Lee Stanek

OnCore ELIXR  – Official MGS Forum Review by Lee Stanek
Introduction (4/16/23):
Hi everyone, super excited to be selected to do this test for the OnCore ELIXR golf ball.  This will be my first test for the forum, and I have to say I am surprised by how much I have learned by increasing my activity and getting more involved with My Golf Spy and I am really enjoying the interactions with everyone!!  Thank you to all for making it a welcoming place to share. 
Speaking of sharing, here’s a little bit about myself.  I live in Minnesota with my wife (married 21+ yrs) and two boys Aidan (14) and Finley (10).  I have been playing golf since I was about 10 years old when I took my first lessons at a local par 3 near my house growing up.  I would use my dad’s old wooden shaft clubs to play with my friends or by myself which I still like to do.  My grandfather also used to take me out to play a lot and he really got me into the game as well.  I played a lot of casual golf in high school, less in college and grad school.  After I started working, I found myself playing a lot more with co-workers and my wife started to get into it as well which was awesome.  Since the wooden shaft beauties, I have only had 2 other sets of clubs, one of which my grandfather gave me as he got older and couldn’t play anymore.  These are the Callaway S2H2 irons and Big Bertha fairway woods that I am currently still using. I have a TaylorMade SIM2 that I got last year which I love!  I have pieced together a few wedges as well to fill out my bag.  I have been typically playing a Pro V1 but I recently got a box of gently used golf balls from my uncle who lives on a course in Oklahoma so I have really been using anything that isn’t hacked up from that box. 

As far as my game, my biggest strength is my short game.  From within 30 yards around the green I have seen lots of improvement recently and feel much more confident in hitting various clubs the right distance to get up and down.  I also feel like I am pretty good putter which has also improved with playing a little more.  Both honestly save me from being a much higher handicap (around a 20 right now but I need more rounds to see where I am really at).  My short to mid iron game is more up than down and I am working on dispersion and distance control.  Off the tee needs some work, that’s another topic for another time.
I love being on the course and being out early (but really any time will work).  I used to play before work (before kids) at a local course which was perfect but that has since changed as life does that!  Now that my oldest son is now getting more into it and with him making the HS golf team, we as a family get out a lot more often!  I don’t get out enough to have a home course, but we have 4 courses within 5 miles of our house!  Last year I played golf about every other week, and I am hoping to do it weekly this year! 
For this test of the OnCore ELIXR I am really interested in three things:
1.    For my short game, can I get the control with the ball around the green for spin and distance to improve some of those shot making tools to get up and down.
2.    For low to mid-irons, does this ball help with dispersion control.
3.    Off the tee, how forgiving is it (cause let’s face it we all need a little forgiveness off the tee!
Thank you again for the opportunity to test these balls and for all of you for following along in the testing! 
UNBOXING - First Impressions (4/26/2023):
Hey everyone, super excited to get the box from On-core today!  Quick delivery and tightly packaged!  

I really liked the simple packaging for the boxes and the cut-out in the sleeves were really nice to get a chance to feel the ball without opening the sleeve.  

As far as the ball itself - it has a bit of a shine to it compared to others.  I like the alignment mark on it as well, I use that for putting so that is a key feature for me to make sure its big enough to see when standing over a putt.  Compared to ProV1 and others, its dimples are less defined and the overall surface is more smooth (less matte finish).  I think probably helps with the lower spin on these balls. 


I took these to a local course practice green over the weekend and hit some chips and putts.  I was working on some flop shots with a lot of loft in my club (52deg SM3) from close to the green. Typically, I get a lot of spin with ProV1 and they check up without a lot of roll out.  I could really see the reduced spin and more roll out with the Elixr.  I then tried some longer chips, around 15-20 yds and these gave me a lot more forgiveness with distance control.  This pic above was about 20 yds away on an uphill line and I was able land about 10 ft short of the pin and rolled to within 3-4 ft.  More work to come this week. I am playing an executive course on Tuesday and 18 on Saturday.  I will have more to share after these rounds!  Happy Golfing!!
Rounds Played using Elixr:
May 2 - Executive Course (Par 29)
May 6 - 18 Holes (Par 72)
May 27 - 9 Hole (Par 32)
 
