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

[scotter032]

12 minutes ago, Sonny Beach said:

You can only adjust the alignment markings on the green or the tee so when you find them pointing in the wrong direction on the course, does it cause anyone to have negative thoughts? If they encourage a proper swing path, wouldn't they also encourage an improper swing path. Jedi mind tricks 

Despite the force being strong with this question, your Jedi mind tricks have no power over me.... and neither did the off alignment of the aid. In my experience, the aid helped with directing the ball towards the path I wanted it to travel when I could set the ball up to do so, and not so much affecting my swing itself. I didn't find it too large causing a distraction when looking at the ball either, I could look past it. 

[tdc1]

15 minutes ago, Sonny Beach said:

You can only adjust the alignment markings on the green or the tee so when you find them pointing in the wrong direction on the course, does it cause anyone to have negative thoughts? If they encourage a proper swing path, wouldn't they also encourage an improper swing path. Jedi mind tricks 

I’ve used multiple styles—Tour Response Stripe, Q- and Z-Star two tone, Callaway Triple Track and 360, TP5 Pix, plus my own markings—without any issues from the fairway, rough or sand.  But, as I often remind myself, I’m not good enough to think on the golf course so Jedi mind tricks don’t get to me.  

[Rob Person]

9 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

@Rob Person

Rob, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Not sure if that is true, but here is my putter pendulum arm. I run a 5/15 rod through the tubing as my fulcrum arm. So there is enough stiffness to insure twisting does not occur.  There are so many variables I do not have or that I cannot measure that I must rely on empirical data to provide my results. 

If given the opportunity to test balls again - and I just may test these balls against some new Chrome Soft, Zstars, and ProVs for tracking and dispersion as a comparison, I will put the pendulum shaft in a set of roller bearings, do some weighing of the pendulums, and do some spot on measurements of distance traveled to establish the 5 time constant distances that will allow me to reasonably predict  how far a ball will roll straight before mother nature kicks in.  

This is very well constructed,  and probably heavy too! Ingenuity at its finest!

 

 

[vandyland]

We are in florida this week so a little trip for the Tour X align

was lining the ball up on all tee shots and putts. It is not a very distracting line at all and I think I prefer it to the triple track.

[EnderinAZ]

Today I went to a different practice green to try and get a little better footage for the review off of the 9000 putter head. The problem is there is NO deviation in the ball roll. I built the 9000 to repeat the same putting motion over and over again and it does that flawlessly. And, the tour X rolls flawlessly on the same exact line over and over again. 

It does not matter how it is oriented. The ball rolls where the putter head wants it to go, simple as that. The Max Alignment Technology looks cooler as the ball rolls away, but, if you have a repeatable putting stroke, with this ball you have repeatable results on the green. 

It actually has me in awe! And I really really want to stack these balls against some Chrome Softs and ZStars I have, still in the sleeve, in my garage. But that is not part of our mandate, and will have to wait until chipping testing, which starts Thursday, is completed. 

The repeatability of these balls could make my final report rather dull and quite short. Kind of like trying to report on large pane of glass that fills a living room window.

The glass is smooth and clear and stops the outside weather from getting inside. We had to put semi clear stickers on the glass to get the birds to stop smashing into the window..... 

[vandyland]

8 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

It does not matter how it is oriented. The ball rolls where the putter head wants it to go, simple as that. The Max Alignment Technology looks cooler as the ball rolls away, but, if you have a repeatable putting stroke, with this ball you have repeatable results on the green. 

I have found the same thing. The alignment is good but doesn't seem to impact how the ball rolls, anecdotally, for me. 

Played a full round with them here in Florida and was hitting my distances as I expect vs what I see out of a ProV1x. Flight with the irons seems higher (which is fine) and we had a bit of wind here and I didn't see the ball getting batted down out of the sky. Unfortunately, I did donate one ball to the water (there is water on every hole at the golf course here) but thankfully I still have plenty of balls. Another thing I noticed is that I didn't have any "road rash" on the ball from wedges. I noticed the new Titleist White box balls were a little "fragile" when it came to that. So far, these are resilient. 

