DJ Mico

I support everything my fellow tester of the Gamer balls for MyGolf Spy has to say. Check out our reviews here (https://forum.mygolfspy.com/topic/42412-2020-official-member-review-top-flite-gamer-golf-balls/#comments) Seeing these Ball Lab results is not a massive shocker given the price of the ball and brand perception of Top Flite. That being said, I agree with @Tom the Golf Nut that where the cut offs are for a "bad ball" and "average" is very vague. Having played the Gamers extensively, I definitely lost my fair share, but I attributed those to poor swings. I can't recall a ball I struck well and thought "that traveled poorly because of something with the ball." As a fairly average to slightly above average golfer, I can say that I did not notice a difference in flights on balls I hit with the Gamer compared to others I played at the time (Snell MTB-X, Callaway ChromeSoft/X, TP5X, ProV1/x, Srixon Z-Star). The balls I hit well all went straight and about the same distance with all clubs with minor deviations attributed to weather. The balls I hit poorly were all equally off target. As someone like myself that's only played just over 50 rounds since starting golfing regularly last April, I am just now discerning differences in golf balls, like how the ProV1X's higher launch and spin causes me to hit high spinners that greatly reduce my distance in the wind. I'd be interested in buying another sleeve of Gamers and testing them again to see flight differences between ones in the same sleeve and a sleeve of other balls to try and quantify any inconsistencies, but I am not necessarily consistent enough with my swing to repeat the same shot more than once.

Thanks! I guess when I say it "worked," I am saying it was more "predictable." With the sliding weights and all the tinkering I could do with it, I was able to get a fairly consistent draw out of it that would go about 250 total. I totally agree that the Mavrik is a significant upgrade over the old R15. The only difference with my Mavrik and why I made this post is that the Mavrik SZ is not a very forgiving club, so where a mishit with my old driver would put me short and a bit off line, the Mavrik has me shorter and farther off line. I think it is decided to get a lesson and keep practicing to dial in my swing, and if I'm still having issues, then it will be upgrade time.

I tend to fall into this line of thinking: whatever club I am picking, I am trying to hit it as far as I can. I have tried at the range or in lessons to back off my woods and end up causing more problems with my swing and get more erratic by not trying to swing hard because I am altering my timing. I have tried to manage the course better throughout a round, and getting more consistent with my driver off the tee would be a great place to start. I'm going to book a lesson tonight so I can feel more confident and consistent with my driver

Thanks! That is my thinking, and I actually wanted someone to say this "go get a lesson then do another fitting then maybe get a new driver." I was thinking of just buying a new one but needed some discussion to talk me off the ledge and go get a lesson LOL.

Thanks for the info. I know tinkering can lead to a rabbit hole, but I was just curious since the way I had tuned my old driver seemed to really work for me. I will experiment the next time I go to the range. I'm sure my swing does have some things that need to be fixed, but I did feel very consistent with my old one in with particular settings and think maybe slight tweaks to make the new one like that would help get the consistency back.

I could have noted in my last post, the two swing charts I posted were from different sessions. The R15 was from my October fitting, and the Mavrik results were from my iron fitting where I was just playing around on Trackman after we finished the irons. In theory, aside from weather differences, I was the same amount of "warmed up" by the time I got to the driver each day.

Thanks for the help everyone! I love hearing from my fellow Golf Spies as always. Since I moved out of the R15, I have been curious about how the loft sleeve works on the Callaway. I know on the TaylorMade that the adjustments would alter lie angle, face angle, loft and spin--per the below picture. I have not messed with the Callaway one since I was fit into the Mavrik SZ at standard specs. When I had the R15, I had the loft down 1.5 degrees making my 9.5 driver an 8 degree and played a fairly consistent draw with that driver. Does anyone know how the loft sleeve on the Callaway affects things such as face angle, if at all? I see it says you can turn it up or down a couple of degrees and set the second cog to draw or neutral, but does anyone know how that affects things in the same way the TaylorMade says its sleeve does?

You are correct, I do come very in to out. I'm a former college baseball player, so I have worked hard in the last year to try and eliminate the nasty banana slice that goes farther right than forward. The drives I hit well end up having a beautiful draw to them. Since eliminating the banana slice, I play for a draw, and it usually works. The problem is that sometimes I get a little too draw biased and get a high toe strike that doesn't go very far and goes very far left. Then, I try to tone down the draw and hit a strong power fade--usually when I don't need/want to. I definitely am going to take your advice though and just give it a swing. I feel like I've tinkered so much with my driver stance, set up, and everything else before even swinging that all the little tinkering has gotten me to the point that I feel like if my feet or shoulders are not at the perfect spot that I am instantly doomed for a mishit. I'll take a lesson and keep practicing and hopefully not keep wasting so many shots out of the tee box. I'm not a great golfer by any measure, but I at least know that if I get to within 170 yards that I usually only need 3 more shots to finish the hole (approach and 2-putt or approach, chip, and putt). While I would like to get that down, I am more concerned with getting more consistent with the big stick to avoid wasting shots on penalties or escaping from the woods.

