Bridgestone MindSet Golf Ball Testing - (Sampling and Shot Scope Ops)

[Timberwolfmadcat]

3 hours ago, Freshbrockoli said:

This looks awesome, how has it been treating you? 

Well...never did this before so...ya. Fairway % way up as well, scoring dropped like 4 or 5 shots per round

[Timberwolfmadcat]

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

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[Rob Person]

6 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Congratulations!!!

[tdc1]

7 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Congratulations!  How did you manage to keep control for the next two holes?

[TJ Hall]

7 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Congratulations!  Definitely need to set at least one of the mindset aside!

[William P]

8 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Congrats!

[OdinSnipes414]

8 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Looks like you kept your mindset right after the HIO! Grats brother 

[Timberwolfmadcat]

Congratulations!  How did you manage to keep control for the next two holes?

I literally wondered the same thing as did my playing partners I lipped out the par put on 7 and the chip on 8 was 3" from being perfect....caught fringe and it checked up hard and left me like 25ft...and then I missed the come back putt at 4' which again lipped out

Thank god I didn't totally suck though, coulda shot a 45 or something and not wanted to show anyone the scorecard

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[buckpillar]

11 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Does this mean I need to make this my gamer?

First ever...I guess if nothing else I won't lose all the mindsets

Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Congratulations!!!  How did you spend buying drinks for everyone?

[Michael.Sandoval33]

My last two outings I have taken the RX ball out and have had a great amount of success with them using both driver and irons. It's hard to knock a great feeling ball, but around the greens is still a mystery with the Bridgestones. Going to try the RXS and XS soon. 

[Timberwolfmadcat]

22 hours ago, Michael.Sandoval33 said:

My last two outings I have taken the RX ball out and have had a great amount of success with them using both driver and irons. It's hard to knock a great feeling ball, but around the greens is still a mystery with the Bridgestones. Going to try the RXS and XS soon. 

You need the BX or BXS for greenside spin I've found. Honestly the BXS is basically midway b/w a V1 and V1X...closer to a V1X. I'm a guy without lots of spin, so my next set will most defs be bxs

[yungkory]

1 hour ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

You need the BX or BXS for greenside spin I've found. Honestly the BXS is basically midway b/w a V1 and V1X...closer to a V1X. I'm a guy without lots of spin, so my next set will most defs be bxs

I found that I can't control the spin on the XS because... I'm not very good. I'm also without lots of spin, and I've shockingly spun the XS up into the wind more than a few times, which is not great in Hawaii. The big cat switching off of the XS has me really wondering who the heck that ball is for?

Congrats on the ace! My first/only was also using a BX, but last generation's!

[rilesaustin]

Final Review

Performance: The balls themselves are quite impressive. I saw a lack of distance in the long balls not carrying out some 10 yards, some courses that's negligible but sometimes i need to know its going to carry out that extra 10 if i try to go for it. It spins very well and has great stopping power. Everything would rival the Prov1 except for that long ball can get spinny. 

 

Which moves me to my next round of testing i wanted to try, the mindset ball with the Titliest Prov1. While not as graphically impressive as the Bridgestone, it did work very similarly. I think the idea behind a more constructed pre shot routine, picking a target, visualizing a shot, and freeing your mind after this. As long as i could commit to this, the better tee shots i would have. I have also been in some swing changes so i realized if i stuck to mindset, it would help iron out the tee shots. In the tournaments without the mindset I performed awfully after testing these for a month and a half. Then going back to the process that these balls give, I am back to shooting lower scores. 

 

Results Bridgestone: It was around a 8% increase in fairways with the bridgestone balls. However, i do feel like i was driving it the best at this time. This feeling comes and goes but still worked. I did win my first tournament with this golf ball so perhaps i will continue to use it just for that vibe alone. 

Results titlies ProV1 post Mindset use: lead to a couple of low scores and couple of high scores but that's just golf. I will probably start marking my balls in a similar way as the Mindset to put the best of both worlds on one golf ball. 

 

Mindset: 9/10

Bridgestone Tour B XS: 9/10

[Timberwolfmadcat]

Played my final #10 round with mindset yesterday. Will finish compiling all the data and do my formal/final review later this week.

