available in 10 gram increments with a 0.370 tip that can be trimmed to increase stiffness.

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Russ

KBS TGI Tapered Iron Shaft Review

KBS TGI Tapered Iron Shaft Review

By Russ Ryden, Fit2Score, A Dallas Fort Worth Club Fitter & Club Maker
The Golf Center at the Highlands, Carrollton Texas

The parallel KBS Tour Graphite Iron, TGI shafts released early in 2018. The constant weight, taper tip version first released in July 2018. In 2023 60, 70 and 80 gram constant weigh tapers were added. In this video, shot in January at the PGA Merchandise Show, Kim Braly talks about the Tour Graphite iron Shafts.

If you do not fully understand the difference between parallel and constant weight tapers please read the Technical article “Parallel vs Constant Weight Iron Shafts“, Lets move on to look at the measurements of the KBS TGI tapers.

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Russ

KBS PGI Iron Shaft Review


KBS tells us that the Players Graphite Iron shaft was designed we be a replacement for steel shafts. I see the EI Profile as similar to the lighter weight models of the C-taper Lite.

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Russ