03trdblack
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Posts posted by 03trdblack
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13 hours ago, GregGarner said:
You know, sometimes I forget how much I like the ol' Left Dash. Such a good ball... BUT. I think the X2 is a very worthy opponent. They are remarkably similar. The LD flies a touch higher on solid/comparable strikes and I'm seeing just a couple more yards off the tee (consistently) with LD. Irons are identical, though I think the X2 might be a couple decibels louder. But for all intents and purposes, it could be the same ball. If you made me choose today, LD might edge out X2 by a whisker based solely on wedge play. I'm just having some trouble dialing in the X2 on partials and the LD is so dang consistent. Anyways. That's not what you came here for. As with before, X2 in yellow and I've got the LD in the blue/teal color.
Starting with a 6i going up the hill to a front pin:
Next is a little flip sand wedge from about 75 yards down the hill. The X2 ran out about 10-12 feet where the LD one-hopped and grabbed. I was a little surprised by that.
5i off the tee on a short-but-tricky par 4. Flared the LD a bit, but both were still solid and went exactly the same distance according to my ShotScope.
And last but not least, the big dog. Really tough 5-shotter. Except it's a par 4. Both of these were absolutely crushed and ended up through the fairway. They were mayyyyybe 7yards apart left-to-right? LD was about 3 yards longer off the tee on this one.
Playing 18 tomorrow, we'll see if I can match/beat Rob (doubtful...)
I'll be playing again today. Anything higher than 68 will now be a disappointment
- GregGarner and ZackS
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2 minutes ago, Bohnson said:
@03trdblack congrats on the career low!! And with a new ball in play! Sounds like you might have a new gamer?
Thank you, really appreciate that! This ball is really checking a lot of boxes for sure. My only concern at this point is the firmness of the ball when it gets cold in the Winter but I won't have to worry about that much here in NC
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The RAC CB Forged were always my favorite irons by Taylormade
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Pretty amazing day for me today. In the third round of testing of the X2, I shot a career low round of 68 with 5 birdies!
What's more amazing is I also did it playing a 20 year old set of Cleveland irons that I found in a Play it again sports store for $80
. I was going to sell them but wanted to try them out for fun today before doing so.
I'm blown away that my second ever round in the 60's came a few years ago with the Vero X1 and now today I best that with my first ever 68. Needless to say this ball is checking a LOT of the right boxes for me!
The flight is still lower than I'm used to and it doesn't have quite as much check on short chips and pitches but it's definitely got enough to play well with. Off of the driver though... It's LOOONGGG. I saw some areas of the course today off the tee that I haven't seen before. With the lower trajectory I'm getting more roll than I've had in the past.
My plan was to cut it open today after I finished the round but that's not going to happen with this particular ball
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That being said, I was also planning on selling the irons but now, I'm not sure that I can!
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On 4/29/2023 at 3:33 PM, GregGarner said:
So, uh... my first round went well, to say the least.
5 birdies, 2 bogeys off the Blues. Ball is really, really consistent. LOVE the flatter flight off driver, this is exactly what I was hoping to see. Also, the durability is incredible. Same ball for the whole round and it looks like it's fresh out of the sleeve. Definitely less spin than Chromesoft XLS. Approaches were hop-and-stop and not ripping back, so this is looking really good for me. My only complaint from today is it had a very harsh feel on scoring irons. It was fine off the tee and with longer clubs, but 8i and 9i felt like I had thinned it even though it was definitely a center strike with the expected flight and distance.
Yeah, yeah, boo hoo, the ball was a little firm. Cry me a river shooting 3-under
I got to play yesterday (in the rain) and today (in blustery wind) and played the same ball both rounds. The ball is just starting to show some wear finally. Could be one of the most durable balls I've ever tried!
I noticed the trajectory is a little lower on the driver and feel is firm but not harsh. I did notice it didn't seem to have as much short game spin as maybe I'm used to but I'm hoping to have a "regular" round at some point soon to really see if that's true or not.
- sirchunksalot, Thin2win, GregGarner and 1 other
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Jon Rahm's 3 wood finally showed up after a month's wait.
- IndyBonzo, sirchunksalot, ejgaudette and 6 others
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They're here!!
Here's a quick unboxing video I threw up: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrjNKhCMOzh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
- GregGarner, invee123, Bohnson and 4 others
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My order is on the truck for delivery today!
- Josh Ross and sirchunksalot
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On 4/24/2023 at 6:28 AM, PhilM75072 said:
Just curious. Was it your first time playing that course? If not, how long since you last played it? Even with the V3, I have found if I haven't played my home course in a week or more, it takes a very long time to find the satellites and synch the course.