With the interesting thing being I played like a bag of hot traaasshhh on Sunday and still managed to shoot an 80 hitting 3 gir (zero on the front 9 )

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[Freshbrockoli]

I am pleasantly surprised with these golf balls. I played a few times with them at first and didn’t know how I felt. The mindset markers took a bit to get used to but once you zone in on them I found it to have a calming effect on me. I’ll be posting pics and stats in my next post. 

[GolferDad66]

Probably my last post on this. I never felt very comfortable with the arrow facing forward. I feel the line is too short. However with my last couple balls, I started flipping the arrow so that it faces my club. Let me tell you, positioned this was I feel it is giving me a better target line for the club head to follow and try to hit. Give it a try.

 

[yungkory]

35 minutes ago, GolferDad66 said:

Probably my last post on this. I never felt very comfortable with the arrow facing forward. I feel the line is too short. However with my last couple balls, I started flipping the arrow so that it faces my club. Let me tell you, positioned this was I feel it is giving me a better target line for the club head to follow and try to hit. Give it a try.

 

You lefties really are completely backwards!

[GolferDad66]

Hey! Lefties are people (golfers) too!!  

[Timberwolfmadcat]

I promise an update next week! It was a tough decision, but mindset was my ball of choice for club championship this year. I played the best front 9 ever from that teebox, on absolutely lightning greens (only reason I didn't go lower, everything ran like 5' past the hole ). Took a triple on #10 from the worst tee shot I've ever hit in my life on that hole (and we play a tee box up and I only had to hit 5 wood ).Missed 2 birdie putts from inside 10' (one of them ended up as a 3 putt cuz slippery downhill). Still played so solid I'll be using it again today for round 2

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[Michael.Sandoval33]

1 hour ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

I promise an update next week! It was a tough decision, but mindset was my ball of choice for club championship this year. I played the best front 9 ever from that teebox, on absolutely lightning greens (only reason I didn't go lower, everything ran like 5' past the hole ). Took a triple on #10 from the worst tee shot I've ever hit in my life on that hole (and we play a tee box up and I only had to hit 5 wood ).Missed 2 birdie putts from inside 10' (one of them ended up as a 3 putt cuz slippery downhill). Still played so solid I'll be using it again today for round 2

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Knock em dead!

[knotthead17]

On 6/22/2024 at 7:13 AM, Timberwolfmadcat said:

I do wonder if the mindset logo is a visual "focus cue" that improves mental focus and prevents sloppy play. That's the major thing I've noticed, less sloppy shots

https://www.golfdigest.com/story/focus-cue-golf-iq-sloppy-mistakes-golf-digest-improve?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=golfdigest&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2MNuQJk3AC3_QKVwXUNzD157CK0tHCUYmnGsLIVO8O4wOLQcmajSWUMm0_aem_-rcc645U2zUv9tuqbRLRMg

Yeah probably more impactful for those who golf a decent amount but don't have a set shot routine 

[rilesaustin]

I’ve done more testing between this ball and my normal prov1x with a line, then a line and a dot, and then no dot. 
 

I miss significantly more fairways when I don’t line up the ball down the fairway or intended spot to start the ball. For me this ball comes down to more about the aiming aspect. When things start getting crazy during a tournament, the idea of having the fairway pointed for me is the main benefactor I’m finding. I don’t even notice the green dot by the time I get through my whole process. 
 

The lining up definitely reinforces what I’m trying to hit. I still have about 6 of these balls so I’m still able to get more tests in and occasionally see how I’m playing with them. I played a whole tournament with 1 ball and played well so again, the anecdotal data is there for me to understand the concept of the ball. If I don’t use it in the future it definitely has taught me how to slow down in the midst of a tournament and think about where my target and fairway is. 

[Timberwolfmadcat]

Sorry...the man has me working a bunch of ot lately....final review coming but me buying a box of the BXS instead of my standard left dash should give some implication of my decision...

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[Timberwolfmadcat]

Mindset


Backstory

I recieved 2 dozen of the BX for testing, and then went out and bought another dozen of the BXS  because i noticed some struggle holding greens. I honestly think I will go back and forth on the BX and BXS depending on course and conditions. My test methodology started as strictly mindset, but I went to alternating rounds with gamer and mindset to give a more accurate reflection of statistics. I am going to emphasize picking/getting fit for the right ball with correct spin and launch characteristics. I'm an engineer by trade, so numbers and data are my life…excel is my jam


I've been a left dash/maxfli Tour guy for many years…with left dash being for competition play and the maxflis for “standard” rounds or when I'm working on swing stuff.


