Smoax_U

INTRODUCTION
Hello Spies! I have been playing golf for about 10 years and I recently turned 40 years old this past January. I live in Nashville, Tennessee and have recently moved into higher spin balls as I realized, through Trackman, that I would benefit from higher spin and higher ball flight. My 7 iron spin is about 6200 rpm with a ProV1x so I am hoping to stay at least in the 6000s and higher would certainly be welcome. My game usually relies on good driving of the golf ball, decent iron play and then hoping for no disastrous putting days. The new alignment feature on the Maxfli ball could help me with both my playing and practice to see how well I keep the ball on line. Other general items for me as a player profile for comparisons sake:
Handicap floats between 3 and 5, swing speed is mid 80s with 7 iron and 105-108 mph with driver. Mid ball flight usually a right to left ball movement.

My experience with Maxfli is fairly limited, I have played some Maxfli balls here and there in the past. Once they were bought by Dick’s, I think that might have slightly devalued the brand in my mind (just being honest) however it seems like many people are finding success with these balls. I go into this with an open mind and I have experience with DTC balls in the past (I played Snell and Vice up until a year ago). I always love a good value and am hopeful these perform well.
For testing purposes I want to first check the assertions made by Maxfli. They are stating that the balls are CG balanced (salt water test) and that the alignment aid can help with alignment and hopefully I can see how well a ball is tracking on its intended line. Also, I am curious if the alignment aid will help on full shots as well. Will play rounds where I line the ball up on every tee shot as well as every putt. Beyond those tests, I will do the standard Trackman tests as well as both playing and practicing (particularly short game shots) out on real golf courses. The obvious ball I am going to be testing the Maxfli X against is the Titleist ProV1x. I may also sneak some Chrome Tour X balls in there as well.
I am excited to test this product because (a) I always line up my ball putting and (b) I love a good technology story. I am curious if I can feel or see a difference in the CG balancing that Maxfli is purporting and if the alignment aid is clearly visible on a rolling putt. Also, the Maxfli is significantly less expensive than the ProV1x so if it can keep up then that is a win all around, not just for my game but also my wallet. I am hoping for comparable or even slightly higher iron spin, same for height, carry distance and then the more judgmental tests like “greenside feel” and the feel of the ball off the putter. Overall my expectations are that the ball will be in the following ranges:
Trackman Expectations:
Driver: at least 260 yd carry average, 2400 – 2700 rpm spin, 90 feet peak height
7 Iron: at least 160 yd carry average, 6200 rpm spin, 75 feet peak height
Gap Wedge: at least 125 yd carry average, 9000 rpm spin, no real peak height requirement
“Feel” Expectations:
Ball is not overly clicky on pitch shots or chips.
Feels good and controllable off the putter.
Experience Expectations:
I expect the alignment aid to be additive and not distracting
I expect to be able to see the alignment aid on a rolling putt so I can evaluate if I started it online or not.
First Impressions (9.0 out of 10)
The balls come in professional and fairly busy packaging. I appreciate the fact that it is not a bright or tacky color on the box with a lot of useless design or script. I like the window into the balls that shows the alignment technology, not sure if ALL maxfli boxes are built like that but seems important for a visual aid. As for the align technology, it is more subtle than I thought it would be, which is not a bad thing. It is not distracting to me and I found myself liking looking down at the alignment between my LAB putter and the chevrons on the ball:

The balls themselves are attractive and are firm without being clicky. I was bouncing them off a wedge against a ProV1x and I am hard pressed to say there is a discernable difference in compression there. I have always liked the simplicity of the Maxfli logo and I am excited to play a less "popular" ball because it will be easy to find in the middle of the fairway when playing with a group. Also, I always like being a bit "different" when it comes to equipment. 

Aesthetics (9.0 out of 10)
I like the alignment aid and it is not as busy or distracting as I was expecting. It is not subtle by any means but the lack of additional colors help it to blend in well while still serving the purpose. I like that you can easily recognize your ball without it looking cartoonish. I like that the arrows are fairly simple but large enough to clearly provide a distinct visual difference from any line you would generally draw on the ball. The alignment aid is not as easy to see once the ball is rolling as I thought it would be so I am detracting slightly for that. However, you can obviously see how it finished up which is useful particularly on a straight putt so you can evaluate the efficiency of your stroke. The packing looks good and doesn't scream STORE BRAND. Again, the window is a nice touch so you can actually see the alignment aid. Through several rounds, I can say these balls are fairly durable and resilient. I hit a LOT of wedges in one round and just had a little bit of edging on it, much tougher than my current ProV1xs have been lately. The cover is a little on the clicky side but that is expected on a higher compression ball. They feel fine coming off the club on short shots and full swings. Nothing noticeable between them and a ProV1x. I can't HEAR a difference either. The feel is what I would expect and want out of a high compression, spinny ball. There is a *slight* sound difference on a long putt but nothing else outside of that. And again, the sound is not bad but I could tell you a very minor difference between a ProV1x and Maxfli Tour X on a THUMPED putt. 