Also, I was lining up all my tee shots and putts (which doesn't take much time) and seemed to suggest I had a "slight" aiming problem off the tee. I initially didn't trust the lined up ball (parallax effect probably) but found if I adjusted a little left, voila, the ball went a little left of target. So next round (tomorrow) we are full commitment to trusting the alignment aid off the tee. 

Edited March 13 by vandyland

[vandyland]

Played a second round yesterday, this time in a 15-20 mph wind most of the day. Good results downwind and in crosswind but, as is expected with a high spin ball, gets eaten up a little into the wind. I had 129 into a flag with a 20 mph headwind and hit my 135 club and came up 10 yds short.

 

I think ProV1x would also have gotten eaten up by that wind. Also loved the alignment aid on putts. Also got it to line up for an approach shot (see above) naturally. Getting more comfortable on tee shots as well. 

Edited March 15 by vandyland

[knotthead17]

Waiting for all of this snow to melt in Denver to get back to it! Are there any other specific requests for testing / pics or questions? 

[EnderinAZ]

Update to the A&M 9000 testing and some interesting results. 

First I need to put the definition of Force in here:

Physicists use the newton, a unit of the International System (SI), for measuring force. A newton is the force needed to accelerate a body weighing one kilogram by one metre per second per second.

I did some time stamped video work to find what a rough estimation of the acceleration of the ball after being struck and found the force applied by my putter head and shaft is 9.24 Newtons or 2.0773 lbf (pounds of force applied). This number is close but not actual. But, it does tell us that if I had put the 9000 on a frozen glass smooth pond the ball would travel around 71 yards per second.

I am not going to get into the math as most readers would find the math dull to say the least.

But, here is what 9.24 Newtons of force looks like!

As a side note, and this is kind of scary. You can see in the video below my markers which I use to center the ball. A difference of 1/16th of an inch either forward (away from the putter head) or back can change the roll distance by as much as a foot when stroked with a constant force and angle!

 

What I can tell you that over several days and different greens and conditions the balls come to final rest normally in an area that is 10 inches wide and 3 inches deep. This is true for the longest and mid range putter setting. The shortest setting I can place all of the ball markers (a piece of blue painters tape) under a 3X5 note card. This is true for uphill and downhill putts. 

Here is the really interesting part that will not be part of the final report. Yesterday while getting some of the slow motion contact and data collection videos a lady came up and asked "What are you doing?" I explained the MSG testing process, showed her our balls, and stroked one with the 9000. 

She held up the three balls she was practice putting with - two Callaway SuperSoft and one Titleist TrueFeel. The supersofts were brand new, the titleist had been played 1 round. She asked me to test her practice balls. It was a nice sunny day, the green was dry and running true so I said "Okay sure." The supersofts ran true but not as far as the Maxfli. They stopped within 2 inches of each other. The Truefeel on the other hand veered off to the left as it slowed to a stop. It traveled almost a foot. We reset the ball and tried again. This time it rolled to the right not quite a foot. The third time back to the left just short of a foot. 

Empirical testing told us that essentially brand new ball was internally lopsided right out of the box. And if she continued to use this ball and putted to die the ball into the hole she would rarely if ever make a first putt.  

 

Edited March 17 by EnderinAZ

[GolferXY]

Great video and story!  I love have a magician...er...engineer....in the testing group!!!

MGS has shown that many brands are lopsided out of the box, but this demonstrates the effect of the off-centered core.  Well done.

[EnderinAZ]

So took the Tour X to the course today. Off the tee box and longer shots at the green the ball feels nice off the club head and can be worked to the left. I am sure it can be worked to the right as well just I cannot do that on command. 

Around the green, yeah these balls are something special. Wonderful feel, tight spinny results on that kind of shot, and a true roll at the flag. 

One other thing. I snap hooked one out of bounds into a cinderblock wall. Extended my on course fishing rod to its fullest extent and fished the ball out of a back yard. Besides having an odd discoloration the ball was unblemished. 