I play off a 2.4 index ATM, and I get categorized as a “low spin” player. My AOA with irons is around -2 or 3, and driver is about +5. Driver SS hovers around 100-105 (ballspeed around 150ish if I don't suck), 7i ballspeed around 120 mph with blade lofts (a couple degrees weak from “standard”). All clubs are fit and so was my ball. witb is TM mini copper @11.5 tensie white proto 2.0 60-tx, 5 wood TM M5 w/ hzdrs smoke black 60-x,2i Wilson staff blade w/ graphite design tour AD 105-x. 4-pw is Wilson staff blades w/dynamic gold 120s. 49,53,58 are Taylormade MG. 2 and 4i are 1 degree up, remainder are 2up. All ½ long aside from wedges which are all same length as PW.


Unfortunately I dealt with some equipment failures (cracked face on driver and broken shaft in 2i) that took 3+ months to sort out. 


Final verdict -9/10. 

The only reason this is not a 10 is I think I need a inbetween ball b/w the BX and BXS. The S is absolutely dynamite with the irons but I noticed a pretty big dip of about 7 yards or more when playing a bit vs the standard BX. That said the BX is fantastic off the driver and quite good off the irons, I just noticed a bit too much rollout and difficulty holding greens from 180+ out. 


I was originally skeptical about mindset, as I have a pre shot routine, etc already. What mindset has done has increase focus level immensely, it's basically a second gear if you want to call it that. I put my trust in it for club championship this year (first time in about 5 years I haven't used left dash), and it did not disappoint. I shot my two best rounds in club C's, and that was with 4 horrible holes (a triple and double each day)...if i neglected those two I would have taken the low gross champ. Regardless to say I put my trust in it and it did not disappoint. And I got my first hole in one in 23 years of playing sooooo


Where I have seen the most improvement with the mindset balls is my “reverse handicap”. With standard balls, average score around 77, good rounds 74-75. That said I'd have the occasional 84-85 every 5 or 6 rounds. Now, when I play poorly it's a 78…good rounds are 70-71, average still hovers around 74-75. 


My Mindset Methodology/Process


I do find using mindset “forces” me to stop, take a little more time and actually think, get my breathing and clear my head prior to just going up there and firing away with not stellar results. I will note if you are working on major swing changes that require a lot of focus/thought, mindset for those rounds may not be in your best interest as it will overload your brain and make it hard to pick what to focus on.


Off the tee

What I found with aligning it where I wanted the start line to be produced interesting results but I was way too focused on direction to the point I really struggled with contact. What I found works best (for me) was to point the arrow basically 90 degrees in the direction I wanted to curve the ball. If I was trying to hit it absolutely straight, the arrow pointed back towards me. Visualization of ball flight was from the ball going towards the target (more on that later )


Irons/approach

With mindset not  being “visible” in actual tournament play, it seems the process/memory isn't lost between tee and green. Long iron shots 160+ I will typically visualize from ball going towards green. Now for shorter shots/wedges I've actually found success going reverse from the finishing point back to the ball.


Putting

This is the one area where I use the alignment religiously. It's rare I make a bad putt with mindset, and generally the reason I miss is a bad read. Anything 15’ and in my make percentage has increased substantially. Visualization is from the hole back, typically once but occasionally twice if I'm uncertain on the read. Committal is key, once I pick line and speed…there is no second guessing. I've noticed without mindset I sometimes try and adjust partway they impact either line or speed. 


BXS Eval


I only played one round with the BXS yesterday, but I decided to have a good ball striking/playing day and managed to put it through its paces on course. Hit and stick from 175 out with a 7i (see photo) was a pleasant surprise, the BX probably would have rolled out 4-5 yards. I saw similar hit and stick/suck back with wedges, but wedges were only about a 2ft suck back. Normally high spin balls I'll rip em back 10ft when hitting that same shot. Pleasantly surprised and carded my best 18 of the year on that course from the back tees. This will likely be my “gamer” going forward as it really gave me great opportunities to score well. results from the round for SG shown in last one


Hard Numbers/Results


The first thing you should see right off the bat with the SG comparison is how much more “even” I am across the board with mindset. Less variability leads to more consistent play and consequently scoring. 