It was and I hope this weekend's attempt will go faster now that it's seen the course before.
- cksurfdude, tony@CIC and CudaKota66
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11 hours ago, JerryB said:
I continue to have long delays waiting on the watch to connect to the satellite. I've actually missed entire holes because of it.
I've noticed this also. I started the round before teeing off today, waited to be the last person to tee off, then walked to my first shot and it didn't connect until I was about to hit my approach shot. Much longer than 5 minutes and we didn't have a cloud in the sky.
- tony@CIC, CudaKota66 and cksurfdude
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Any ball that has paint applied to the surface will eventually end up looking like this. I mirror what others have said about the Maxfli tour yellow ball and it's the only complaint I've had with it so far. Some companies like Srixon and Titleist actually make the urethane yellow so that they don't have paint coming off.
As for the TM Tour Response, other than paint coming off, the ball itself is extremely well made (according to the MGS ball lab). If you can get over the paint missing then I'd say the ball is worth continued play.
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Of course I order these to test right before I got selected to test the Oncore Vero X2 balls. Looks like I have a lot of comparisons to do!
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On 4/12/2023 at 9:21 AM, Golf2Much said:
I'll be interested in seeing what you all think about the OnCore's Vero X2 golf balls. I put the Vero X1 and Elixrs in my ball rotation and have gotten decent results.
Looking forward to your reviews!
I didn't realize the Vero X2 was $50/dozen
Now I have high expectations before I even get to hit one!
- GregGarner, fixyurdivot and IndyBonzo
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Funny enough, in 2019, I cracked an Oncore Elixr on the third round that I played with the same ball. I recently got picked as a tester for the Vero V2 so hopefully they've fixed that issue
- unccross and GregGarner
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Follow me on my Instagram as I plan to post a lot of pictures and videos there as well.
I want to thank MGS yet again for the chance to review another product! It's been a little while since I've tested but am super happy to be back in the tester pool. I have been lucky enough to be selected to test multiple items in the past, including the 2019 Maxfli Tour balls, Ben Hogan GS53 Driver, Tour Edge EXS Driver, Snell MTB Black golf balls and the SuperSpeed Golf program.
I’ve been a decent golfer since I started playing at age 14 (now 40) and currently carry a handicap of 2.3. I live in NC and do most of my playing in the hot and humid Southeast region. I’m a HUGE equipment junkie which led me to building golf clubs as soon as I started playing and I’ve been a clubmaker for over 25 years. My favorite club has always been the driver and it’s one of the strengths of my game.
Since I was a part of the Snell golf ball test and the 2019 Maxfli Tour ball test a few years ago, I feel I've got a good strategy in mind for a full test. I've used Oncore balls in the past, starting with the Elixr and also the Vero X1. I had some trouble with the Elixr cracking on me in a round so it left me a little unsure about Oncore as a quality brand.
The Oncore Vero X1 was a pretty good ball and I found good success with it. I'm not usually a person that sticks with the same ball forever since there are so many things out there to test but the balls I stuck to the longest were the Maxfli Tour series but recently I've been experimenting with the Srixon XV and the Bridgestone Tour B X which was "fitted" to me by Ping's Ballnamic website.
I always start my testing on and around the greens to see how the ball feels on putts and chip shots. I see if pitches and chips check up compared to what I'm used to and that the provide the right level of feel that I prefer. In order for this to become my new ball it's going to have to provide good wind performance, not feel too hard, provide good spin on irons and around the greens and not give up any distance off of the tee. Not asking too much, right??
I've heard initially that the Oncore Vero X2 is supposed to play similar to the Titleist ProV1x Left Dash which is a very hard compression, high launch/low spin golf ball and I'm excited to see if that is the case or not. I've tried the ProV1x Left Dash before and found it a little too firm for my liking and also very expensive. The Vero X2 seems to cost almost the same which to me makes it a hard sell already in my mind, before I even hit a shot. If the ball doesn't outperform the Titleist by leaps and bounds, why would you buy it...especially given the legendary quality of the Titleist ProV1 series of balls?
I'm going to give the ball a very fair shake for sure BUT I will say I have some preconceived notions that it's going to have to really be something special in order to command the price of $50/dozen, especially in comparison to what else is out there at that price. LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!
Unboxing
I had a realization tonight... I've had only 3 rounds in the 60's (all 69's) and my most recent was last weekend (4/23) with a new Snell MTB Prime X that I picked up to test right before I was selected to try the Vero X2. As ironic as that was, I discovered tonight that the second round that I shot 69 was with the original Vero X1 ball that I bought when they first came out! Maybe the same performance will be found in the new X2
The Review
Oncore Vero X2 Golf ball – Official MGS Forum Review by 03TRDBlack (@slade_golf)
50 Words or Less
The Oncore Vero X2 is a perfect ball if you want to lower trajectory and overall spin but wedge spin can border on too low. It’s firm feeling and one of the most durable balls I’ve ever used. The lower spin will also keep the ball flying very straight.
