2021 MGS Ball Test

[tjyorke 21]

i play in a lot of wind and i am a high spin iron player , just figuring out what would work best

[RickyBobby_PR 9,260]

9 hours ago, tjyorke said:

i play in a lot of wind and i am a high spin iron player , just figuring out what would work best

AVX and prov1. The avx will be low launch and low spins the prov1 will be more mid flight mid spin when compared to other titleist balls. If you don’t mind a high flight with low along the left dash prov1x.

Some other options would be the bridgestone balls. Possibly the BX or RX.

 

[cnosil 24,438]

10 hours ago, tjyorke said:

i play in a lot of wind and i am a high spin iron player , just figuring out what would work best

I think you would have to first assess what isn’t working now or what you want to change.  IMO simply saying you want lower spin really doesn’t mean much as you would need to understand what that means to overall ball flight.  More club will reduce spin and is what players have to do when they make adjustment due to wind during a round.  Switching to a low spin ball for your irons may result in too much reduction in spin on your driver and cause erratic flights.  
look at what ball you are currently playing and then figure out what balls have a little lower spin and then take out a sample to the course and see how it performs.  

[KurtActual 474]

I see the Maxfli Tour got glowing reviews. Is it not a GIANT redflag to anyone else that the Maxfli Tour X was the absolute worst ball on the list? Should they be treated so individually?

[BMart519 1,385]

2021 vs 2019 models 

Assuming 2021 Tour X report will come out in the future as the people who reviewed that ball seemed to prefer it. 

[Tsecor 723]

On 9/16/2021 at 9:34 PM, tjyorke said:

i play in a lot of wind and i am a high spin iron player , just figuring out what would work best

it matters if you are hitting into the wind vs with the wind or cross winds.......a low spin ball may not be your friend in many windy conditions. 

[Londo 220]

Had a chance to try out a full round with the Srixon Z Star XV which I identified as a good fit based on the Ball Test results. I have got to say that I REALLY like that ball. Compared to the Chromesoft and Snell MTB X that I had been playing around with, I could tell it was maybe a few yards longer off the tee but where it really shined was on approach shots. I am a fairly low spin iron player so I need all the help I can get in that respect, this ball has great stopping power off the lower/mid irons and it was a really nice change to see that. I will absolutely need to play a few more rounds with the XV but so far I have had my best results with this ball and the Left Dot this season. 

[BeansGuy 7]

Thank you so much for this test. I had been playing Chrome LS but after reading this I went and tried the Bridgestone Tour R BX, what a difference it makes. Ton less spin for me off the driver which gave me more distance. I usually have a ball speed over 160, and this thing produced great results for me. Putting took me around 18 holes to get used to it, really comes off the putter quicker than the LS. Overall, so far I really like the ball and plan on keeping it as my gamer.

[Tsecor 723]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:10 PM, BeansGuy said:

Thank you so much for this test. I had been playing Chrome LS but after reading this I went and tried the Bridgestone Tour R BX, what a difference it makes. Ton less spin for me off the driver which gave me more distance. I usually have a ball speed over 160, and this thing produced great results for me. Putting took me around 18 holes to get used to it, really comes off the putter quicker than the LS. Overall, so far I really like the ball and plan on keeping it as my gamer.

do you mena the B RX or the BX?  what color box did the balls come in? 

[BeansGuy 7]

On 11/9/2021 at 7:56 AM, Tsecor said:

do you mena the B RX or the BX?  what color box did the balls come in? 

Yes sorry, the B RX. I have played it many many times since that last post and I still love this ball.

[Popeye64 657]

I've played Pro V1s for a long time, as they just work for me in every way possible. But it always hurt paying the premium price tag. 

Because of the Ball Test I realized how well the Maxfli Tour would fit me. So I bought a dozen. Now, not in a million years would I have ventured to a Maxfli on my own. 

I've been playing this ball in the Simulator all week and I am just blown away. Feel. Distance. Spin. Control. All at a great discount. Plus I'm smitten with the feel off of the putter face. 

Thank you for your work on the Ball Test. It opened my eyes to possibilities. 

[Dennis K 15]

Just reading all the comments on the Maxfli Tour X and how it scored in the MGS ball test plus the price I don’t know how you can’t at least try the ball. $60 for two dozen is just too hard to pass up. 

Edited December 27, 2021 by Dennis K

[fixyurdivot 16,645]

Now having poured over the Ball Lab results for the third time, what really stands out to me is that, well, no one ball really stands out as the best performing ball.  No surprise there right? The high swing speed tests seem to yield the best correlation between driver and iron distances, but less so on the mid and slow swing speed categories.  Given the relatively small spread in distance, ball speed, and spin results between most balls that made it onto the charts, one could argue we're picking the proverbial fly dung out of the pepper... 2 yards here, 200 rpm's there... could just be test condition variance.