SG Tee/FW%

I personally think the algorithm on shot scopes side needs some work in this regard. I've had a number of rounds where I spray it off the tee, and one of my typical courses fairways are maybe 20-30 yards wide, if you miss by a yard you are hosed and are either punching out or trying hero hooks/fades to try and get close to the green. It seems to overtly penalize my approach shots SG for poor tee shots that make an approach shot impossible. On a number of holes on each of my typical courses it is way better to be 10 yards off the fairway on one side than on the edge of fairway on the other side as you're blocked out by trees/overhanging limbs.


The interesting thing to note here is my fairway hit % went down by ~10% with mindset…yet my SG approach were almost 2 strokes better and my GIR % increased as well.  With mindset the data suggests smaller misses or misses in better locations to the point I could hit recovery shots closer/have a chance to get more gir.


SG approach/GIR

Again I think the shot scope algorithm needs some work, but it's pretty clear my iron play/gir is significantly better with mindset than without. Honestly when I went back to no mindset balls I played so bad I went out and bought more mindsets


SG Short Game

Marginal improvement from stock/gamer…it's enough to be statistically relevant but not anything earth shattering. That said I'm a pretty good short game player with an Up/Down % around 60%. Again…just a little bit of a slowdown and more methodical approach seems to save me half a stroke a round or so. 


SG putting/#of putts

Honestly, # of putts is more telling…I wish shot scope did a “holes length” calculation as that's probably a better way to gauge it. Keep in mind the mindset had two tournament rounds in that data, with brutal pins and greens running around 14-15 on the stimp(estimate…I've played a measured 13 stimp at PGA west stadium earlier this year…these were still way faster). Putting neither better nor worse, the maxflis are cg balanced along the alignment line which I actually credit to holding more putts


Driving distance

With BX, negligible. More variable on how well or poorly I hit my tee shots that day. When I hit it well with mindset I was hovering around 280-285 average off the tee. Gamer around 265-270. BXS was noticeably shorter, might warrant a shaft change/head loft tweak to pull the spin down. With the maxfli tours I'm around 2400 and 14 launch, only because my miss is a low spin hook that when I do that it's still around 1900. I think the BXS is probably hovering around 2800 judging by the ball flight (saw it spin up partway thru flight…254 carry for 150 ballspeed isn't great for me). Honestly..I'm lousy with my driver anyways, so I'll probably elect to stick with the ball that performs significantly better for the iron/wedge shots and monkey with the driver settings to get a little more amicable results. 


Overall Bridgestone has convinced me this is more than a gimmick and can unlock my playing potential more often.







Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk

[Rob Person]

1 hour ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Mindset


Backstory

I recieved 2 dozen of the BX for testing, and then went out and bought another dozen of the BXS  because i noticed some struggle holding greens. I honestly think I will go back and forth on the BX and BXS depending on course and conditions. My test methodology started as strictly mindset, but I went to alternating rounds with gamer and mindset to give a more accurate reflection of statistics. I am going to emphasize picking/getting fit for the right ball with correct spin and launch characteristics. I'm an engineer by trade, so numbers and data are my life…excel is my jam


I've been a left dash/maxfli Tour guy for many years…with left dash being for competition play and the maxflis for “standard” rounds or when I'm working on swing stuff.


I play off a 2.4 index ATM, and I get categorized as a “low spin” player. My AOA with irons is around -2 or 3, and driver is about +5. Driver SS hovers around 100-105 (ballspeed around 150ish if I don't suck), 7i ballspeed around 120 mph with blade lofts (a couple degrees weak from “standard”). All clubs are fit and so was my ball. witb is TM mini copper @11.5 tensie white proto 2.0 60-tx, 5 wood TM M5 w/ hzdrs smoke black 60-x,2i Wilson staff blade w/ graphite design tour AD 105-x. 4-pw is Wilson staff blades w/dynamic gold 120s. 49,53,58 are Taylormade MG. 2 and 4i are 1 degree up, remainder are 2up. All ½ long aside from wedges which are all same length as PW.


Unfortunately I dealt with some equipment failures (cracked face on driver and broken shaft in 2i) that took 3+ months to sort out. 


Final verdict -9/10. 