First Impressions — (8/10)
Was very impressed that Oncore decided to send us all 3 dozen balls instead of 2 dozen. That was a great first impression!
When I first opened the box, I was immediately blinded by SO. MUCH. GOLD. Like Donald Trump amounts of gold and it was very bright and shiny.
The box is as high quality as any other premium ball and I’m sure they went with the gold to grab attention on a shelf (although I’m guessing they mainly sell online so….??). Would I have gone with a different color scheme, probably, but I really don’t care much about what the packaging of golf balls looks like. Once I open the box and get the balls out, I pretty much throw it all away.
The back of the box speaks a lot of perimeter weighting and claims higher launch with lower spin. I did find this ball to fly very straight and noticed the lower spin out on the course but mainly on wedge shots and chips. I can’t say I noticed much difference overall in trajectory out on the course but I did some launch monitor testing with Greg Garner and it showed a little higher overall launch than some other balls I put head to head with it.
Aesthetics — (6/10)
As I mentioned, I don’t really care what golf ball boxes look like and am not a big fan of gold as it looks garish and tacky. No one should be buying a golf ball based on the packaging anyways.
The Oncore logo looks good although it’s a little too large. The side stamp is fine and I don’t love or hate it. I usually spin golf balls in a Check-Go device and mark a line all the way around the ball so I don’t use the side stamp for putting alignment.
The ball itself though is very high quality. The cover is just as premium as a Titleist ProV1 and I didn’t notice any defects or strange marks in the dimples. The urethane is soft feeling and very sticky which is something I look for in a premium ball. If you try and rub two of the balls together, the covers stick and don’t slide across one another.
While the cover feels soft, the ball does not. Bouncing it off of the floor and off of the face of a wedge produces a noticeable crispy feel with a higher pitch sound than softer balls out there such as a Titleist ProV1 or Srixon Z Star. It’s a little softer feeling to me than Titleist ProV1 Left Dash and feels similar to the Srixon Z Star XV. It’s also got a firm feel off of the putter. I actually prefer a firmer feel as I play a putter with an insert (Odyssey) and the harder feel helps provide feedback to my hands as to where I struck the ball on the clubface.
On the golf course, this ball has to be one of, if not the most, durable ball I’ve ever used. I plan to eventually cut one open to see how the ball is constructed, but I end up losing the ball before I feel I have to take it out of play for wear and tear. I played 3 rounds on a ball before finally losing it and could have kept going with it.
The Numbers — (15/20)
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to compare the Vero X2 directly to some of my favorite gamer balls (Maxfli Tour, Bridgestone Tour B X and Srixon Z Star XV) on the launch monitor because I play yellow balls and they wouldn’t allow yellow balls to be hit into the projector screens. I did however get to test it against the Titleist ProV1x and the new Snell MTB Prime balls.
@GregGarner and I were able to meet up and test at a golf simulator here in town that I believe uses a Flightscope simulator. I would have preferred to have used a Trackman or GCQuad as I think the Flightscope does a better job as a simulator than a launch monitor. We saw some very strange readings from time to time and we both questioned some of the numbers.
@GregGarner Hitting some bombs
. I think he took some video of me swinging and I'll have to see if he can share it.
^^^ As you can see from the wedge numbers I was getting, the machine seemed to be a little off. I was hitting a full swing 56* sand wedge and was only averaging 4700 RPM with the Oncore ball. The spin was slightly higher on average with the ProV1x and about the same with the Snell MTB Prime. I know there’s no way I’m only spinning my 56* wedge 4700 RPM and don’t feel the Flightscope could be considered correct here.
^^^The driver comparisons between the balls was much closer overall but the Oncore did show around a 2* higher launch than the ProV1x and the Snell MTB Prime. There was a shot in the averages of the Oncore ball that registered really high (4265 RPM) and I think this skewed the spin higher than it should have been. We were only able to hit 5 shots with each ball in order to get all the shots we wanted to hit in the time we had.
On The Course — (16/20)
I’m a little torn when it comes to the on the course review. I was able to shoot my lowest ever score with this ball but there are some things I wish it would be better at.
Off of the tee, this ball has been fantastic. It flies very straight and feels like I get great ball speed due to the firmer compression. It flies in my expected trajectory window and I’ve never really seen any strange or unexpected ball flights. It isn’t the best ball I’ve played in the wind but it’s not the worst either.
