Craig Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Well I hope I am not going to disappoint too many people, but I really cant write a full review, yet.. I just have not hit them enough in good conditions to really judge their performance. At home at the moment it has been really hot with absolutely no rain at all. My home course resembles a goat track. the greens are ok but even the fairways are dead pan, with massive areas of bare dirt and dead grass. The times I have played at home, it too has been quite windy, which makes it difficult to gauge just how long say the Driver is. The greens are pretty non responsive which makes it hard to answer such questions as how much spin do you get with the wedges. Just been to barnbougle dunes, which is a great course but the conditions were atrocious. The wind was abominable. so sorry to disappoint but I am hesitant to pass judgement on these clubs at the moment. Given the amount of interest I have had via PM, I thought it best to give my initial thoughts on the Buchi bag I have and then follow it up down the track with a final review. That may be a while, as am off to japan on Friday for just over 2 weeks and for health reasons wont be playing until late January. Nothing serious but one cant carry their own toilet around with them I will also post how the setup performed at Barnbougle, which will give you an idea how they go in adversity, and I mean adversity. My hybrid, driving irons, irons and wedges are all shafted with NSpro 950Gh in S flex Driver. Air Shepherd 10.5 I think with stock shaft. It is a Basileus I think and was ordered as R flex. I am not sure about that as it says S on the shaft. At the fitting, I thought this driver was atrocious. It gave me good numbers, but the feel and the sound were so off putting that i decided t give it a miss. Even when they told me that it was the same face material as the Crazy Drivers, I was not persuaded. As we were walking out the door, I thought to myself, why not. So we had to walk back in to add it to the order. This thing looks good but surprisingly it feels and sounds as good as anything. Absolute contrast to the fitting. This is what surprised me the most It is mid to high launching and really does run out, and it is a fairway finder. How long is it, well I cant answer it, but it is definately not short. The stock shaft of which I know nothing about is definately a good match. I had privately made the comment to a few people, that i didnt know how long it was, but it was definately a great head in windy conditions. Barnbougle confirmed this. It was the only club in my bag that handled the wind well. I never hit a drive, and then got there and thought, I thought it would have gone further. I have never driven a par 4 in my life. At Barnbougle Lost farm, I drove one and was pin high on another but about 10 metres to the right. This was on one of our calm rounds so there was no wind assistance. 3 wood I did not order a Buchi 3 wood but took A crazy 3 wood with the FW 80 shaft in it. This club was the one that surprised me the most, and not in a good way. Normally I get mid piercing trajectory. Here it got absolutely smashed by the wind, particularly ballooning and laterally. Got to the stage where I was scared to hit it. At the 18th on Barnbougle Dunes my 3 wood I smashed dead at the pin finished 100 metres laterally and all right at the end. IDrive said he has never seen a straight shot move so much Hybrid 20^. I dont know about you but to me a hybrid is a hybrid is a hybrid. It goes good, feels good, but so do most of them. I used it sparingly at barnbougle as the wind smashed it. Got scared to hit it as well. On the back 9 at Barnbougle Dunes I was even par until the treachourous par 3 downhill. Hit it perfect to the right of the pin. Finished so far left i could not find it Driving Irons 04 and 05 These things are the real deal. They look great and i will be surprised that once some TSGers use them, and Buchi sorts out their ordering, they will be a massive hit. Easy to get in the air and very consistant. At this stage, they are the only parts of the set that I would recommend without hesitation. Being able to choose offset and pretty much everything makes these the perfect match for anyone looking for this type of club. Same shaft as the hybrid, but nowhere near as affected by the wind as the hybrid Irons and wedges In hand these look good, real good. After my first hit with them, I said they are as good as anything I have ever hit. Even the Miurisms. If you know my opinion on the isms, you know this is a big call. they are small and the finish is superb. I dont know much about the grinder as such, but I would guess he is not just anyone. They are also super soft, as soft as anything I have hit. Very interested in exactly where they are forged, as I think it may be a surprise. Tario tells me that super good feeling comes from the grind and bounce etc. Maybe thats it ??? At Barnbougle, well they performed how I thought they would. They got hammered, though I think any iron and shaft combo would have been the same result. the wedges got no spin on the greens, not even any check. We could not hold a green. As expected these short irons got pole axed by the wind, in all directions Putter Dance with dragon Golds