The only reason this is not a 10 is I think I need a inbetween ball b/w the BX and BXS. The S is absolutely dynamite with the irons but I noticed a pretty big dip of about 7 yards or more when playing a bit vs the standard BX. That said the BX is fantastic off the driver and quite good off the irons, I just noticed a bit too much rollout and difficulty holding greens from 180+ out. 


I was originally skeptical about mindset, as I have a pre shot routine, etc already. What mindset has done has increase focus level immensely, it's basically a second gear if you want to call it that. I put my trust in it for club championship this year (first time in about 5 years I haven't used left dash), and it did not disappoint. I shot my two best rounds in club C's, and that was with 4 horrible holes (a triple and double each day)...if i neglected those two I would have taken the low gross champ. Regardless to say I put my trust in it and it did not disappoint. And I got my first hole in one in 23 years of playing sooooo


Where I have seen the most improvement with the mindset balls is my “reverse handicap”. With standard balls, average score around 77, good rounds 74-75. That said I'd have the occasional 84-85 every 5 or 6 rounds. Now, when I play poorly it's a 78…good rounds are 70-71, average still hovers around 74-75. 


My Mindset Methodology/Process


I do find using mindset “forces” me to stop, take a little more time and actually think, get my breathing and clear my head prior to just going up there and firing away with not stellar results. I will note if you are working on major swing changes that require a lot of focus/thought, mindset for those rounds may not be in your best interest as it will overload your brain and make it hard to pick what to focus on.


Off the tee

What I found with aligning it where I wanted the start line to be produced interesting results but I was way too focused on direction to the point I really struggled with contact. What I found works best (for me) was to point the arrow basically 90 degrees in the direction I wanted to curve the ball. If I was trying to hit it absolutely straight, the arrow pointed back towards me. Visualization of ball flight was from the ball going towards the target (more on that later )


Irons/approach

With mindset not  being “visible” in actual tournament play, it seems the process/memory isn't lost between tee and green. Long iron shots 160+ I will typically visualize from ball going towards green. Now for shorter shots/wedges I've actually found success going reverse from the finishing point back to the ball.


Putting

This is the one area where I use the alignment religiously. It's rare I make a bad putt with mindset, and generally the reason I miss is a bad read. Anything 15’ and in my make percentage has increased substantially. Visualization is from the hole back, typically once but occasionally twice if I'm uncertain on the read. Committal is key, once I pick line and speed…there is no second guessing. I've noticed without mindset I sometimes try and adjust partway they impact either line or speed. 


BXS Eval


I only played one round with the BXS yesterday, but I decided to have a good ball striking/playing day and managed to put it through its paces on course. Hit and stick from 175 out with a 7i (see photo) was a pleasant surprise, the BX probably would have rolled out 4-5 yards. I saw similar hit and stick/suck back with wedges, but wedges were only about a 2ft suck back. Normally high spin balls I'll rip em back 10ft when hitting that same shot. Pleasantly surprised and carded my best 18 of the year on that course from the back tees. This will likely be my “gamer” going forward as it really gave me great opportunities to score well. results from the round for SG shown in last one


Hard Numbers/Results


The first thing you should see right off the bat with the SG comparison is how much more “even” I am across the board with mindset. Less variability leads to more consistent play and consequently scoring. 


SG Tee/FW%

I personally think the algorithm on shot scopes side needs some work in this regard. I've had a number of rounds where I spray it off the tee, and one of my typical courses fairways are maybe 20-30 yards wide, if you miss by a yard you are hosed and are either punching out or trying hero hooks/fades to try and get close to the green. It seems to overtly penalize my approach shots SG for poor tee shots that make an approach shot impossible. On a number of holes on each of my typical courses it is way better to be 10 yards off the fairway on one side than on the edge of fairway on the other side as you're blocked out by trees/overhanging limbs.


The interesting thing to note here is my fairway hit % went down by ~10% with mindset…yet my SG approach were almost 2 strokes better and my GIR % increased as well.  With mindset the data suggests smaller misses or misses in better locations to the point I could hit recovery shots closer/have a chance to get more gir.


SG approach/GIR

Again I think the shot scope algorithm needs some work, but it's pretty clear my iron play/gir is significantly better with mindset than without. Honestly when I went back to no mindset balls I played so bad I went out and bought more mindsets


SG Short Game

Marginal improvement from stock/gamer…it's enough to be statistically relevant but not anything earth shattering. That said I'm a pretty good short game player with an Up/Down % around 60%. Again…just a little bit of a slowdown and more methodical approach seems to save me half a stroke a round or so. 


