DREV by NGS

[Duffer19]

I have not heard too much about the Drev line by NGS for this past year. Are they still being promoted and marketed by NGS (its still on the website)? It seems that the company is concentrating on the Machline shafts which IMO are really good shafts. I am already playing 4 Machlines but really want to try a Drev to see any difference and why it is worth the premium.

Any insight would be appreicated.

[gus]

I hope they are nice; I just had my tour issue RC BBD Type H II driver (rare 425cc 10* five screw model, sweeet!) with the Drev Pro I picked up from Chris. It's a stiff flex at 263 cpm's and that's perfect for me. I honestly got lucky with the early numbers as I didn't know a darn thing about this shaft other than the weight and specs where spot on for my game. This baby spined dead perfectly which I rarely see from any shaft at any price. Appears to be extremely well made. I will say it feels nice and tight when waggled. I will do a full review after I get it in the game. This driver head is equally as pretty and screams quality as well. If I guessed right this setup should be very similar to my 425TP from a spin standpoint with a hair more launch. When I first got this driver from my tour guys (got it from Japan for US core testing purposes) it was shafted with a 80gr cooper ion Creation which was way to heavy for me. Just as an FYI; if anyone ever wondered about these RC drivers well THEY ARE LONG!

Edited November 19, 2007 by BigBen

[K2_2]

Thanks for the quick review Ben... I haven't tried a Machline or DREV yet, but I might have to pick one up. Which model did you go with?

On a sidenote, how are the AD Pros working out in your Srixons?

[gus]

I went with the Drev Pro in stiff flex. I believe it's a bit more stout than most of the Drev lineup; the fellas can offer much more insight into the details than I can. It has worked out incredibly well in my BBD type H II driver; extemely long and hot with well above average feel. This again reinforces the my belief that a driver does not need to exceed 425cc to be very long and accurate. The better players would love this setup; easy to work with high initial launch and low spin...perfect. To answer your second question; from a pure performance standpoint the Tour AD Pros are exactly what I thought they would be. Very tight shot dispersion with zero ballooning and good weight. I must say they do play much softer to flex than I anticipated for X-flex shafts (freaked at a very soft stiff); in regards to my needs to soft for the heat of the summer but in the cold fall Ohio air they are just about right. One big fat glaring (and expensive!) issue however is the paint finish; it's aweful. Entirely to soft for iron shafts; actually quite surprised at the miss by GD Japan. Therefore my irons look terrible for the short amount of time I've actually played them. Based on the large expense of these shafts this issue alone will force me to give them a major thumbs down; sorry! Yes it's that bad but on a positive note the Drev is getting an overwhelming thumbs up for it's overall quality, performance and feel. Hope this helps a bit; would love to hear other experiences with GD Japan paint finishes both good and bad to be fair. When I spoke with my contact I was told the average Japanese player uses shaft covers and replaces his equipment yearly. Sounds a bit fishy for my taste; no excuse for poor manufacturing Q&A. This is stricktly my two cents...

Edited November 20, 2007 by BigBen

[K2_2]

Thanks for the info on your Drev!

As for the AD Pros I'm happy to hear that you like the performance, but I'm sorry to hear about the problems with the finish... I've seen them after a bit of use with no issues, so I'm surprised. You could always take some pics of the bag set up that you are using, pics of the shafts, and forward them along to Graphite Design. I've found their customer service to be quite good. I'm not sure what they could do, I'm sure they would appreciate hearing your concerns.

I've also used the regular AD iron shafts, no issues with those, and I've seen more than a few GD Tour AD driver shafts where the head looked beat to you know where, but I didn't notice any big blemishes on the shafts.

[gus]

Interesting; I have no idea why these are holding up so poorly.

[gocchin]

I have two sets of Tour AD iron shafts here and 3 Tour AD driver shafts... they are doing okay still though.

BigBen what is the issue exactly with the shafts, is the paint rubbing off or chipping off. Can you take a picture for me?

As for the Drev, they are still considered great shafts and will be officially added to our pro shop soon. Still very much on the high end and for the better player/harder swinger (most of the shafts but not all), wonderful finish and very tight.

[gus]

The paint is actually rubbing off quite badly; it's weird. I should stop and say; the finish looks cool but is holding up quite poorly. Nothing wrong at all with the physical paint job when "new" but it's now rubbing off from routine use. I think it would be very hard to capture in pics due to the shafts being black but I will try. I'm definitely not the type of person to offer negative criticism with a grain of salt. I've been around highend golf products for a very long time including graphite iron shafts so I'm confident that my opinion here is spot on. While I completely understand that graphite will never hold up like steel something is still not quite right; and for this kind of cash investment it should be right and that's the only reason for my questionable feedback. Also, I offered to send the entire set back to Graphite Design so they could actually see my concerns and they immediately made reference to "no cash refunds" when I hadn't asked for one. This issue is another all together but shouldn't a product that's represented as the "Mercedes" of graphite iron shafts be supported as such? Having said this; technically they play awesome and deliver the goods; this is the frustrating part. If I suffered from a poor technical outcome; they would be pulled and on there way back to GD already. Again; my friends at GD are really cool folks so I can't say I was treated in a poor manner at all but it is quite clear that they are more focussed on the act of "selling" shafts than dealing with Q&A issues such as this one. Bascially; they could care less and hey that's life right?

Edited November 21, 2007 by BigBen

[gocchin]

The paint is actually rubbing off quite badly; it's weird. I should stop and say; the finish looks cool but is holding up quite poorly. Nothing wrong at all with the physical paint job when "new" but it's now rubbing off from routine use. I think it would be very hard to capture in pics due to the shafts being black but I will try. I'm definitely not the type of person to offer negative criticism with a grain of salt. I've been around highend golf products for a very long time including graphite iron shafts so I'm confident that my opinion here is spot on. While I completely understand that graphite will never hold up like steel something is still not quite right; and for this kind of cash investment it should be right and that's the only reason for my questionable feedback. Also, I offered to send the entire set back to Graphite Design so they could actually see my concerns and they immediately made reference to "no cash refunds" when I hadn't asked for one. This issue is another all together but shouldn't a product that's represented as the "Mercedes" of graphite iron shafts be supported as such? Having said this; technically they play awesome and deliver the goods; this is the frustrating part. If I suffered from a poor technical outcome; they would be pulled and on there way back to GD already. Again; my friends at GD are really cool folks so I can't say I was treated in a poor manner at all but it is quite clear that they are more focussed on the act of "selling" shafts than dealing with Q&A issues such as this one. Bascially; they could care less and hey that's life right?

This is very strange indeed as I inspected all my Tour Ad shafts which is like more than 10 pieces... they all still look good after a summer of use. Also this attitude you were getting from GD, is this GD USA?

[gus]

Yes GD USA, again I'm not saying they aren't really nice folks however simply didn't care about the quality issues what so ever. Didn't really want to address the issue at all quite honestly. I'm not going to press the issue what so ever but I will never use another Tour AD product unless somebody steps up and shows a bit of empathy. Let's face it; none of use in business like to deal with painful customer service issues like this but to be great we must right? In the long run it hurts us more than the actual process itself. Example; take the time to review my irons; send me a new warranty set and now I know how how soft the paint is so next time I do things differently; WOW how excited about GD USA would I be. Let's put it this way, this post would be moving in a very different direction. Hopefully I'm not coming across as "that guy" because this is not my intention.

Edited November 22, 2007 by BigBen