modified. performed as expected. Should have taken the anchor from my tinnie So in summary 1. the irons and wedges feel as good as any i have hit. 2. The Driving irons are a winner 3. The Buchi Driver is a big surprise, particularly its performance in wind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmclarenf1 Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Thanks for the preliminary thoughts Craig. Will be very interested to hear more about the irons. And that DWD putter sucks! Sell it…. to me ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocchin Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Awesome feedback C, looking forward to hearing more especially since they got good marks even in bad conditions. To confirm a few things. The stock shaft in the Shepherd Air is made by Basileus and is 50t. Yours is an R flex as it plays stiff. The S is the designation on all JDM shafts which is an industry certification. The irons and wedges are forged in Himeji. As I had mentioned to you and on this forum before, how an iron feels is attributed to several factors. Many players are super concerned with materials ie S20C is softer than S25C but beyond materials, the design of a club, the grind, even the finish will impact the feel as it dictates how you make impact with a ball. The grind play a factor in how you interact with the turf and how cleanly you strike the ball, the design will affect the CG and the meat of the club. All in all it sounds like a good start. Those driving irons are beauties! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-500 Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Hi Craig, can you compare the driving irons to others you may have played, regarding head size and feel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+TourSpecGolfer Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Tario were these ordered with the copper underlay? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokidoki1986 Posted January 6, 2014 Report Share Posted January 6, 2014 Nice review Craig, I did order the Shepherd Driver already after our chat via pm and now after reading this review I might have to order those driving irons very soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proquick72 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Well I hope I am not going to disappoint too many people, but I really cant write a full review, yet.. I just have not hit them enough in good conditions to really judge their performance. At home at the moment it has been really hot with absolutely no rain at all. My home course resembles a goat track. the greens are ok but even the fairways are dead pan, with massive areas of bare dirt and dead grass. The times I have played at home, it too has been quite windy, which makes it difficult to gauge just how long say the Driver is. The greens are pretty non responsive which makes it hard to answer such questions as how much spin do you get with the wedges. Just been to barnbougle dunes, which is a great course but the conditions were atrocious. The wind was abominable. so sorry to disappoint but I am hesitant to pass judgement on these clubs at the moment. Given the amount of interest I have had via PM, I thought it best to give my initial thoughts on the Buchi bag I have and then follow it up down the track with a final review. That may be a while, as am off to japan on Friday for just over 2 weeks and for health reasons wont be playing until late January. Nothing serious but one cant carry their own toilet around with them I will also post how the setup performed at Barnbougle, which will give you an idea how they go in adversity, and I mean adversity. My hybrid, driving irons, irons and wedges are all shafted with NSpro 950Gh in S flex Driver. Air Shepherd 10.5 I think with stock shaft. It is a Basileus I think and was ordered as R flex. I am not sure about that as it says S on the shaft. At the fitting, I thought this driver was atrocious. It gave me good numbers, but the feel and the sound were so off putting that i decided t give it a miss. Even when they told me that it was the same face material as the Crazy Drivers, I was not persuaded. As we were walking out the door, I thought to myself, why not. So we had to walk back in to add it to the order. This thing looks good but surprisingly it feels and sounds as good as anything. Absolute contrast to the fitting. This is what surprised me the most It is mid to high launching and really does run out, and it is a fairway finder. How long is it, well I cant answer it, but it is definately not short. The stock shaft of which I know nothing about is definately a good match. I had privately made the comment to a few people, that i didnt know how long it was, but it was definately a great head in windy conditions. Barnbougle confirmed this. It was the only club in my bag that handled the wind well. I never hit a drive, and then got there and thought, I thought it would have gone further. I have never driven a par 4 in my life. At Barnbougle Lost farm, I drove one and was pin high on another but about 10 metres to the right. This was on one of our calm rounds so there was no wind assistance. 