My Final Review: ONCORE ELIXR
Aesthetics (8 out of 10)
Please see my intro on appearance, dimples and packaging. 
As far as some of the on-course Aesthetics, I like the simple logo and alignment aid.  I don’t generally mark my balls with a sharpie or marker, so I like to have one that allows me to use this.  In terms of general durability, it performed quite well.  I hit several off cart paths and trees during my round (not on purpose of course!) and found that they held up pretty well. I played several balls during my three 9-hole and one 18 (well 16, we were cut short due to heavy rain).  For the ones that I didn’t lose in the trees or water, they all came away without too many dings.  My game on the other hand has some work to do. 
As far as ball striking went, I have to say it felt a little flat in terms of contact and how the ball came off the club for me.  With ProV1 when I hit it really solid, I can feel it when it comes off the clubface.  However, with the Elixr, I was never able to get to the solid, clean feeling.  It also felt a little flat without a lot of pop. 
The Numbers (12 out of 20)
I didn’t have any data for this comparison.  I based this scoring on general feel during playing and practicing with it.   For short game practice, I found this ball to not have as much spin on short chip and flop shots around the green.  For my typical shots this resulted in a lot more run out on shots that I would normally expect to check up or bite more.  This was consistent between the 3 or 4 times I did this during both cool, damp and hot, dry conditions. 
On The Course (13 out of 20)
Off the Tee (with Driver or Irons I found that I was struggling with consistency in distance and height of shots.  I generally have a low launch and I found these balls to be even lower than I typically hit. 
I found this ball was about 5-10 yards shorter than my iron shots.  Additionally, I struggled with some of my approach shots being on-line.  I did not feel it was as forgiving as I am used to and unless it was a perfectly aligned contact the ball was wider left or right.  As I mentioned about, in practice these balls had less spin and would roll out quite a bit from what I am used to playing.  I tended to be okay on chip shots around the green and changed up my approach based on how I saw the ball perform but I would say it did not have a large impact one way or the other.  I had additional notes above on chipping that showed it did pretty well for run out chip shots!
For putting I found that this area was consistent with other balls I have used.  I did try some practice work on this with some larger braking puts and found this ball compared to ProV1 did not break as much.  But then again when you are at my skill level on most greens, I am trying to lag to within 2-3 feet and then tap it in for a 2-putt (we won’t mention the rest of the score).
The Good, the bad, the in-between (12 out of 20)
I can't really find anything glaringly obvious to write here about the experience that was either extremely good, or extremely bad.  I found myself really excited about getting a chance to try these new balls out and when it came down to my experience using them I just wasn't blown away with performance.  As a first time tester maybe I didn't know what to expect or how to think differently about using them or maybe if they had fit my game a little better it would have been more exciting.  I also notices that the outside of the ball had less of a glossy or slippery surface compared to other balls.  Almost like it was more tacky.  I am not sure where that is coming from but I think it might be something to think about in terms of feel and look.  
 
Play it or Trade it? (10 out of 20)
Considering what I learned while I played this ball and what I have been able to do as part of some comparison in recent rounds with my typical ball, I would probably not choose to play this ball. 
Conclusion
Overall, I was not that impressed with the feel, the consistency of iron shots, or the forgiveness.  These are three areas that I now realize are important to me in choosing a ball.  Overall using this ball during the rounds my general scoring was higher than typical.   I wasn’t very pleased with how this ball performed compared to the ball(s) I typically use. 
CHEERS to all and hope you have good rounds ahead!

Please not red...

Date 08/27/2023 Course Name River Oaks GC Gross Score 108 Course Handicap 27 Gross Strokes over/under par 37 Net Score to Par 10 Net Score 81 Net Birdies or better 5 Longest Drive 270 First Round in about 7 weeks and I felt rusty.  Front 9 was much better, I think I was getting tired on the back.  Could not hit a drive straight for much of the round so a lot of scrambling.  Continuing to work, let's see how next week goes.  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Good morning Spies,
it’s a lovely morning in Central NY. Sunny with a nice breeze. No golf today. SWMBO and I will go for a bike ride. I got some fun texts from my youngest sister last night. She was invited to Gene Simmons of Kiss fame’s birthday party. My sister is the director of a non-profit mental health agency in Southern California. The party was a fundraising event. She also met the members of Kiss. The event was at a bowling alley and she got bowling tips from Gene. 😜
Wishing all a great day.

Good morning all! Had a lot of fun playing at Fox Lake GC yesterday, only had one bad (and I’m talking TRULY bad lol) hole where not knowing the course caused me to make the wrong club choice off the tee. Paired with a couple duffs and drops one thing led to another and it turned into a 10. Sandwiched it with a birdie on the hole before and a par after haha, in total shot a 50. Drove the ball pretty well overall and some really challenging holes that forced you to have to play a specific shot shape off the tee. 
Kip Moore was incredible, as always, at the music festival last night. We are going to just walk around Cedarburg today as it’s just a cool town and we are right in the middle of downtown at our AirBnB, then more music this evening. Should be a fun day!

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Hey Spies. Happy Saturday. Haven’t played in about 6 weeks and I am going early tomorrow morning for 18 with my son and his friend and his friends dad. Can’t wait!!.  It’s been 100F here all week and our AC went out (got fixed yesterday) but it’s supposed to be sunny and upper 50’s tomorrow morning.  Pretty much perfect!!
Then I am playing each of the next 3 weekends so that is gonna be great.  I do t get out as much as I would like so I cherish the times I do. 
 
I hope you all have a great weekend.  I’ll share my scores after the round!!  

Good Morning All, 
(Insert witty observation)
Have a great Tuesday!

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?

Good morning MGSpies on a cool but sunny WNY Saturday.  Played 18 yesterday that was like Derek of old with plenty of singles and doubles to keep the handicap from sinking down anytime soon, and then the 17th and 18th holes the game became two pars 🙂 bringing the card in double digits at 98.  Today is PGA HOPE Down Range for program graduates at Niagara Frontier GC, looking forward to more golf with best friends some of whom I might not know yet.  Hope golf is a part of your day! ⛳

Good morning spies… May you all make this Saturday special in some kind of way. 
  Well…. Yesterday was not nearly as strange as Thursday was. Still found my golf ball had a tendency to leave the course proper, but not as much. It wasn’t as if I was on an expedition, more like a short day-trip. Still, as you can see from below, some of the residents along the course don’t seem quite as friendly and forgiving as I remember. 
  Anyhow, today we are going to concentrate on course management. Going to try to not only stay on the course that I am playing but also going for the “brass ring” of staying on the hole I am suppose to be on.. Hopefully I limit my galavanting before the residents run out of patience. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?

Hey spies. Heading to Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and would like to mark Nevada off my states played list!!   Any course recommendations that won’t break the bank?