SG putting/#of putts

Honestly, # of putts is more telling…I wish shot scope did a “holes length” calculation as that's probably a better way to gauge it. Keep in mind the mindset had two tournament rounds in that data, with brutal pins and greens running around 14-15 on the stimp(estimate…I've played a measured 13 stimp at PGA west stadium earlier this year…these were still way faster). Putting neither better nor worse, the maxflis are cg balanced along the alignment line which I actually credit to holding more putts


Driving distance

With BX, negligible. More variable on how well or poorly I hit my tee shots that day. When I hit it well with mindset I was hovering around 280-285 average off the tee. Gamer around 265-270. BXS was noticeably shorter, might warrant a shaft change/head loft tweak to pull the spin down. With the maxfli tours I'm around 2400 and 14 launch, only because my miss is a low spin hook that when I do that it's still around 1900. I think the BXS is probably hovering around 2800 judging by the ball flight (saw it spin up partway thru flight…254 carry for 150 ballspeed isn't great for me). Honestly..I'm lousy with my driver anyways, so I'll probably elect to stick with the ball that performs significantly better for the iron/wedge shots and monkey with the driver settings to get a little more amicable results. 


Overall Bridgestone has convinced me this is more than a gimmick and can unlock my playing potential more often.







Sent from my Pixel 8 using Tapatalk
 

Great review!

[Timberwolfmadcat]

2 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Great review!

Hope you found it helpful

[Flanpro]

5 hours ago, Rob Person said:

Great review!

 

7 hours ago, Timberwolfmadcat said:

Mindset


Backstory

I recieved 2 dozen of the BX for testing, and then went out and bought another dozen of the BXS  because i noticed some struggle holding greens. I honestly think I will go back and forth on the BX and BXS depending on course and conditions. My test methodology started as strictly mindset, but I went to alternating rounds with gamer and mindset to give a more accurate reflection of statistics. I am going to emphasize picking/getting fit for the right ball with correct spin and launch characteristics. I'm an engineer by trade, so numbers and data are my life…excel is my jam


I've been a left dash/maxfli Tour guy for many years…with left dash being for competition play and the maxflis for “standard” rounds or when I'm working on swing stuff.


I play off a 2.4 index ATM, and I get categorized as a “low spin” player. My AOA with irons is around -2 or 3, and driver is about +5. Driver SS hovers around 100-105 (ballspeed around 150ish if I don't suck), 7i ballspeed around 120 mph with blade lofts (a couple degrees weak from “standard”). All clubs are fit and so was my ball. witb is TM mini copper @11.5 tensie white proto 2.0 60-tx, 5 wood TM M5 w/ hzdrs smoke black 60-x,2i Wilson staff blade w/ graphite design tour AD 105-x. 4-pw is Wilson staff blades w/dynamic gold 120s. 49,53,58 are Taylormade MG. 2 and 4i are 1 degree up, remainder are 2up. All ½ long aside from wedges which are all same length as PW.


Unfortunately I dealt with some equipment failures (cracked face on driver and broken shaft in 2i) that took 3+ months to sort out. 


Final verdict -9/10. 

The only reason this is not a 10 is I think I need a inbetween ball b/w the BX and BXS. The S is absolutely dynamite with the irons but I noticed a pretty big dip of about 7 yards or more when playing a bit vs the standard BX. That said the BX is fantastic off the driver and quite good off the irons, I just noticed a bit too much rollout and difficulty holding greens from 180+ out. 


I was originally skeptical about mindset, as I have a pre shot routine, etc already. What mindset has done has increase focus level immensely, it's basically a second gear if you want to call it that. I put my trust in it for club championship this year (first time in about 5 years I haven't used left dash), and it did not disappoint. I shot my two best rounds in club C's, and that was with 4 horrible holes (a triple and double each day)...if i neglected those two I would have taken the low gross champ. Regardless to say I put my trust in it and it did not disappoint. And I got my first hole in one in 23 years of playing sooooo


Where I have seen the most improvement with the mindset balls is my “reverse handicap”. With standard balls, average score around 77, good rounds 74-75. That said I'd have the occasional 84-85 every 5 or 6 rounds. Now, when I play poorly it's a 78…good rounds are 70-71, average still hovers around 74-75. 