We all know that one person--or we are that person--that when they have a bad day on the course, they go to the pro shop/store and buy new equipment. My friends think that is me, but to be fair I just started golfing consistently after I bought a used set of Titleist clubs (driver to putter) for under $300 last year. Since then, I've taken lessons, played a round at least once a week, did two fittings, and saved up to upgrade my bag. I started with a Titleist 983K driver that I got for $20 from Callaway Pre-Owned. I cracked the face after a month and instead of just issuing a refund, I said I was thinking of just buying the 909D3 driver they were selling for $45 and was able to exchange the cracked driver for a "newer" model without any hassle--fantastic customer service. I enjoyed the 909D3 for 3 months until my uncle upgraded from his TaylorMade R15 and passed it on to me. I had been gaming the R15 until December when I upgraded to the Mavrik SZ after a club fitting. I know that is a lot of changing drivers in a short period of time, and I just got fit, so why could I possibly want to upgrade again? Well, in all honesty, I have grown frustrated with my inconsistencies off the tee, and I am not sure if the driver is really helping me. For reference, here are my Trackman numbers with the R15 and my Mavrik SZ. The numbers seem to clearly favor the Mavrik SZ as I am hitting the ball farther, faster, and with tighter consistency metrics, but consistency in my fittings and on the course are very different. It's easy to get into a groove on Trackman or the range. But it is much different to just step up to the tee, hit one drive, and play your next shot. In my last few rounds I have noticed a two-way miss with my driver where I either hit a strong fade or a snap hook. Both of which only go a total distance of about 250 yards and are nowhere close to the middle of the fairway. Like most clubs, once that thought of getting rid of it creeps into your mind, you absolutely stripe one and think you can do that all the time and the cycle of mishits starts again. Trust me, I love the feeling of sending a solid shot off my Mavrik miles past my playing partners' best drives. But I also loathe mishitting one into the trees and losing strokes because I am short and in the woods and farther away with a more difficult shot to try and make GIR. In evaluating my strike, I tend to hit the middle of the face fairly often, but can feel that at times my club face is closed or open, which causes a bit of a draw or fade. When I really mishit my driver, I miss high and off the toe and end of feeling the club gear back and end up with a bad snap hook. I obviously want to improve all of my game but am okay where the rest of my game is for now. The inconsistency off the tee box is really the most frustrating part of my game. I am planning to get a lesson soon and fix/diagnose my swing problems and tinker with adjustments to the sleeve of my driver. However, I have read reviews and understand that the Mavrik SZ is not a "forgiving" driver and is aimed more toward the lower handicapper/consistent ball striker, and, honestly, that isn't me. How much of the inconsistency is just from being new and still learning versus being harmed by playing a driver that requires a higher level of consistency? What would I be giving up in terms of distance on good and how much mishit protection for less than good shots could I expect to see differ in a "more forgiving" driver? Any help is appreciated

I recently upgraded out of an old TaylorMade R15 I had been using to the Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero. When I did my fitting in October, I probably hit my R15 as best as I ever had. I had tuned in the R15 to the proper loft (8*), lie angle, and had the weight track in the best place for my swing at the time. Most of the strikes were around the middle of the face and it was as consistent as I have ever been with a driver. I didn't think I could get much better until I started hitting other clubs and saw a huge spike in distance. Some of the drivers I only took a few swings with because I didn't like the feel/look. Unfortunately, the data didn't fully upload from my first fitting, but luckily when I went back to do another iron fitting and hit some drivers, the Mavrik SZ that I was fit into the first time had very similar numbers from my first in October. Here is my baseline with the R15 As you can see, fairly respectable and consistent, which I can say is a very rare feat for me with my driver. Below are the numbers for the TaylorMade SIM, Ping G410, SIM MAX, and Callaway Mavrik (just the regular, not SZ). I think the biggest takeaway from those was that I was swinging the club slower and getting better ball speed/smash factor with higher launch, more spin, and yet more distance than the R15. My miss with a driver is a hook, and with a draw-favoring swing and most drivers being draw-biased, my fitter/teaching pro was working on finding the best club/shaft combination that would reduce that miss. We decided I would be better with a little fade/cut occasionally if it meant reducing the hook. I immediately hit slight draws with the Mavrik SZ and went forward with that as my fit. While I am about a 12 handicap and the SZ is marketed towards the lower range, I like it because it reduces my overdrawing the ball. However, I am a 12 because I am inconsistent, so days when my driver isn't working are long days. Here are my most recent numbers for my Mavrik SZ It was a little cooler in the morning, and I will say I was still shedding off some winter weight during this February fitting, which I attribute to the lower clubhead speed. But overall, compared to my old R15, my new Mavrik is SZ is 17 yards longer in carry distance. I've only had the Mavrik for 4 months compared to about a year I had been tweaking and hitting the R15 after getting it used. Hope this helps!