So another observation is these balls are tough, seriously tough!

[GolferXY]

You didn't happen to wash a ball the day previously did you? 

[vandyland]

Testing to see if this gif works…

[mackdaddy]

I bought a dozen of these to test. 

I wanted to find a second tier priced urethane ball.  I liked that the compression was a bit lower than tour balls and higher than most of the soft balls.  It felt good and flew well.  It was a fairway finder with the driver to a point (I'll come back to it).   It was as long with my irons as any of the soft balls.  They spin around the green (50 yards & in) was not as good for me.  Full and 3/4 wedges were good for hop and stop. 

The overriding thing I found with the ball was it scuffs to easily!  After every hole that I hit a full or 3/4 swing wedge the next drive spun off the fairway.  Finally I noticed the large scuff on the ball from my wedge. 

The savings are negated from the buy price if they can't be played after any full swing wedges.  I would need 5 or 6 balls per round.  Playing with the scuff turns the ball off the planet if I go after one.  I do not slice and rarely snap hook (a handful a year).    I sliced a ball 40 yards and snap hooked one.  Both balls were struck in the center of the face.  (the TSR 3 leaves a distinct mark on the face).  

I also tested the Chrome Tour and that is the ball I will play this year.

[Shrek74]

1 hour ago, mackdaddy said:

I bought a dozen of these to test. 

I wanted to find a second tier priced urethane ball.  I liked that the compression was a bit lower than tour balls and higher than most of the soft balls.  It felt good and flew well.  It was a fairway finder with the driver to a point (I'll come back to it).   It was as long with my irons as any of the soft balls.  They spin around the green (50 yards & in) was not as good for me.  Full and 3/4 wedges were good for hop and stop. 

The overriding thing I found with the ball was it scuffs to easily!  After every hole that I hit a full or 3/4 swing wedge the next drive spun off the fairway.  Finally I noticed the large scuff on the ball from my wedge. 

The savings are negated from the buy price if they can't be played after any full swing wedges.  I would need 5 or 6 balls per round.  Playing with the scuff turns the ball off the planet if I go after one.  I do not slice and rarely snap hook (a handful a year).    I sliced a ball 40 yards and snap hooked one.  Both balls were struck in the center of the face.  (the TSR 3 leaves a distinct mark on the face).  

I also tested the Chrome Tour and that is the ball I will play this year.

Interesting. For each review I see stating the Maxfli's aren't durable enough, I see 10 that say they played the same ball for 2+ rounds without a scratch. Obviously, everyone plays differently and every course is different as is every round. But durability hasn't really been much of a problem for Maxfli in most reviews I've seen and read. But as I said, each person is different. Hopefully other balls in the dozen do better for you.

[vandyland]

19 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

For each review I see stating the Maxfli's aren't durable enough,

I have found these to be more durable than ProV1x and Snells but those are the only balls I had played extensively before this. Also more durable than the Titleist "white box" testing that turned out to be the new AVX ball. 

[EnderinAZ]

2 hours ago, mackdaddy said:

The overriding thing I found with the ball was it scuffs to easily!  After every hole that I hit a full or 3/4 swing wedge the next drive spun off the fairway.  Finally I noticed the large scuff on the ball from my wedge. 

That is very interesting, because the ball you describe is not the one that I have been testing or playing with. I played 18 yesterday for the second time with the same ball and the only change is where I filled in the Max Align Technology arrow with red Sharpie. The red is being pounded off the ball. 

For me the ball has a sweet responsive feel around the green and an extremely repeatable roll on putts. Shot an 81 with 8 up and down opportunities for par successfully made. I did not bounce the ball off a tree or the cart path. I was in three traps and bounced one off a boundary wall. It hit the wall from a high long 3 wood shot (and stayed in bounds ). 

Thanks @mackdaddy for your observation. I will add a short video of my ball inspection after rounds to my resultant report. 

