Maxfli TOUR X Golf Balls with Max Align Technology - 2024 Forum Review

[buckpillar]

4 hours ago, Shrek74 said:

Yeah, most do the drop and spin multiple times to see how unbalanced a ball is. The farther apart the dots are, the better balanced they are.

Gabe on Let's Play Thru did this too, last year.

Although I don't exactly remember his results. I'll have to watch it again.

And looks like AJ did this test a couple years ago too.

I did this test for the Titleist white box a few months ago, I found that the balls that I tested were perfect, when dropped into the salt water the balls never returned to the same spot. That being said if they did return to the same spot that would mean they were out of balance.

[buckpillar]

17 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

For this post I will attempt to explain my testing plan for the putter. I now know I will have 24 of the Tour X balls. In order to keep it as straight forward as possible and so I do not mix balls up on the initial unboxing I will mark a sleeve from each box with a separate color and number to identify the ball and lot.

Move the A&M 9000 Putter Chipper Ball Tester to one of the practice greens at the Coyote run golf course.

Use a plastic clipboard as a shim and set the putter head to that height. In this way I can set the head to a consistent height where ever on the greens I set the test up.

Taking a non test ball and choosing the lowest setting on the 9000 run several test putts to establish both path and width of path I expect the TEST BALLS to travel. I will mark the path with plastic golf tees.

Once the path has been established I will run several of the TEST BALLS to insure the path and width of path match the TEST BALLS path.

Run each ball through the ball striker putter. Note, with a separate tee, any outlier ball travel. Either a ball that goes outside of the path or rolls significantly less or more than the others in the test run. Note the outlier ball and set aside for retest.

The putter tester has three back swing distances. Run each test group through each back swing distance. Note outliers.

Retest outliers. See if they repeat as outliers.

To remove errors in the controllable variables I will use flat plastic ball markers to encircle the place where the ball will be positioned so the putter head can strike the ball in the same place on the ground and on the putter face.

To remove errors in the uncontrollable variables such as the height of the grass or the wetness of the grass all 24 balls will be tested in the same test session.

No tests will be conducted during strong or gusty winds.

No tests will be conducted if the greens have been recently (under 1 week) cross cut, hole plugged or sanded.

The 9000 is fairly heavy but in the case where movement of the entire tester might be in question I have made provisions to stake it down with large nails or tent stakes

 

I really expect these balls to repeat flawlessly. If they do I will take the 9000 out onto the course in the evening when it clears of players and set it up on some really sloped portions of some of the greens of Coyote Run. Then run the tests again, and note what I find.

Great game plan, I can't wait to see the results and videos.

[brogies]

I updated my intro with unboxing and first impressions thoughts!

Tl;dr: So far, I'm really enjoying the ball. The alignment aid is way bigger than I'd like, and I think Maxfli missed an opportunity to create something more visually impressive, but I can see how it would certainly help golfers that need help with putting alignment. 

More testing to come!

[Rob Person]

Solid Intros so far!  Looking forward to what the testing feedback provides!

[Michael.Sandoval33]

Definitely some great intros. Does anybody find the alignment aid to be distractor thus far? I see that the size has been brought up, so I am curious if that equals to the "too much going on" feeling that can happen while putting.

Edited March 2 by Michael.Sandoval33

[chisag]

32 minutes ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Definitely some great intros. Does anybody find the alignment aid to be distractor thus far? I see that the size has been brought up, so I am curious if that equals to the "too much going on" feeling that can happen while putting.

 

... Michael I think there are two camps on this. Some love an alignment aid and some hate it. One of my partners fell in love with the Tour Response Striped ball and you can't get more intrusive than that. Callaway found some liked the Triple Track so much they now offer a 360 triple track ball.

... Interesting that some loved the previous Maxfli Tour offerings with the two alignment lines and others were very happy the newer version got rid of them, myself included. I applaud Maxfli for offering both balls to those that do and do not like alignment aids.

[Michael.Sandoval33]

5 minutes ago, chisag said:

 

... Michael I think there are two camps on this. Some love an alignment aid and some hate it. One of my partners fell in love with the Tour Response Striped ball and you can't get more intrusive than that. Callaway found some liked the Triple Track so much they now offer a 360 triple track ball.

... Interesting that some loved the previous Maxfli Tour offerings with the two alignment lines and others were very happy the newer version got rid of them, myself included. I applaud Maxfli for offering both balls to those that do and do not like alignment aids.