Thanks! I decided to play the ProV1x based on its firmer feel, higher spin, and higher launch when I first started golfing last year. I thought more spin and more height would help my game, and I kept playing the ProV1x or similar balls until about 2 months ago. I did a club fitting, and my teaching pro recommended the ProV1. I did a virtual fitting with the guys at TXG, and they also recommended the ProV1 or Srixon Z-Star based on my launch monitor numbers. I had been playing the Z-Star until I did the online consult with Titleist about which ball to play. Without discussing any data, the team member said ProV1 was the better choice of the tour offerings, so I have been using them ever since he sent me the sample boxes. I just forgot to take the old ProV1x's out of my bag. Lesson learned.

I promise I am not only on MGS for golf balls (Check out my review of the Top Flite Gamer golf ball). But, I did notice something while playing this weekend that I had not noticed before. Basically, can having a ball spin too much or launch too high be a problem? I know the general answer is yes, too much of a good thing can be bad. But I would like to know why I experienced what I did with a "higher spinning" ball during my last round. I have played the 2021 ProV1 exclusively for my last 5 rounds and have had no problems with the ball. It is a well-rounded ball as everyone has come to expect with the ProV1. Over the weekend, I went and played, but realized once I was loading up my cart that only 2 balls in my bag were ProV1s and the rest were from a box of 2021 ProV1x I had been using before settling on the ProV1 for feel preference. I played the ProV1s most of the day except for the last 4 holes after hitting the ProV1s OB. I found the V1x and ProV1 have very comparable performance off the tee and only a slightly different feel off the putter. I noticed a huge difference in the balls with my irons this weekend that I had not noticed before while playing either one, and that is in wind play. The wind was constantly swirling all day as the course was out in more of a rural area with very few trees on the course or surrounding, but I never really had any major problems besides just accounting for the wind direction like I normally do for each shot. This strategy was fine until I played the ProV1x the last few holes because I could not get it through the wind at all. The ball seemed to just launch super high, hit a wall of wind, and be at least a whole club short along with getting blown left or right depending on which way the wind was blowing. Now, I'm about a 12 handicap that is not always consistent on strike, but there was one hole in particular that I had 140 to the pin, 120 to carry a creek, and into about a 10 mph wind. I normally hit a 8 iron 145, but with the wind I played a 7 knowing that a flush 7 even with a gust should put me on the green. I hit a fairly solid shot that wasn't heavy or thin, but a little on the heel, and it ended up in the creek. I put another ball down as a drop and hit one square that barely got over the creek, but wound up rolling down the hill. I didn't go quite full Tin Cup, but I took out on more ball, grabbed my 5 iron, and took a full swing that I hit a thin that wound up on the near side of the green for a 25 foot putt. I ended up playing a club longer the rest of the round to avoid a similar issue, but no matter what, it seemed the ProV1x kept getting caught up in the wind and not going where I thought it would. Does this sound like a normal performance from a ProV1x or another comparable "higher spinning/higher launching ball" in the wind?

I just got on the Hyperflex train! They are awesome. As others have said, they do run quite big. I wear an 11.5 in my Nike Air Max 1G and all other off-course/running shoes, but FJs just run way large on me. I have a pair of prior generation ProSL shoes that are an 11 that I have an extra insole in, and they still fit big on me. I bought a 10 in the Hyperflex with the BOA lacing, and they are a perfect fit! I was looking into spiked shoes after this article came out because I love the comfort of my Nikes and ProSL. But after playing enough, the traction has worn out, and I began slipping. Especially on hilly lies or morning rounds, I feel my feet slip and wanted new shoes to get that traction back. I wanted to go spiked to be able to just put a new set of spikes in instead of buying new spikeless shoes once the traction wears down. I bought a pair of Tour X liked how grounded I felt compared to the spikeless shoes I had been wearing. I played a handful rounds in them and walked one round and a 9-hole round in them and they are worth the money. My main complaint is the sole plate is really rigid. The Tour X feels like I am stuck in the ground, which is great, but I needed a more mobile feel. Plus, I wanted something lighter weight and more breathable that I could wear in warmer weather instead of full leather. I got my clubs re-gripped at the course by my office out of sheer convenience and was taking a look around the shop as I waited and saw they had a bunch of new gear. I tried on my normal size (11.5) in the Hyperflex and found they also ran large on me like other FJ shoes. I immediately went down to a 10 and found the right fit. I really liked how light and springy the Hyperflex felt and the mobility of my foot with the knit with the grounded feel from the spiked bottom. I had seen online they were priced around $150 for the laced and $180 for the BOA, so I figured I could just keep them in mind the next time I needed golf shoes since I liked the Tour X and bought them fairly recently. As I was putting them back on the shelf, I saw the price tag said they were $130, which I thought was a mistake. I also saw the BOA edition was also $130 and figured I might as well see what the hype with the BOA is since they are $50 off what they are selling for online. I tried them on, "laced" them up, and found my new favorite shoe! I've never had BOA shoes before, but I am an instant convert. Putting them on is a breeze and so is unlacing and taking them off. I never have to worry about my shoe laces coming undone, and if my foot feels loose once the shoe starts stretching out, I just give a quick twist and it is back to locked in. I am not old by any standard (26) and—knock on wood—have no low back ailments or leg problems, but the BOA is awesome because I can slip my foot in the shoe and then just lift the back my foot up to my hamstring and give them a twist without having to bend over to tie my shoes. I really like the Ortholite insole that comes in the Tour X. I noticed the Hyperflex insole is just a standard foam insole like in any other kind of running shoe, which is lightweight, but I know it will not retain its comfort like the Ortholite. I decided to take the Ortholite out of the Tour X and put it in the Hyperflex, which surprisingly fit perfectly, and I think I may have created the most comfortable golf shoe ever made!