And this is a brief video showing how it looks from first person POV lining up the ball at the hole, standing over a putt and the rolling it:
The Numbers (19.5 out of 20)

For my Trackman testing I used the Maxfli Tour X vs my gamer ball the Titleist ProV1x. I used an actual ball from a new sleeve instead of the RCT version since I wanted this to be the true gamer ball vs the Maxfli Tour X. I hit 58* wedge shots (75% effort), 48* Gap Wedge shots (full effort), 32.5* 7 iron shots (full effort) and Driver shots. I aimed to get 6 good shots with each and would throw out any bad strikes or odd results, of which there were about 4 total (equally spread across the balls, it was ME that was causing it obviously). 

Gap Wedge, 7i and Driver:

Dispersion is fairly similar, I wouldn't chalk up the right misses with the driver up to anything more than volatility in my swing. To be honest, 20 yds dispersion either side is pretty standard/good for me. 

On the trajectory side, the Maxfli tour routinely flies higher (noticeably so) with the driver and slightly higher with the 7 iron and barely higher with the GW. 



So in the introduction I said that the Maxfli Tour X had to do the following things, trackman-wise:
Trackman Expectations:
Driver: at least 260 yd carry average, 2400 – 2700 rpm spin, 90 feet peak height  - yes on distance and peak height but maybe a *touch* high on spin. 
7 Iron: at least 160 yd carry average, 6200 rpm spin, 75 feet peak height - yes on distance, peak height and spin rate. 
Gap Wedge: at least 125 yd carry average, 9000 rpm spin, no real peak height requirement - yes on distance, yes on spin and height seems in line. 
I am the most pleased with the performance off the irons. I love the land angle being well above 45* and the slight boost in spin is welcome. The uptick in spin off the driver is not alarming but between the boost in spin and height I am going to lose a little bit of distance but I might gain some control. The initial dispersion chart does not suggest that is the case but I will have to see how it does on the course. 
I also did a quick little test with 75% effort 58* wedge (Ping Glide 4.0) to see what, if any, differences would be observed. 

Spin is slightly up with the maxfli tour x (a good thing in my book) but launch/height is slightly down (also probably a good thing). Seems controllable that way. So, for me, this ball does everything I am asking for it to do at this time. Depending on the player type, I could see some issues with the high launch AND high spin, particularly into a stiff breeze and that is most noticeable with a driver which will is in the air for a long time so a lot of opportunity to get impacted by wind. For me, I have now played in 15-20 mph wind and the ball was not noticeably worse than a ProV1x with the wind. Again, these balls are not ideally suited for high winds given their launch and spin but it wasn't getting batted around any more than my gamer. 
On the Course (19.25 out of 20)
Overall the ball does what I need/expect/want it to do. It spins where I want it to spin and flies high but still gets through the wind fine. Ball sits down going into greens and is controllable around the green. The alignment feature has been well ingrained into me now where (a) I don't really notice it and (b) would feel strange without now. Especially on putts but I have also started to rely on it for tee shots. Putting line feels like it has been above average and I have been positive strokes gained (as high as +2.8) putting....which is rare for me. I deducted 0.75 points due to some durability issues I noted during one round but that may have down to that sleeve of balls OR just the fact that I was playing a firmer, rougher golf course (see below, round 5 with pictures). Have not seen repeat durability issues in my testing through 6 rounds and a number of wedge practice sessions. In my experience, a normal wedge (at my speeds) will not chew up a ball. 
Chipping and pitching have been fun and a breeze with this ball. Isn't crazy spinny but is consistent and rolls out as I would hope on short pitches and chips. I initially was lining up the alignment aid in practice but realized that would almost NEVER happen in a regular round of golf so I stopped doing that. I do have a tendency to watch my club going back so I try to pickout a portion of the alignment aid that I can stare at to keep from letting my eye gaze stray. 
Round 1 quick thoughts: Played my first round in Florida on vacation and it was a little strange to line up all my tee shots so I was getting used to trusting that instead a spot just ahead of the ball. Lining up putts was a breeze as I have always done that and I feel much more confident with my line with these large arrows. Conditions were fairly calm.
Round 2 quick thoughts: Breezy day so got to see how it performed in the wind. Things were normal outside of a shot straight into a 20 mph wind on a par 3 that came up 12 yds short. That was probably operator error more than the ball as I was getting the wind right most of the day. 
Round 3 quick thoughts: Used to lining up putts and tee shots. Noticed that I don't see the line as well DIRECTLY over the ball, better to back up 3-4 feet from the ball and then can tell if it is truly lined up. Shot 73 which is great. 
Round 4 quick thoughts: Don't even notice the line up anymore, just do it. Shot -1 for the first time in a year. Made a bunch of putts, doesn't seem like a fluke. 
Round 5 quick thoughts: First round where I saw some durability issues, could be just bad luck. Had two balls scuff rather quickly on me, one was certainly cartpath and not sure what caused the other. Will monitor. 


