Will Changing from Maxfli Tour S to the Tour or Tour X Ball Help Me?

[Golf2Much]

Ever since late last year, I've been using the Maxfli Tour S ball.   Given my anemic 72 mph driver and 61 mph seven iron swing speeds, I felt the softer version of their Tour ball would be the best for me.  Since December, 2023 I've broken 80 eight times with my handicap ranging from 11 to 13.  Going back in my scoring history over the last 17 years, I typically break 80 four times a year.  So, I should be happy with my choice, right?

My home course is a classic Rees Jones design:  small, well bunkered greens with false fronts.  I tend not to generate a great deal of spin across all my clubs. 

As I was skimming through Golf Galaxy today, I saw their breakdown of their Tour labeled balls.  My current gamer, the Tour S is the softest, but also has a low/mid ball flight and iron spin.  That got me thinking that maybe the harder Tour or Tour X may be a better option to generate more height on my iron approach shots and overall more spin.  

I'd appreciate any feedback from others who have tried the set of Maxfli Tour balls and experienced improvement in height and spin with the Tour or Tour X.

Thanks in advance!

[Shrek74]

Everything is worth a look and test.

I play the Tour as the S didn't exist when I started playing Maxfli. I have a bit of a driver spin issue, and so I'm contemplating getting some S balls to test as I know the X is not good for me.

I don't have an issue stopping the ball on the greens with my 83ish mph 7 iron speed. I tend to flip at impact, adding loft and height to my shots, and that helps too. But even my crisp shaft lean strikes don't have issues stopping. My extra speed obviously helps me with height and spin compared to you.

The three compressions of the balls run 82, 85, 101. Going Tour S to Tour likely won't see a huge change since we're only talking 3 compression points. But 83 to 101 will very likely see a large difference. That's where you might want to grab a dozen and give them a go and make the call after that.

I'd love to hear your experience after you test.

Edited September 13 by Shrek74

[Golf2Much]

Thanks @Shrek74.  I saw that chart on the GG Maxfli page.  At times it's tough to translate the relative and subjective terms (low, mid, high) into actual results.  It probably worth investing the $65 for a dozen of each to see if the ball differences really translate into a noticeable performance difference on the course.  

Like I need one more investigation in my golf life right now!  Maybe I can sneak it in before the Titleist Long Game GT driver and fairway woods arrive and I start that review.  

[Hoyoymac]

I’m currently playing the MaxFli tour ball but have trialed both the S & X balls and found their description to be accurate.

The X flies too high and spins too much for me and the S flies too low and doesn’t spin enough.

[Golf2Much]

It sounds like the Maxfli Tour is like beds in Goldilocks and the three bears:  The first one is too hard, the second one is too soft and the last is just right!

[Tom the Golf Nut]

On 9/14/2024 at 12:07 PM, Hoyoymac said:

I’m currently playing the MaxFli tour ball but have trialed both the S & X balls and found their description to be accurate.

The X flies too high and spins too much for me and the S flies too low and doesn’t spin enough.

I am in 100% agreement.  I tried all three and the Tour works the best for me. I was exclusively playing the Tours for the past two seasons. However I just put the Vice Pro Air in play for the Vice iron testing since they were nice enough to send me a few dozen. I can say they are real performers for me. Four out of the last 5 rounds were in the 60's and the fifth was a 70. Now that testing just ended, I'll do a side by side test on the balls. Tour vs Pro Air next weekend. 

 

[Lefty11]

5 minutes ago, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I am in 100% agreement.  I tried all three and the Tour works the best for me. I was exclusively playing the Tours for the past two seasons. However I just put the Vice Pro Air in play for the Vice iron testing since they were nice enough to send me a few dozen. I can say they are real performers for me. Four out of the last 5 rounds were in the 60's and the fifth was a 70. Now that testing just ended, I'll do a side by side test on the balls. Tour vs Pro Air next weekend. 

 

I’m looking forward to the ball test!  

[Golf2Much]

I ordered a dozen of the Tour and Tour X balls this morning.   We’ll see what happens!

[Josh Parker]

2 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

I ordered a dozen of the Tour and Tour X balls this morning.   We’ll see what happens!

This is what I would have suggested. I think you will find the right one. Looking forward to seeing your results and what the winner will be!

[Shrek74]

2 hours ago, Golf2Much said:

I ordered a dozen of the Tour and Tour X balls this morning.   We’ll see what happens!

Shoot, I was going to offer a swap. I sent you Tours if you could send me Tour S. Oh well.

[Berg Ryman]

On 9/15/2024 at 6:16 PM, Lefty11 said:

I’m looking forward to the ball test!  

same, don't keep us in suspense @Tom the Golf Nut

As to the Tour S, I went through my dozen of them and I really like them, despite being a normal X ball user from other brands. Personally I didn't have a ton of trouble with heights or spin, save for out of rough some times, but that's likely more attributed to the rough than the ball.