Approach shots have also been acceptable and I have no complaints really. I don’t find it overly workable which is fine with me. I’d rather have a ball that flies straight (which this does well) and don’t really need to bend shots right or left much. Spin seems to be average and it hits greens and holds just fine. The only thing I’d say is I’d maybe like just a touch more spin but I’m splitting hairs.
Around the green is where I have to knock off most of the Oncore’s points. I didn’t find it to have as much spin as I’d like and found chips and pitches would run out further than I’m used to. That being said, I did have some strange situations where I’d hit a chip and the ball would hit and grab HARD when I expected it to roll out. Obviously I’m not a perfect golfer but I did have this happen more than once and had a hard time trusting that the ball was going to behave the same way. It’s easy enough to land it a bit shot and allow for this ball to roll out a little bit more on pitches but the fact that it didn’t always do that bothered me a bit.
I really enjoyed the firmer feel of this ball when putting and it gave me great feedback. I also found it to have higher ballspeed off the putter face which allowed me to take smaller putting strokes. I like this because I feel the smaller the stroke, the less chance there is to miss the center of the face.
The Hits and the Misses — (16/20)
Pros:
- I shot my lowest round EVER with this ball
- Firm feel
- Flies very straight
- VERY DURABLE
Cons:
- Needs more iron spin and a lot more short game spin
- Not as workable
- Expensive for a DTC ball
- Not the best in the wind
I’m going to keep playing this ball until I run out of them. I want to see how it does once the course starts getting hot and dry this Summer to see if the lack of spin becomes an issue. The durability is incredible and may justify the higher price as you can play them longer. That being said, there are a lot of good balls out there that come in cheaper.
Play it or Trade it? — (15/20)I have to say that as of now, I’m going to play it. When testing products you have to evaluate if it will help you play your best and since I shot my career low score, the Oncore Vero X2 ball is doing that. I want to keep the evaluation going over the Summer and see if it continues to work for me. I’m looking forward to continually updating this thread!
Final Score — (76/100)
I don't think there will ever be a ball out there that I would fully rate 100/100. The Oncore Vero X2 rates highly for me and I'd probably say the highest rating I'd give any ball right now would be around an 85/100. Remove the points for the packaging (because who really cares) and give this ball just a bit more green side spin and I'd probably rate it as high as anything I've played.
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5 hours ago, Quigleyd said:
The Carbon is surprisingly pretty good. It is the lowest spinning driver out there this year..
I got one and it's one of the best sounding drivers out this year, if not THE best sounding. I also am getting more 1.48-1.50 smash factor ratings with this driver than almost any other driver I've tried this year so far.
- Quigleyd, vandyland and JohnSmalls
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1 hour ago, Ding-dong said:
Watched TXG video on Autoflex and freeflex.. thought they said it was 150 dollars
but on further investigation it’s 650 dollars plus 100 for tip and shipping… hardly an alternative really.
They meant by that statement that it was around $150 difference in price compared to AF. They just didn't say it well.
- Bang60 and cksurfdude
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Does anyone have an up close picture of the adapter that Wilson is using for their adjustable hosel? I'm wondering if any other manufacturer use something similar or not or did they come up with something completely proprietary to them?
I use All-Fit adapters and I'm positive they aren't going to make a Wilson adapter collar but am hoping another company's collar might work so I can use all my shafts w/ this head.
- cksurfdude, JohnSmalls, MattF and 1 other
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35 minutes ago, russtopherb said:
This question has come up more than once, actually. From what I recall, no one who's active on the forum has ever won anything from the popups and suggestions were made to contact MGS HQ for a list of past winners. Don't know if that was ever done.
I wonder about stuff like this all the time and if anyone actually gets anything. They don't even announce when someone will win and it seems shady at best.
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I play my 5 and 7 wood with the same length shafts. I needed the 7 wood to go a little further to hit my gaps.
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Has anyone on this forum ever won the driver from the email list sign up that pops up on the main MGS website? I never see a list of winners and wonder if they ever actually give anything away?
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It's very pretty!
- MattWillGolf, 202, GolfSpy AFG and 14 others
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OnCore VERO X2 Golf Ball - 2023 Forum Review
in Forum Testing Reviews
Posted
Does anyone know if the Vero X2 is listed in the Ping Ballnamic ball fitting website? That's the only way I know how to compare it in wind performance to other balls in a raw numbers sort of way.
I actually noticed a bit of trouble today with judging spin on shorter pitch/chip type shots. I'd hit one shot that would grab the green instantly and then hit another similar shot that ran across the green like a 2 piece suryln ball. Obviously I'm not a robot but I can usually tell if I hit a pitch or chip shot the same way or not.