Interesting. Previously I have not used the aids for putting but I do have a few "rehoused" ERCs laying around, as well as a box of the Tour X's. When the weather clears I think I will take them both out and see which of those camps I might find myself in. Thanks.

[brogies]

2 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

Definitely some great intros. Does anybody find the alignment aid to be distractor thus far? I see that the size has been brought up, so I am curious if that equals to the "too much going on" feeling that can happen while putting.

I thought it was going to be more distracting than it actually is. You get used to it pretty quickly. But I will say, if you don't like to line up your putts, might not be worth it.

[buckpillar]

Loving all the intros, Great Job, cant wait for the reviews

[EnderinAZ]

Well fellow testers the A&M 9000 Putter Chipper Ball Tester is complete and the putter works fantastic.

 

I have set it up to have three separate putt lengths and today I was able to establish what they are. (All of these are approximations) 3 feet, 5 to 6 feet, and around 13 feet. I set the ball inside of the three ball markers making sure to cover the back marker with the edge of the ball when looking straight down. Leaving a 1/16 of an inch gap between the edge of the ball looking down and the marker robs the ball of a foot of distance. That alone is a startling statistic. 

 

In the photo below you can see how I have taken me completely out of the stroke. By pulling that rod out of the piece of tubing I am able to release the putter in the same way every time. 

The chipper works but needs some fine tuning to get a fully repeatable stroke. That will happen this Tuesday. 

I have to share one thing that occurred today during testing. I used 5 balls that came out of the same box and found one of the balls rolled further and straighter than all the rest by 4 to 6 inches at all three distance settings. Plus I had one that rolled 4 to six inches less than the rest at all three settings. I ran the test 6 times because I could not believe what I was seeing. But, it repeated the same all six times. 

In most cases this is a "so what?" results. That is until you slice one out into the pond and pull an identical ball out of your bag to finish the round. A six inch change, either long or short on the green would definitely pester my head. Nope these results are not the results of my test balls. I have not yet marked the test lots. 

Edited March 3 by EnderinAZ

[Rob Person]

That is awesome!  CANT WAIT FOR THE VIDEOS!!!

This reminds me of my homemade motorcycle wheel balancer!

Edited March 3 by Rob Person

[jbern]

15 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

I have to share one thing that occurred today during testing. I used 5 balls that came out of the same box and found one of the balls rolled further and straighter than all the rest by 4 to 6 inches at all three distance settings. Plus I had one that rolled 4 to six inches less than the rest at all three settings. I ran the test 6 times because I could not believe what I was seeing. But, it repeated the same all six times. 

In most cases this is a "so what?" results. That is until you slice one out into the pond and pull an identical ball out of your bag to finish the round. A six inch change, either long or short on the green would definitely pester my head. Nope these results are not the results of my test balls. I have not yet marked the test lots. 

I do believe some of this variation is considered "acceptable," but I have no idea how much. The MGS ball lab tests basically try to put numbers to this, but I would be interested to see what manufacturers consider acceptable.

Glad to hear the A&M 9000 is working out so far! Very cool project!

[ZackS]

I know this test is just getting started but I have been in ball test mode and trying to make a decision while these sales are going on. From the ball test last year the TourX looks to be a higher flighting ball which I do enough of that on my own, haha. My question for those that have played the TourX with how hight it flies is how does this ball perform in the wind?

[knotthead17]

48 minutes ago, ZackS said:

I know this test is just getting started but I have been in ball test mode and trying to make a decision while these sales are going on. From the ball test last year the TourX looks to be a higher flighting ball which I do enough of that on my own, haha. My question for those that have played the TourX with how hight it flies is how does this ball perform in the wind?

So I've played the last three days with the Tour X and all three days were fairly windy. I think Saturday was 20mph gusting to 35mph for reference. It felt quite stable in those conditions and I didn't notice it ballooning up more than any other golf ball might in that situation. I tend to launch higher, but spin a bit less, and  so far this is looking to be a solid ball--at least for my numbers

Edited March 4 by knotthead17

[vandyland]

16 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

Well fellow testers the A&M 9000 Putter Chipper Ball Tester is complete and the putter works fantastic.

I am so impressed it is almost unbelievable! What an amazing piece of machinery you have built!

[ZackS]

23 minutes ago, knotthead17 said:

So I've played the last three days with the Tour X and all three days were fairly windy. I think Saturday was 20mph gusting to 35mph for reference. It felt quite stable in those conditions and I didn't notice it ballooning up more than any other golf ball might in that situation. I tend to launch higher, but spin a bit less, and I so far this is looking to be a solid ball--at least for my numbers

Thanks for the feedback. I tend to be the same with irons as well. 