Edited March 21 by EnderinAZ
not ready to add a video yer

[vandyland]

Had a brilliant round yesterday, tied my career low at public course here in town with a 73. The highlight of the round was my putting which I think I have to attribute a good portion of to the alignment aid. What I find interesting about how large the arrows are is that it gives you a better sense of where you are aimed. A small little line can be easily misinterpreted by the eye as being on line. Also, when lining up tee shots, I noticed that when I am RIGHT behind the ball it looks different than if I take 3 steps backward. Not sure if that is parallax effect or just depth perception but I have learned to trust the view on putts and full shots from 3-4 feet back rather than right behind the ball. Also, I hit 12/18 greens yesterday and the majority of my misses were long so I don't have any fears about this ball being short. It held up well on firm greens and was a joy to play. One person in my group actually saw my ball in the fairway and was like "Are you playing a Maxfli? I thought all you low cap guys played ProV1x or Chromesoft?" I then extolled the virtues of the Maxfli and he is going to buy a box tomorrow. Haha. Might have another convert. 
o

Edited March 21 by vandyland

[tdc1]

6 minutes ago, vandyland said:

Had a brilliant round yesterday, tied my career low at public course here in town with a 73. The highlight of the round was my putting which I think I have to attribute a good portion of to the alignment aid. What I find interesting about how large the arrows are is that it gives you a better sense of where you are aimed. 

Congrats @vandyland!  Nicely played — the kind of round I can only dream about.

[GolferXY]

Love it! When you score a PB while testing a new product you at least know it isn't hindering performance! And in this case sounds like it had a positive impact on your game. Looking forward to future write ups. I'm curious about how the ball stands up to my type of.golf, which includes lots.of trees, one or two threes, and in one case a nest of bees.

 

[mackdaddy]

1 hour ago, EnderinAZ said:

That is very interesting, because the ball you describe is not the one that I have been testing or playing with. I played 18 yesterday for the second time with the same ball and the only change is where I filled in the Max Align Technology arrow with red Sharpie. The red is being pounded off the ball. 

For me the ball has a sweet responsive feel around the green and an extremely repeatable roll on putts. Shot an 81 with 8 up and down opportunities for par successfully made. I did not bounce the ball off a tree or the cart path. I was in three traps and bounced one off a boundary wall. It hit the wall from a high long 3 wood shot (and stayed in bounds ). 

Thanks @mackdaddy for your observation. I will add a short video of my ball inspection after rounds to my resultant report. 

The Maxfli Tour ball is what I was using.  I did not hit it on any cart paths or trees,  the scuffs came from my MD4 wedge.  I like to fly the ball close to the hole with spin around the greens more than pitch and roll.  I also have brand new wedges with fresh grooves and faces.   I didn't find the ball to spin to a stop the way the Callaway Chrome Tour Srixon Z star or Titleist Pro V1x do for me.  I am glad you enjoy the ball and that it responds for you the way you need it to.  No ball is good for everyone's game.

[mackdaddy]

4 hours ago, mackdaddy said:

I bought a dozen of these to test. 

I wanted to find a second tier priced urethane ball.  I liked that the compression was a bit lower than tour balls and higher than most of the soft balls.  It felt good and flew well.  It was a fairway finder with the driver to a point (I'll come back to it).   It was as long with my irons as any of the soft balls.  They spin around the green (50 yards & in) was not as good for me.  Full and 3/4 wedges were good for hop and stop. 

The overriding thing I found with the ball was it scuffs to easily!  After every hole that I hit a full or 3/4 swing wedge the next drive spun off the fairway.  Finally I noticed the large scuff on the ball from my wedge. 

The savings are negated from the buy price if they can't be played after any full swing wedges.  I would need 5 or 6 balls per round.  Playing with the scuff turns the ball off the planet if I go after one.  I do not slice and rarely snap hook (a handful a year).    I sliced a ball 40 yards and snap hooked one.  Both balls were struck in the center of the face.  (the TSR 3 leaves a distinct mark on the face).  

I also tested the Chrome Tour and that is the ball I will play this year.

