Equipment

KBS GPS Graphite putter shaft review: Club Junkie Reviews

Published

4 months ago

Dec 22, 2023

KBS is known mostly as a steel shaft company, but it has been increasing its graphite options recently. There was once just the KBS TD wood shaft, and now you can get a graphite KBS model in every club in your bag. Legendary shaft designer Kim Braly hasn’t taken any breaks and has put a lot of time and engineering into this putter shaft.

The “GPS” name stands for Graphite Putter Shaft, and that is exactly what it is. KBS built the GPS from premium composite materials and fibers to dial in the feel and stability. Golfers can get the GPS shaft in a plethora of colors, both matte and gloss finishes, and two tip sizes.

Installation is easy and straightforward like a traditional steel shaft. Pick the correct tip size, sand the paint off the tip, and then use standard club epoxy to glue the shaft into the hosel.

The GPS is only offered as a straight shaft, no bends, so your putter will have to have a hosel where the shaft sits inside of it. Something like an L neck, plumbers neck, or center shaft will be the most common hosel for this shaft. Most slant or flow necks won’t work since the shaft has to slide over a post, and the GPS is not engineered for that style hosel.

Once on the course, you will notice that the GPS has a stiffer feel than a traditional, stock steel shaft from just taking a few practice swings. While the GPS is stiff, it isn’t crazy stout like some other high-end putter shafts, enabling the shaft to still provide good feel.

The stiffer feel and low torque on the GPS can be felt on short and long putts immediately as you have a feel where the head is through the whole stroke. A 30-foot or a 3-foot putt have the same feeling of face awareness, and I never felt like the face was anything but square.

While no club, shaft, or grip can guarantee you make more putts, I do feel like the stability of the GPS helps me get the ball started on my intended line more often. I still have to read the putt correctly and hit it with the right speed, but I feel like the shaft can help reduce one putting factor for me.

There is also some added stability on those toe and heel mishits that we all encounter. While most mallet putters help keep the putter face square on those misses, the GPS adds something to it. My miss is typically the toe. I did feel like the face doesn’t want to swing open as much compared to the stock shaft. Feel is sorted a touch as the GPS will absorb some of the vibration on impact.

I have the GPS in a TaylorMade Spider X Tour Proto with the fully milled face, and you can instantly tell a slight softness as the ball leaves the face compared to the stock KBS steel shaft that was in it. The sound also feels a bit more muted and the pitch lowered just a slight bit for a more solid sound.

If you are looking to upgrade your putter shaft for some added stability and a different feel, then the KBS GPS putter shaft is worth trying. While it may not make the putts for you, it can help keep the putter pointed at your target; that should help you make putts.

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Equipment

Why Rory McIlroy will likely use the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper at the RBC Heritage

Published

12 hours ago

Apr 17, 2024

Andrew Tursky

Although we spotted Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper last week during practice rounds at the Masters, he ultimately didn’t decide to use the club in competition.

It seems that will change this week at the 2024 RBC Heritage, played at the short-and-tight Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head.

When asked on Wednesday following his morning Pro-Am if he’d be using the new, nostalgic BRNR Copper this week, McIlroy said, “I think so.”

“I like it,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday regarding the BRNR. “This would be a good week for it.”

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According to Adrian Rietveld, the Senior Manager of Tour at TaylorMade, the BRNR Mini Driver can help McIlroy position himself properly off the tee at the tight layout.

Here’s what Rietveld told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday:

“For someone like Rory, who’s that long at the top end of the bag, and then you put him on a course like Harbour Town, it’s tough off the tee. It’s tight into the greens, and you have to put yourself in position off the tee to have a shot into the green. It kind of reminds me of Valderrama in Spain, where you can be in the fairway and have no shot into the green.

“I’m caddying for Tommy [Fleetwood] this week, so I was walking the course last night and looking at a few things. There’s just such a small margin for error. You can be standing in the fairway at 300 yards and have a shot, but at 320 you don’t. So if you don’t hit a perfect shot, you could be stuck behind a tree. And then if you’re back at 280, it might be a really tough shot into the small greens.

“So for Rory [with the BRNR], it’s a nice course-specific golf club for him. He’s got both shots with it; he can move it right-to-left or left-to-right. And the main thing about this club has been the accuracy and the dispersion with it. I mean, it’s been amazing for Tommy.

“This was the first event Tommy used a BRNR last year, and I remember talking to him about it, and he said he couldn’t wait to play it at Augusta next year. And he just never took it out of the bag because he’s so comfortable with it, and hitting it off the deck.

“So you look at Rory, and you want to have the tools working to your advantage out here, and the driver could hand-cuff him a bit with all of the shots you’d have to manufacture.”

So, although McIlroy might not be making a permanent switch into the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper, he’s likely to switch into it this week.

His version is lofted at 13.5 degrees, and equipped with a Fujikura Ventus Black 7X shaft.

See more photos of Rory testing the BRNR Mini here

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Equipment

Spotted: TaylorMade P-UDI driving iron

Published

13 hours ago

Apr 17, 2024

Brian Knudson

It seems like the RBC Heritage is full of new gear to be spotted, and you can add TaylorMade’s P-UDI utility irons to that list.

We spotted a 17-degree P-UDI 2-iron in Nick Dunlap’s bag yesterday, and now have some photos of both the 3- and 4-irons. Nick has his P-UDI 2-iron setup with a Project X HZRDUS Black 4th Gen 105g TX shaft.

From what we can tell, this new P-UDI utility iron looks to have some of the usual TaylorMade technology as we can see the Speed Slot on the sole of the club for additional face flexibility. A toe screw is usually used to close off the hollow body design that will probably be filled with a version of TaylorMade’s Speed Foam that is present in the current iron lineup. This hollow body, foam-filled design should offer additional ball speed, soft feel, and sound, as well as an optimized CG for ball flight.

“Forged” is etched into the hosel, so we can assume that either the face, body, or both are forged for a soft and responsive feel. The club looks good from behind and at address, where we can see just a little offset and a topline that I would consider medium thickness. We don’t have the full details on what is under the hood or how many loft options will be available yet.

TaylorMade P-UDI 3-iron – 20°

TaylorMade P-UDI 4-iron – 22°

Check out the rest of our photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage

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Whats in the Bag

Collin Morikawa WITB 2024 (April)

Published

14 hours ago

Apr 17, 2024

GolfWRX Staff

Collin Morikawa what’s in the bag accurate as of the RBC Heritage. More photos from the event here.

Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 LS (9 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 60 TX (45 inches)

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (13.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX

Check out more in-hand photos Collin Morikawa’s clubs here.

5-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (18 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P770 (4), P7MC (5-6), P730 (7-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue Mid 115 X100 (4-6), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (7-PW)