Most of you know I'm not a ball snob (no negative connotation intended) and have had difficulty, during my many ball vs. ball tests using on course play, finding a ball that really stands out.

Having been a tester in 2019 for the Maxfli Tour and Tour X, I knew the Tour competed well against those I was most often playing; PV1 and CS primarily.  At its price point and particularly during specials (like 40% off), they most definitely are on my short list. I've also found the Z-Star, Vice Pro, and Snell MTB Black competitive in H2H matches.  All of these against one another and most frequently against the much heralded and heavily played ProV1.

My 93 mph driver swing speed has me sitting between the tests low and mid datasets and arguably smack dab in the middle of the total population player profile bellcurve.  So this charts suggests these are the "middle of the pack balls" for us "middle of the pack players"  ... agree or disagree?  

How did your preferred balls stack up to your swing speed data group?

 

 

 

 

 

[Thin2win 3,622]

Having now hit/tested many of the balls listed above, my biggest surprise was how little actual performance difference there is between them. Sure, on the far edges of the bell curve a couple do things different. But overall, a middle of the bell curve player can choose just about any ball and not see much change. 

[fixyurdivot 16,645]

I kept looking for it in the charts but it wasn't labeled with "all balls" selected.  While it earned the "most spiniest" award, look where it landed on all three swing speed charts. Clearly Team Kirkland is attempting to capture dead center of the bell-curve. The staff also mentioned it was one of the most consistent balls tested.

I picked up a box of these this past summer and they seem to fit right in with the mix.  Then I read the Ball Lab results and felt like I had made a mistake and should give them away on KP bets... maybe not .  Have your thoughts about the Kirkland +2.0 changed as a result of the test data?

[Thin2win 3,622]

2 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

I kept looking for it in the charts but it wasn't labeled with "all balls" selected.  While it earned the "most spiniest" award, look where it landed on all three swing speed charts. Clearly Team Kirkland is attempting to capture dead center of the bell-curve. The staff also mentioned it was one of the most consistent balls tested.

I picked up a box of these this past summer and they seem to fit right in with the mix.  Then I read the Ball Lab results and felt like I had made a mistake and should give them away on KP bets... maybe not .  Have your thoughts about the Kirkland +2.0 changed as a result of the test data?

Kirkland 2.0 is a good ball, it just doesn't fit very many people. It did well in ball lab, and in my testing it was right there with all the other balls on wedge and iron performance. I didn't see any crazy spin numbers. I think I'm robot testing MGS found the Kirkland to spin about 600 rpm more then average, for me it was spinning almost 1000rpm more then average. Which caused it to be almost 15 yards shorter on drives. 

2 years ago when I was hitting a high low spin draw for a drive it probably would have been great for me, I couldn't get a drive with more then 1700 rpm of backspin that time. It probably would have straightened out my shots and added a little carry. So if you are in that camp, it might be the best ball made. 

[cnosil 24,438]

4 hours ago, Thin2win said:

2 years ago when I was hitting a high low spin draw for a drive it probably would have been great for me, I couldn't get a drive with more then 1700 rpm of backspin that time. It probably would have straightened out my shots and added a little carry. So if you are in that camp, it might be the best ball made. 

Based on how I hit drivers during most wanted testing,  I need more spin so the Kirkland works pretty well for me.  

[cycleguy55 38]

Thanks for doing this - it's very interesting and insightful.

What I'd like to see now is a comparison of how the off-the-shelf balls compare to the 'same' balls played by tour players. What extra effort do Titleist, Bridgestone, Srixon, etc. go through to ensure the variances and inconsistencies are weeded out from the balls supplied to sponsored players?

[Thin2win 3,622]

22 minutes ago, cycleguy55 said:

Thanks for doing this - it's very interesting and insightful.

What I'd like to see now is a comparison of how the off-the-shelf balls compare to the 'same' balls played by tour players. What extra effort do Titleist, Bridgestone, Srixon, etc. go through to ensure the variances and inconsistencies are weeded out from the balls supplied to sponsored players?

I think this has been discussed a couple times, but I believe currently almost every tour player is using an off the shelf ball. A few years ago, there were more special blends. But I'm fairly confident that they are playing the same as you and me. 

[fixyurdivot 16,645]

9 hours ago, Thin2win said:

2 years ago when I was hitting a high low spin draw for a drive

What did you do with that ball flight?  Loved watching those turn back towards center.  A couple from Canada I played with this past Monday just ordered 4 boxes... not realizing they were 24 balls/pack .  They lost one between them and now are down to 95.  We joked that they'll have to keep a running tally and tell me how many remain before heading home.

When I get back home, I'm going to have to pay more attention to whether I see any loss in distance off the tee. The few rounds I played one, they seemed to be holding serve.