My Mindset Methodology/Process


I do find using mindset “forces” me to stop, take a little more time and actually think, get my breathing and clear my head prior to just going up there and firing away with not stellar results. I will note if you are working on major swing changes that require a lot of focus/thought, mindset for those rounds may not be in your best interest as it will overload your brain and make it hard to pick what to focus on.


Off the tee

What I found with aligning it where I wanted the start line to be produced interesting results but I was way too focused on direction to the point I really struggled with contact. What I found works best (for me) was to point the arrow basically 90 degrees in the direction I wanted to curve the ball. If I was trying to hit it absolutely straight, the arrow pointed back towards me. Visualization of ball flight was from the ball going towards the target (more on that later )


Irons/approach

With mindset not  being “visible” in actual tournament play, it seems the process/memory isn't lost between tee and green. Long iron shots 160+ I will typically visualize from ball going towards green. Now for shorter shots/wedges I've actually found success going reverse from the finishing point back to the ball.


Putting

This is the one area where I use the alignment religiously. It's rare I make a bad putt with mindset, and generally the reason I miss is a bad read. Anything 15’ and in my make percentage has increased substantially. Visualization is from the hole back, typically once but occasionally twice if I'm uncertain on the read. Committal is key, once I pick line and speed…there is no second guessing. I've noticed without mindset I sometimes try and adjust partway they impact either line or speed. 


BXS Eval


I only played one round with the BXS yesterday, but I decided to have a good ball striking/playing day and managed to put it through its paces on course. Hit and stick from 175 out with a 7i (see photo) was a pleasant surprise, the BX probably would have rolled out 4-5 yards. I saw similar hit and stick/suck back with wedges, but wedges were only about a 2ft suck back. Normally high spin balls I'll rip em back 10ft when hitting that same shot. Pleasantly surprised and carded my best 18 of the year on that course from the back tees. This will likely be my “gamer” going forward as it really gave me great opportunities to score well. results from the round for SG shown in last one


Hard Numbers/Results


The first thing you should see right off the bat with the SG comparison is how much more “even” I am across the board with mindset. Less variability leads to more consistent play and consequently scoring. 


SG Tee/FW%

I personally think the algorithm on shot scopes side needs some work in this regard. I've had a number of rounds where I spray it off the tee, and one of my typical courses fairways are maybe 20-30 yards wide, if you miss by a yard you are hosed and are either punching out or trying hero hooks/fades to try and get close to the green. It seems to overtly penalize my approach shots SG for poor tee shots that make an approach shot impossible. On a number of holes on each of my typical courses it is way better to be 10 yards off the fairway on one side than on the edge of fairway on the other side as you're blocked out by trees/overhanging limbs.


The interesting thing to note here is my fairway hit % went down by ~10% with mindset…yet my SG approach were almost 2 strokes better and my GIR % increased as well.  With mindset the data suggests smaller misses or misses in better locations to the point I could hit recovery shots closer/have a chance to get more gir.


SG approach/GIR

Again I think the shot scope algorithm needs some work, but it's pretty clear my iron play/gir is significantly better with mindset than without. Honestly when I went back to no mindset balls I played so bad I went out and bought more mindsets


SG Short Game

Marginal improvement from stock/gamer…it's enough to be statistically relevant but not anything earth shattering. That said I'm a pretty good short game player with an Up/Down % around 60%. Again…just a little bit of a slowdown and more methodical approach seems to save me half a stroke a round or so. 


SG putting/#of putts

Honestly, # of putts is more telling…I wish shot scope did a “holes length” calculation as that's probably a better way to gauge it. Keep in mind the mindset had two tournament rounds in that data, with brutal pins and greens running around 14-15 on the stimp(estimate…I've played a measured 13 stimp at PGA west stadium earlier this year…these were still way faster). Putting neither better nor worse, the maxflis are cg balanced along the alignment line which I actually credit to holding more putts


Driving distance

With BX, negligible. More variable on how well or poorly I hit my tee shots that day. When I hit it well with mindset I was hovering around 280-285 average off the tee. Gamer around 265-270. BXS was noticeably shorter, might warrant a shaft change/head loft tweak to pull the spin down. With the maxfli tours I'm around 2400 and 14 launch, only because my miss is a low spin hook that when I do that it's still around 1900. I think the BXS is probably hovering around 2800 judging by the ball flight (saw it spin up partway thru flight…254 carry for 150 ballspeed isn't great for me). Honestly..I'm lousy with my driver anyways, so I'll probably elect to stick with the ball that performs significantly better for the iron/wedge shots and monkey with the driver settings to get a little more amicable results. 


