vandyland

What flex did you put in it with the MPF shaft? My understanding is they play a bit on the stiffer side relative to flex. I imagine I would be somewhere between the R and the S given that information. My swing speed is high enough for an S I think but I generally prefer a smoother feeling shaft.

Very easy to clean and is sturdy...no issues on the durability front. Also I can fit all of my clubs in there which is a bonus. On the flipside, it is not the lightest bag in the world. I can and do carry it but it is certainly heavier than a linksmaster or a hoofer but that was my tradeoff for a bag that could hold all of my clubs (mainly my HUGE LAB putter).

More golf bikes. Some courses are very hard to traverse on foot (US residential builds mostly) due to long distances between holes that wind through houses BUT a bike would work well. Less maintenance (surely?) and no fuel would be less costly than a fleet of golf carts. ALSO, if everyone in a 4 person group has their own bike then they can go to their ball independently which leads me to my next point..... .....true ready golf. Like, as soon as you hit your tee shot, start walking down the edge of the fairway. You can still watch the ball AND the 4th player to tee off almost has a fore caddy at that point. Also, and I see this all the time, if someone is in a bunker and skulls it across the green. EVERYONE ELSE GO AHEAD AND START PUTTING. There is no reason to wait on that person to rake, go to the other side of the green, and then try again (maybe saves them some embarrassment but come on everyone). .....online booking systems at all golf courses and charging a tee time to someone who doesn't show up (give them a 12 hr window ahead of time to cancel). Many golf courses already have this but there are also many that do not. Particularly the municipal courses in my town. Makes me crazy as a single.

Well, another really good round and the accomplishment of a 2024 goal....I shot -1, 71 and it's my first round under par in over a year. Very exciting. Did most everything well, particularly driving and putting. Only one 3 putt and no balls out of play, requiring a chip out or less than 260 yds with the driver. All good things. I have not watched video of my swing in over a month and I wonder if that is helping me just go out and play. I have a good feel right now and I am just trying to run with it as long as I can.

Braver man than me. Looks to be pushing 6,900 yds at sea level. SHEEEEEEEEESH! 220 yd par 3 and a 460 yd par 4. Ouch. EDIT: AND IT IS A PAR 70. That plays more like 7,000 yds or more. Cowardly me would be back at 6,200 yds and feeling perfectly fine.

How did you like playing it? I have always imagined those courses to be quite difficult.

So, on the alignment front, I find the ALIGN technology is VERY easy to line up for putting and full shots than the Tour Response and the Triple track (for me). I believe that is the primary idea. It is not as easy to see the "true-ness" of the roll via the align technology once the ball is rolling as it is with the Tour Response. I don't believe Maxfli cares as much about that and frankly I don't either. But if you are practicing and want to see how straight the ball rolls, there are better balls for that. Many people may like the subtleness of the alignment on the Maxfli because it is not nearly as distracting as the Tour Response or the Srixon Divide balls. Just my two cents. Also, I shot a career low round (again!) at a different course. A -1 (71) in 10-15 mph winds so the ball held up great (both in the wind AND from a durability standpoint). A few highlights from the round if you will indulge me... Never taken this line before on this hole but was feeling confident and just barely pulled it off. Also, squeezed driver into this spot whereas I normally layup short due to OB on both sides... Overall, an amazing round and consistent distances and shapes out of the Maxfli Tour X. For a ball that spins as much as it does I am starting to see what people mean when they say "spin is control". It does what I want, I was getting 5 irons to stop 3 yds past their pitch mark on dormant bermuda greens. It was wild.

A few ProV1xs yes but not typically after 4 holes…more like on their second 18. Also here is a gif comparing the roll (and graphics) compared to tour response.

Well, I may have spoke too soon on the durability. Here is my ball (a new one) after 4 holes: I couldn’t feel any of the rash with my hand but it clearly is marked up. In fairness, I think it caught a piece of cartpath on #3 but still. This is quite marked up. Something to monitor…

Yes, it is the one I care about the most. I found that too low means I miss the sweet spot because I am a bit of a digger with my irons and I don't really need the "thin" shot help or launch that low VCOG club can provide. I believe the direct center of a golf ball is about 0.84 so I think I still want to stay south of that even though I am coming in steep and taking a divot. I can accept a higher VCOG with my wedges because I am steeper still with those. I found out what VCOG I liked through experimentation. I tried the TE+ V4 (.706), the TS3 (.691) and finally the TS1-IM (.780). I found the best smash factor and consistent numbers with the TS1-IM and I put that down to VCOG location above all else, right or wrong. So the idea that lower VCOG is more forgiving may be true on the whole but it didn't fit my impact conditions. I think I would get along with the TS4 as well but I don't need to go down that road.

I have a DF 2.1. It has been a rollercoaster ride but way more highs than lows. I will say that the first few rounds with it are....strange. I was coming from a standard ping anser so it was a big change to aim with and get used to the weight. I am fully bought into the technology though now (I have had my LAB for almost 2 years now).

The shaft has warped a little in the butt end. I currently have a Proforce V2 in there but I typically like a little more torque in my shaft. I have always found my "feel" sweet spot with a driver shaft is 4-6* of torque. I am not a big fan of the low/low. I got this fairway wood from a friend because otherwise I would not have put a proforce in it (which is a little boardy for my liking). I am not saying a shaft is going to save me here. I just would like to have a setup 5 wood in my garage and I already know I dislike the shaft.