Hi again everyone, It seems like the MyGolfSpy deal for the Gamers was a decent hit! I was at my local Golf Galaxy and saw they were on sale again for 2 for $35, which is still a pretty good deal for what the ball offers. I am following up on my initial review by giving my friend's thoughts on the Gamers. He just started golfing at the end of the year in 2020 and only had a few balls when we last played together that he had found in the trees or balls from the range bucket that were not range balls. I believe he had a sleeve of either Wilson Ultras or TaylorMade Distance balls, the last time we played, but I gave him the last 5 Gamers I had to try out and see what he thought. His first drive got away from him a little, but he said he had never hit a ball that far before. In terms of feel, he said it was the best feeling ball he had used yet. I asked if he felt it was "hard," as that is how my fellow testers described the Gamer, and he said it felt way softer than the balls he usually plays. Even after a mishit or less than ideal contact, he said it still felt soft relative to other balls. He was not thrown off by the dimple design, and he felt more confident in his game by playing a ball that was intended to be more of a discount ball with better performance instead of just being the cheapest ball. Overall, he was satisfied with the Gamers, and I think a perfect representation of who the Gamer fits: someone not worried about their score, but still wants a good ball that will not break the bank when they need a box of balls for a weekend golf outing. As for me, I have fallen into the lull of playing the Titleist ProV1. had been playing the Z-Star at the recommendation of my golf pro, and really liked everything about it. The only thing I did not like was it felt a little too soft at times, and I felt I was overcompressing the ball on some shots. I did the virtual Titleist golf ball fitting, which I highly recommend. Not the simple selection tool on their site, but the scheduled Zoom call with someone from Titleist to talk about what you look for in a golf ball. After speaking with my representative, we settled on the ProV1, and they mailed me 4 sample balls for free. After making the switch to ProV1, I have played much more consistently. I believe most of that is more consistent practice and getting a better feel of course management and my game, but I do think a little has been attributed to the ball because it is more predictable in its behavior around the course. While trying to find a ball that would spin more around the green, I wound up playing balls that would launch too high or spin too much and drop my distance. Or, by playing firmer/lower spinning balls to maximize distance, I would hit balls that would not hold the green. The ProV1 may not be the best at any one thing, but it does enough good all around that I am not making a big trade off in any part of my game. The Gamer is not a ProV1, but it is a ProV1 for those that are new to the game. By that, I mean the Gamer is a good all-around ball. Someone getting into golf and seeing the ProV1 marketed as "The #1 ball in golf" may think that is what they need to not have an awful day on the course. However, they would be better suited playing a Gamer, which is better than the cheap distance balls, and it will be a good all-around ball that won't break their budget and turn them off from golf if they spend $50+ dollars on a dozen ProV1s every week. After playing the Gamer for a while and figuring out their game, then they can move into other balls and find a ball tailored to their game. Overall, if you are new to the game, the Gamer is my recommendation for the ball to play. If you are looking for a ball to use, give the Gamer a shot because you can see what your game needs to help you play your best.

DJ from Sacramento, California Driver swing speed: 110mph Driver: Mavrik Sub Zero 9° Shaft: Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 60 gram Stiff I briefly had Nippon 105 stiff flex in Ping i500s after a fitting but got re-fit because I didn’t like the heads. I would have kept the shafts, but my new T200s didn’t offer Modus 105 without an upcharge. I also have a Nippon shaft in my 60° wedge: PING Z-Z-115 by Nippon