Overall Bridgestone has convinced me this is more than a gimmick and can unlock my playing potential more often.







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Well done!

[Timberwolfmadcat]

Well, I think it's official. I'll be sticking with the BXS version for the foreseeable future. Played off a +0.3 index today and blew 3 tee shots OB oh...and I missed 4 birdie putts from inside 10' too

So ..not even mindset can fix my lousy driving but it's the best we got

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[jbern]

I played with these Mindset balls quite a bit when I first received the box of Tour B X balls for review. Then once I made it through the first sleeve, I kind of forgot about them and switched balls to maintain a consistent ball for the LAB DF3 testing opportunity. Earlier this week, I found the box in my basement and rekindled my relationship with them and took them out for two rounds this week. The rounds this week confirmed what I was thinking initially and below is my review!

TL;DR Summary

Love the Mindset ball for routine's sake. They kept my routine the same on each shot. This did not lead to better performance for me, though. I enjoy the circles and the arrows for all tee shots, when I can place the ball. I found the design distracting for iron and wedge shots (play it as it lies, lies). I struggled putting with the mindset design facing up. The bottom line, would I buy a ball for the Mindset design? No.

Initial impressions

When initially putting these balls in play, I thought that they were going to help my scores drastically because I used the same routine for every shot, no matter what the shot looked like. My playing parters even caught me mumbling to myself... "pick a target, visualize the shot, focus on impact."

I also felt like it sped up my play because there was a negligible amount of second guessing involved in my routine. 

Driver/Tee Shots

This is where, in my opinion, the mindselt ball really shines. Being able to line up the ball to the target with the arrows and go through the Mindset steps REALLY improved my confidence in the tee shots. I compared the Mindset design with the Vice Pro Drip alignment line and a standard text line on a Maxfli Tour S. On Tee shots, I prefer the arrows. That being said, I did not notice an uptick in fairways hit when using the Mindset. 

Iron shots/wedge shots

Again, my routine remained the same for all shots, but I was not able to take advantage of the arrows. I did find myself distracted by the alignment aid. Especially when it was almost pointed in the right direction. I don't have any data to back this up, but I thought my iron and wedge shots were more offline than when using other balls.

Putting

Initially, I thought the circle and arrows were helping my putting. The thought was that the arrows are a point and shoot style. However, after more use and comparing with other balls alignment aids, I found that I could not line up the arrows at my intended target as well as any ball with straight lines. I also did not putt as straight. I found I was mostly putting left of the arrow alignment line. The combo of not being able to line up the ball correctly and pulling putts, really hurt my putting confidence. I'm not sure I had more than 10% of putts that rolled end over end.

Recently, I used the TaylorMade Tour Response ball and it performed leaps and bounds better for aligning to my target and aligning my putter with the stripe on the ball. Almost every single putt rolled end over end and it was fun to watch the large stripe roll end over end!

Conclusion

I think it's fairly obvious that I enjoyed the ball for designing and maintaining a routine. I also enjoyed the Mindset design for shots off the tee. In all other aspects I felt like the Mindset design didn't help... or actually hurt my confidence/performance. Sorry I don't have any data to back up my claim here. I may try to pull the data from my 18Birdies history eventually, but I stopped using the ball for a time because of the LAB DF3 test.

Moving forward, I do think that I will keep the routine that the Mindset ball has setup for me. Pick a target, visualize the shot, hit the shot.  

I felt like the design was too distracting when I wasn't in control of where it was pointing. I struggled with all aspects of alignment when putting. For these reasons and the fact that I enjoyed other alignment aids better, I will not be purchasing balls specifically for the Mindset aid.

Edited September 30 by jbern
Added photo

[jbern]

Well I did a thing:

I’m hoping it helps with putting alignment. It’s almost the same width as the tour response ball I posted about in my previous post. Probably closer to a callaway triple-track, but I don’t have one of those handy to compare. I’ll report back on how it goes…