I am at the point now where a company has to prove they are doing something innovative on the design front to get my attention. I have bought into the design ethos of MPF, at least the shorter hosel and importance of actually PUBLISHING the center of gravity in the irons. I found my sweet spot in terms of VCOG (thanks for asking it is ~.775!) so now I am kind of married to that range of .750-.775. Where I think Maltby is lagging a little bit (and the industry overall) is in wedges. Maybe there just isn't that much technology to pack into these? The Maltby wedges I have tested are fine but seem to lack some leading edge relief. I am really interested in the Mizuno S23 as it has a shorter hosel and some mass moved out toward the toe trying to center the COG (which is a Maltby tenet). I got the max milled because it looked like they were moving some mass out on the toe but I don't love the sole on it.

Heaven help me I am considering trying to get my 5W back in my bag (I have sworn off fairways MULTIPLE times at this point). The reason being that it would be nice to have a higher launching option off the tee and the fairway. I hit my 3Hybrid pretty well so it will be hard for the 5W to knock that out but I am willing to have the (at this point) annual try out. I have a Taylormade Sim2 Max that, when hit well, does everything I want it to. I think I will just reshaft it (with a slightly higher launching shaft) and see if I can figure it out this time. One eureka moment for me in the past year has been ball position, which has always crept too far forward with the driver and fairway woods. Maybe that is the key? Or maybe this is another fruitless exercise.

Had a brilliant round yesterday, tied my career low at public course here in town with a 73. The highlight of the round was my putting which I think I have to attribute a good portion of to the alignment aid. What I find interesting about how large the arrows are is that it gives you a better sense of where you are aimed. A small little line can be easily misinterpreted by the eye as being on line. Also, when lining up tee shots, I noticed that when I am RIGHT behind the ball it looks different than if I take 3 steps backward. Not sure if that is parallax effect or just depth perception but I have learned to trust the view on putts and full shots from 3-4 feet back rather than right behind the ball. Also, I hit 12/18 greens yesterday and the majority of my misses were long so I don't have any fears about this ball being short. It held up well on firm greens and was a joy to play. One person in my group actually saw my ball in the fairway and was like "Are you playing a Maxfli? I thought all you low cap guys played ProV1x or Chromesoft?" I then extolled the virtues of the Maxfli and he is going to buy a box tomorrow. Haha. Might have another convert. o

Had a great round yesterday (shot 73 which ties my low round at this course) and most everything was clicking for me. Driver I would give an A- (ball position is doing the trick and ball is coming out quite straight but a *little* spinny), Irons I would give an A-, Wedges are a B+, Chipping/Pitching is an A- (loving the feel I have right now) and Putting was amazing yesterday, an A for sure. A fairly tight track with a lot of elevation change, I am very happy with these stats: Fairways hit: 10/14 (71%) missed 2 left and 2 right OB balls: 0 GIR: 12 (67%) missed 4 long, 2 short and 1 left Putts: 31, with 1 3 putt Scrambling: 3/6 (50%) Birdies: 3

I have found these to be more durable than ProV1x and Snells but those are the only balls I had played extensively before this. Also more durable than the Titleist "white box" testing that turned out to be the new AVX ball.

I have played Harbour Town and I have to say that Holes 15-18 stand out way more than the rest of the course. I find that the second shot into hole 15 (par 5) is amazing that some of these guys can reach it in 2. Also hole 17 is one of the best par 3s on the PGA tour but may be mega crowded. The 18th hole to me is amazing to play but may not be fun to watch. I would recommend following a group you like starting on the back 9 and ideally one without a HUGE star in it so you can see what is happening without being 4 rows deep. Overall, I think Harbour Town has a real identity and is kind of an outlier on the PGA tour. A real ballstrikers course that forces you to hit it both ways, has some very small greens and gives you the opportunity for some daring escapes out of the trees (or disastrous results). Have a great time!

Testing to see if this gif works…

Probably about to put my Vanquish (4R -- so the lightweight regular flex) up for sale in the BST here if anyone is interested. It is nice but a tad long (46") for my liking and I went back to my shorter shaft (45") with a similar profile.

Looked at the 2024 Driver testing and was pretty shocked at how the Mizuno was kind of a non-competitive entrant. Could be because it doesn't truly EXCEL in any one category except maybe off center strikes. Seemed like Ping sucked up all the oxygen in that test so maybe I should get a Ping head to test alongside the Mizuno for the good of the group. I will try to convince my friend who is always buying clubs to get a Ping G430 Max or LST.

Always good to see someone have the same experience as me. For a player that hits like 70%+ of their fairways and always hits the center of their driver, they may want to look elsewhere for more SPEED. But for us mortals, this driver still keeps up but is astounding at how it can still pump the ball out there and then I look down at the ball mark on the face and it is high toe. I have had ones where I swear I almost missed the face and they still went about 90% of normal distance and didn't have some crazy gear effect on them.

Stono Ferry is a great option. Personally I would lead with that as well. They are usually packed though so I don't think they would be amenable to a fivesome (as most courses are not in my experience). Charleston Muni underwent a renovation a few years ago and it is now "better" in conditions but I will say it has some pretty wild greens. Like, crazy undulations for a municipal course. If you are into that.

I was very impressed with the Driver. So much so that I have not even thought about another driver in 6 months...which is saying a lot for me. They are good all-around with their super power being retaining speed and keeping spin down on off-center strikes.