I also bought them hoping for your results in my game I would love to get balls for 35% less and keep the results I am used to.

[chisag]

1 hour ago, mackdaddy said:

I also bought them hoping for your results in my game I would love to get balls for 35% less and keep the results I am used to.

 

... Interesting as I guess we all play our own game. My playing pard won $200 playing in the Arizona Golf Ass Championship with lightening fast greens at 7100yds, and he switched last year from ProV1x to Maxfli Tour X. He says they are virtually identical for his game. I love the Maxfli Tour but will admit the cover is just a little less durable than the Chrome Tour or new TP5x. For me, it is no different scuffing than any ball I have played but the cover does begin to lose its luster after 18 holes compared to the CT and TP5x. If I don't land in a bunker or hit any desert areas those two look almost new after 18 holes. But I start every round with a new ball so the slight loss of gloss with the Maxfli Tours are irrelevant for my game since the performance is very similar to the other two balls. I keep the "played one round balls" in my bag in case I find the water, or hit a cart path and scuff my ball and then I will put one I played for 18 holes in play. No need for a new ball in the middle of my round. Obviously Ymv's. 

... I bought 3 doz Chrome Tours and just ordered 4 dozen Tp5x with a Peach instead of a number so I should have a better idea of how they perform on the course in the next few months. 

Edited March 21 by chisag

[EnderinAZ]

2 hours ago, mackdaddy said:

The Maxfli Tour ball is what I was using.  I did not hit it on any cart paths or trees,  the scuffs came from my MD4 wedge.  I like to fly the ball close to the hole with spin around the greens more than pitch and roll.  I also have brand new wedges with fresh grooves and faces.   I didn't find the ball to spin to a stop the way the Callaway Chrome Tour Srixon Z star or Titleist Pro V1x do for me.  I am glad you enjoy the ball and that it responds for you the way you need it to.  No ball is good for everyone's game.

Makes me wonder if Maxfli changed the cover construction for this year. I am hard on golf balls and beat them up on a regular basis with hard spinny  shots.

 

[knotthead17]

1 hour ago, EnderinAZ said:

Makes me wonder if Maxfli changed the cover construction for this year. I am hard on golf balls and beat them up on a regular basis with hard spinny  shots.

 

I've done some durability testing (pics to come) and I have to say they are a touch less durable than the other Maxfli balls I currently have. Not bad, but I'd say a tier 2 kind of performance

[mackdaddy]

1 hour ago, EnderinAZ said:

Makes me wonder if Maxfli changed the cover construction for this year. I am hard on golf balls and beat them up on a regular basis with hard spinny  shots.

 

That may be the case.  The ball I have came from Dick's and doesn't have that alinement aid.

[EnderinAZ]

Changed the 9000 chipper yesterday. Needed to adjust it for a bit more loft. The wedge head was an old Confidence sand wedge. I ground down the bounce and thinned the leading edge a bit to work with the 9000 better. 

 

Now that I know it will work I will go get a bit more footage. I am pretty sure I can find the sweet spot where the ball will pop up like a lob shot.

 

Edited March 22 by EnderinAZ
added video

[knotthead17]

6 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

Changed the 9000 chipper yesterday. Needed to adjust it for a bit more loft. The wedge head was an old Confidence sand wedge. I ground down the bounce and thinned the leading edge a bit to work with the 9000 better. 

 

Now that I know it will work I will go get a bit more footage. I am pretty sure I can find the sweet spot where the ball will pop up like a lob shot.

 

Love it! 

[GolferXY]

7 hours ago, EnderinAZ said:

Changed the 9000 chipper yesterday.

HAH!  Is that a cavity back chipper or blade?  I love the testing and videos, Enderen!

[vandyland]

Well, I may have spoke too soon on the durability. Here is my ball (a new one) after 4 holes:

I couldn’t feel any of the rash with my hand but it clearly is marked up. In fairness, I think it caught a piece of cartpath on #3 but still. This is quite marked up. Something to monitor…