[RDel90]

21 hours ago, ZackS said:

I know this test is just getting started but I have been in ball test mode and trying to make a decision while these sales are going on. From the ball test last year the TourX looks to be a higher flighting ball which I do enough of that on my own, haha. My question for those that have played the TourX with how hight it flies is how does this ball perform in the wind?

For me the X flies higher than the Tour just like ProV1 vs ProV1X. I found performance nearly identical to ProVs. Tour/ProV1 give me a lower more piercing trajectory by about 3-4 degrees lower launch. On average this was about 8-10 more yards off the tee. I would get more roll out with irons and wedges and sometimes have difficulty holding greens on approach. X with the higher flight and descent angle gave me back approach control where I can bring the ball back slightly or it stops 12-18 inches from initial landing. So in good conditions I’ll gladly give up 10 off the tee for approach control. Recently I started tinkering with playing Tour in windy conditions above 10mph to keep decent driving distance and using X when winds are 10mph or less. 

[BCases]

On 3/2/2024 at 3:28 PM, brogies said:

I thought it was going to be more distracting than it actually is. You get used to it pretty quickly. But I will say, if you don't like to line up your putts, might not be worth it.

Maxfli makes the same ball without the alignment arrows if you do not like to line up your putts.

[brogies]

6 minutes ago, BCases said:

Maxfli makes the same ball without the alignment arrows if you do not like to line up your putts.

Yep! I've played the regular version before and enjoy it.

[vandyland]

Got to roll mine a bit this morning in the office. So far, I find the alignment aid to be very easy to line up but not really "distracting." Also, you can see at the end of a straight putt if the arrows are still pointing in the same direction, which is helpful if you have a mat with no hole/catcher. 

[Willie T]

Intros have been a great read and I’m like all the others posting looking to see how the MaxFli’s fare.  It’s so wild, that the name MaxFli just a couple years back was synonymous with el-cheapie who cares if I lose it golf ball.  Now it’s got credo and has a seat at the table with the Chrome Tours, PV-1s and TP-5’s….

 

[brogies]

Update #2 added to my main post! I did some Trackman testing with the Tour X against my gamer, the ProV1x.

[vandyland]

13 hours ago, brogies said:

Update #2 added to my main post! I did some Trackman testing with the Tour X against my gamer, the ProV1x.

I'm doing trackman testing today as well. I ensured I didn't peek at your results so I wouldn't be biased anymore than I already might be. Will be interesting to see how are relative experiences shake out against each other. 

[brogies]

1 hour ago, vandyland said:

I'm doing trackman testing today as well. I ensured I didn't peek at your results so I wouldn't be biased anymore than I already might be. Will be interesting to see how are relative experiences shake out against each other. 

Yes! Looking forward to seeing your results.

[vandyland]

Trackman data is up in my initial post. The long and the short of it is that the Maxfli Tour X launches higher, hits a higher peak height and spins more on full swing shots across the board. For me, that is a mostly good thing. In my irons I try to target 7,000 rpm for a 7 iron, 9,000 rpm for a 9 iron, etc. and this gets me closer to that. The driver was spinning up a tad more on me with these BUT I am hoping that means better control out on the golf course. Nothing worse, for me, than a low spin knuckle ball that either falls out of the sky or shoots dramatically left. 

Edited March 6 by vandyland

[GolfSpy SAM]

Great work so far on this, team! I'm pretty surprised at how unbothered I am by the size of the graphic - I really thought it would be annoying, but the fact that the lines aren't SUPER thick I think makes all the difference.  Of course, for some, that will be CRAZY distracting, but for me that's no worse than the triple-track (which I'm growing quite fond of), and may be better for some.  

40 minutes ago, vandyland said:

 

 

[knotthead17]

New pic alert! Main Post

[tw1ns]

On 2/27/2024 at 1:54 AM, knotthead17 said:

INTRODUCTION

Hey Spies! First time tester here! I’m currently 38 and will be coming up on 10 years of consistent golf soon. Over the years I’d guess I’ve been about 80% self-taught and was able to get down to a 4.7 handicap, however in 2022 I had to take a year+ off due to a shoulder surgery with a lengthy recovery.  Post-surgery I’ve really struggled to get back to where I was. I’ve been hovering around a 7 handicap right now last few rounds have been right at 80, but on easier courses and moved up a set of tees (or two) for now. Every day out I’m seeing substantial improvement and I’m more energized than ever to get back out there and swing away! Just in the last few weeks has my distance and spin really started to return. For reference--in Denver my 7 iron currently plays right at 192 yards (total yardage). In general, I think it’s fair to say I hit the ball further than most, and I struggle to spin the ball quite as much as I probably should.