3 wood I did not order a Buchi 3 wood but took A crazy 3 wood with the FW 80 shaft in it. This club was the one that surprised me the most, and not in a good way. Normally I get mid piercing trajectory. Here it got absolutely smashed by the wind, particularly ballooning and laterally. Got to the stage where I was scared to hit it. At the 18th on Barnbougle Dunes my 3 wood I smashed dead at the pin finished 100 metres laterally and all right at the end. IDrive said he has never seen a straight shot move so much Hybrid 20^. I dont know about you but to me a hybrid is a hybrid is a hybrid. It goes good, feels good, but so do most of them. I used it sparingly at barnbougle as the wind smashed it. Got scared to hit it as well. On the back 9 at Barnbougle Dunes I was even par until the treachourous par 3 downhill. Hit it perfect to the right of the pin. Finished so far left i could not find it Driving Irons 04 and 05 These things are the real deal. They look great and i will be surprised that once some TSGers use them, and Buchi sorts out their ordering, they will be a massive hit. Easy to get in the air and very consistant. At this stage, they are the only parts of the set that I would recommend without hesitation. Being able to choose offset and pretty much everything makes these the perfect match for anyone looking for this type of club. Same shaft as the hybrid, but nowhere near as affected by the wind as the hybrid Irons and wedges In hand these look good, real good. After my first hit with them, I said they are as good as anything I have ever hit. Even the Miurisms. If you know my opinion on the isms, you know this is a big call. they are small and the finish is superb. I dont know much about the grinder as such, but I would guess he is not just anyone. They are also super soft, as soft as anything I have hit. Very interested in exactly where they are forged, as I think it may be a surprise. Tario tells me that super good feeling comes from the grind and bounce etc. Maybe thats it ??? At Barnbougle, well they performed how I thought they would. They got hammered, though I think any iron and shaft combo would have been the same result. the wedges got no spin on the greens, not even any check. We could not hold a green. As expected these short irons got pole axed by the wind, in all directions Putter Dance with dragon Golds modified. performed as expected. Should have taken the anchor from my tinnie So in summary 1. the irons and wedges feel as good as any i have hit. 2. The Driving irons are a winner 3. The Buchi Driver is a big surprise, particularly its performance in wind Sorry to bother you, but could you possibly compare the driving irons to the callaway prototypes? I'm close to pulling the trigger on a buchi driving iron as an upgrade from my callaway. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted January 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Have taken some photos of the driving iron compared to the Epon 901, simply because until now it was my driving iron, and secondly it was handy. Compared to other Driving irons I have hit, it is much much smaller with very sharp lines. I have hit plenty of these and have never found one to beat the Epon. The Buchi I think is a bit ,ess forgiving, lower launching but feels evry bit as good and imo gives me better overall performance. It is just so reliable even given its smaller size I cant compare them to the Callaway prototypes as I have never hit them. Sorry. I also snapped some photos of the 4 iron against a Miura Baby Blade. My mate has my isms at the moment so couldnt take pictures against them. Busy at the moment but will try and post the photos tomorrow at work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokidoki1986 Posted January 7, 2014 Report Share Posted January 7, 2014 Epon 901 is also an only driving iron I've ever game with after 901 I normally use UT instead of long iron until I read post which make me think about driving iron again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted January 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Posted January 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wmclarenf1 Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 I like your choice of footwear ..... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian-500 Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) Jeez arse that IS small. It makes the Epon look HUUUUGE. Thanks for posting pics with the Miura blade because I know how small the Miuras are, so I can imagine the size of the buchi irons. Edited January 8, 2014 by Ian-500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokidoki1986 Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Those compare pics give a clearer pictures of the driving iron thank C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gocchin Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 Tario were these ordered with the copper underlay? No they were not. Just standard nickel satin finish. Great comparo pics Craig!! Your Shepherd 3W should be on the way this week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tokidoki1986 Posted January 8, 2014 Report Share Posted January 8, 2014 The fact that Craig order a Shepherd FW is confirm how good his Shepherd driver performed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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