Round 6 quick thoughts: No durability issues, shot 74 in some higher winds and ball seems to do okay in wind (for a high spinning ball). 
The Good, the bad and the inbetween (19 out of 20)
The bad(s) that I have encountered so far is that I performed the saltwater test on 6 balls and 1 ball was clearly not CG centered and 1 that seemed to be slightly CG biased, the other 4 were perfect. By that, I mean that I floated each ball in saltwater, marked the highest point on the ball and then spun it and submerged it. A well centered CG ball should not have the same highest point each time and 5 out of the 6 did not (one was in the same general neighborhood). I performed this CG test against 6 ProV1xs and 5 out of the 6 ProV1xs were well CG centered. Could just be an unlucky ball or two but I put an "X" on the poorly centered CG ball and will test it, putting-wise against a well centered CG ball to see if there is any noticeable difference (edit 4.4.2024 - there was not a noticeable difference between the well centered and poorly centered ball in my putting trials). Also, I had a couple balls scuff on me in the same round but had not seen that before or since. Maybe was a bad sleeve. But they did scuff significantly:

The in-between is subtleness of the alignment feature. Truly not sure if that is bad or good. I think the subtlety will help with it not being "distracting" but also you can't really see it that well when the ball is rolling and can be a little faint when you back up from the ball. I found that I could line it up best being about 3-4 feet from the ball. 
The good is likely already covered above. I rate this ball quite high and I think I can add here that the most you are going to pay for this ball is $40 and many times you can get it for less than that with certain deals that Dick's runs. Compare that to the ProV1x/Chrome Tour X at $55 and it is a great deal. For me the performance of the ball assuaged any concerns I had about quality or consistency in the product. 
Play it or Trade It? (20 out of 20)
I probably gave it away but I am 100% going to play it. I am now married to the alignment aid AND the spin numbers/distances/height is all favorable for me and my game. I have not seen a durability issue since that one round and I am encouraged by that. I may try what others have done and color in one of the alignment arrows to make it stand out more and see if that helps/hurts/neutral for my ability to line it up. I have a box of 2023 ProV1x that I am going to give to my friend who plays them (maybe in exchange for something) but that is how good I feel about the Maxfli Tour X Align. I would tell him about the Maxfli Align but his biggest weakness is putting and I don't want to give him my new EDGE. 
Conclusion
To me, there is no reason why someone should at least try the Maxfli Tour/Tour X if you currently play a premium ball. I would also recommend the align feature but that may be a bridge to far for some people (though as I mentioned, it is fairly subtle). In my experience, this ball does everything I hoped it would from a numbers and on-course perspective AND made me a more accountable putter. I could tell straight from the off if I pulled/pushed a putt AND it showed me how good/bad I was at reading greens. I had previously lined up my putts but the align feature gives you a clearer view of your ACTUAL starting line that you are on. That has been invaluable to me the last several rounds. 
Final Score Updates - 95.75

... MGS Ball Testing says Titleist ProV1 sets the standard for quality and performance and I doubt anyone can find any fault with that claim. After playing about 10 rounds with Maxfli Tour balls, I put some ProV1's into play for 5 rounds then went back to Maxfli Tours for another 10. At my level of play, I just can't tell much difference if any at all. The Maxfli Tour is just so good at everything and the only difference I might have seen is the ProV1 is just a little more durable. I bought 2 dozen Maxfli Tours for $60 after MGS gave them such high marks and then went back and took advantage of the 4 dozen for $104 deal. That's 4 dozen Maxfli Tour for the cost of 2 dozen ProV1's so for non tour players that don't get balls for free, if you play 5 times a week and even once a week that is a substantial savings for balls that I can honestly not tell apart. 

... I also always use the CG alignment on the tee and on the greens but do not "line up putts", I just make sure it is pretty much in the direction I am hitting/putting. I really can't say if it makes any difference but if Maxfli went through the trouble to find the CG, I figure why not use it. At the moment I think it is the best ball deal going.