BALL HISTORY

I play a lot of golf and historically have lost a lot of golf balls! I must admit for the longest time I was definitely the guy that would find balls on the course and play them regardless of type or condition. As I progressed, I started to get a little pickier with golf balls but I still lost quite a few. That’s how I ended up playing vice balls. Finally a ball with premium feel, great performance, but forgiving enough whenever I opened up a new sleeve and proceeded to slice my first ball the day into the native, never to be seen again.

I played Vice Pro Plus for many years and actually switched to Maxfli last year. When switching over I played both the Tour and Tour X. Since I’ve always been a low spin player I tend to prefer a higher spinning ball (also need a bit more due to altitude). After one case of each, I decided to stick with the Tour X

EXPECTATIONS:

I don’t have regular access to a simulator so most of my testing will be outdoors at Green Valley Ranch in Denver Colorado. I plan to put it through its pieces at the practice facilities, as well as on course. A few of the other reviewers have really gone above and beyond and will be providing great track command data along with an entire custom putting machine! I’m going to try and take a different angle of focusing on Course. What’s it like playing with day-to-day? I will be using Titleist woods, Mizuno irons and wedges, and an enroll putter for the entirety of the test. More details in “About Me” if you're interested.

What evaluating, I’m going to treat it just like I have in the past when choosing a new ball to put into play. I don’t know that I’ve previously spent the time to write down a list of my priorities in order, but now that I am an official reviewer. I thought it was probably time. I’m sure this list looks different for everyone out there, but since I’m not relying on the performance of a golf ball to bring in a paycheck, I would probably have to put value as number one for me. I would love to say I don’t care about distance, but that would be a lie, even though I hit the ball plenty far, I will never complain about hitting it just a little bit further! The rest of the factors that I will be focused on, are in order below:

1. Value – how does this ball perform compared to some of the highest performing balls on market? How does this ball compare to other balls in the same price range? 
2. Distance – is there a sacrifice and distance when comparing this to the longest balls out there? 
3. Consistency – Does your savings upfront cost you on the course? MGS Ball Lab constancy result
4. Higher spin – being a low spin player, can I stop the ball when I need to?
5. Durable cover – assuming I can somehow keep a ball into play for more than 9 holes will this ball be able to hold up to the abuse? MGS Ball Tests on scuffing
6. Visuals - logo / alignment – do I like the looks of the ball? Does the alignment aid add or distract / distract?

I’m most excited to try out the new alignment markings as I do line up my putts using the ball alignment graphics. Here’s a good article on the topic https://mygolfspy.com/labs/mgs-labs-line-vs-no-line

 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS  7/10

Whenever I first saw this new alignment graphic in pictures online I was afraid it was going to be way too big and too way busy. One of the first things I noticed when I opened the box is the alignment graphics are actually smaller than I expected from seeing pictures online. Don’t get me wrong, there's still a lot going on—there are three different sections of the alignment arrows which are comprised of three alignment lines with the two outside lines comprised of two thinner lines. The front and back of each arrow are at different angles and are different a thickness from the side lines. With all of that going on the entirety of the graphic is still a bit narrower than I thought it would be. The fine lines make it more discrete than expected. Also the lack of color when compared to something like triple track or tour response track. Don't give me wrong. There's still a lot going on, but it's just a little smaller and more discrete than I expected.

There's already several good unboxing pictures on here (and especially by @tw1ns in the Maxfli Tour S thread) , so I thought I would skip straight to some on course comparisons with other popular alignment balls. 

Thanks for the mention - did some driver testing today.  Similar #’s between my gamer, The Vice Pro, and ProV1x and the Maxfli Tour.  I think it is all going to come down to the putting for me and if the alignment aid helps or not.  

Edited March 7 by tw1ns

[vandyland]

15 hours ago, knotthead17 said:

New pic alert! Main Post

Also that .gif of the rolling golf ball is really good. 

[Middler]

Entirely personal preferences, but that's hideous to me. I play Maxfli Tours, I hope I'll be able to buy them without the Max Align Tech. I probably won't buy Maxflis anymore otherwise...

Edited March 7 by Middler