@Golf2Much, I think you're doing the right thing if you're looking for a specific performance benefit that you think the Tour or Tour X can bring. Very interested as to your thoughts.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

3 minutes ago, Berg Ryman said:

same, don't keep us in suspense @Tom the Golf Nut

You know how to keep a monkey in suspense? I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Kidding aside, I should be on the course this weekend for the testing. Clubs are clean and balls are in the bag. I’ll probably play tomorrow afternoon ( I get out of work at 11:45) but testing will be either Saturday or Sunday morning before the public is allowed out on the course. Unless it’s not busy Friday afternoon. 

[Golf2Much]

My new Maxfli Tour and Tour X ball arrive on Friday, so I should be able to get at least two rounds in before my MGS review Titleist Long Game woods arrive.  During that review, I'll likely switch back to the Tour S balls and not introduce another variable in assessing my current woods and the Titleist GT line of woods performance.  What I see in those next couple of rounds, I'll certainly pass along.

@Shrek74 may also be able to provide some additional Tour, Tour X and Tour S feedback as well.   I sent him a sleeve of the Tour S balls to try out.

[JDHolmes]

I have all 3 balls. I play the Tour S. It most closely resembles a Pro V1.

For ME, the X is too hard and spins too much off all clubs. It's shorter for me on all shots. It might work for you as you're seeking higher spin.

The Tour I use from time to time. I like the ball. I achieve similar distance to the S. I played alone yesterday, using a Tour S and a tour ball (yellow). 18 holes with both balls. 77 with the S. 78 with the Tour. No difference in driving distance for me, iron distance and spin was very similar. Difference in score was a missed putt. NOTE: the Tour was out of the fairway more frequently than the S. And further from hole on iron shots.

I use the Tour less because it performs poorly for me in the wind. And, we have wind here in FL frequently. It also flies higher than the S.

I use the S most of the time. It beats the winds, holds its line and stops on the green as well as pro v1. This can be a bit of an issue though as it has often spun back too much and changed a sure birdie to a par. Saturday, par 3, PW on 120 yd hole, ball hit 1 foot from hole but spun back to 6.5 ft and I lost closest to hole in competition as a result.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[PrayingForPar]

2 hours ago, JDHolmes said:

I have all 3 balls. I play the Tour S. It most closely resembles a Pro V1.

For ME, the X is too hard and spins too much off all clubs. It's shorter for me on all shots. It might work for you as you're seeking higher spin.

The Tour I use from time to time. I like the ball. I achieve similar distance to the S. I played alone yesterday, using a Tour S and a tour ball (yellow). 18 holes with both balls. 77 with the S. 78 with the Tour. No difference in driving distance for me, iron distance and spin was very similar. Difference in score was a missed putt. NOTE: the Tour was out of the fairway more frequently than the S. And further from hole on iron shots.

I use the Tour less because it performs poorly for me in the wind. And, we have wind here in FL frequently. It also flies higher than the S.

I use the S most of the time. It beats the winds, holds its line and stops on the green as well as pro v1. This can be a bit of an issue though as it has often spun back too much and changed a sure birdie to a par. Saturday, par 3, PW on 120 yd hole, ball hit 1 foot from hole but spun back to 6.5 ft and I lost closest to hole in competition as a result.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 

Did you notice a difference in distance from the X to the S?

[Golf2Much]

FedEx delivered my Maxfli Tour and Tour X balls this morning.  I'll be putting the Tours in play tomorrow.  When I ordered them, I couldn't resist giving them a personal touch.  

I'm excited to see how much of a difference these two balls have over the Tour S in my game.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

On 9/15/2024 at 6:10 PM, Tom the Golf Nut said:

I am in 100% agreement.  I tried all three and the Tour works the best for me. I was exclusively playing the Tours for the past two seasons. However I just put the Vice Pro Air in play for the Vice iron testing since they were nice enough to send me a few dozen. I can say they are real performers for me. Four out of the last 5 rounds were in the 60's and the fifth was a 70. Now that testing just ended, I'll do a side by side test on the balls. Tour vs Pro Air next weekend. 

 

Day one of side by side testing in the books.

Overview: Compared the Vice Pro Air against the Maxfli Tour. Played two balls for most of the shots. Now and again I had to pick up the pace. But mostly a side by side play.

Initial observations:

The Vice Pro Air feels a little softer. The ball does launch higher of all woods and irons. The ball has a steeper decent. This in turn stops the ball quicker upon landing. Putting feels better. Softer but responsive with good distance control.

The Maxfli Tour launches a little lower not a lot lower but enough that I could see a difference. The ball gets a little more roll out both in the fairway and on the greens. Putting, the ball jumps off the face more. I had to be conscious going from one ball to the other on the greens.

Additional tid bits of information. I had a couple 100 yard shots into some greens with a gap wedge. The Vice Pro Air would land and wind up around a foot and a half from the ball mark. The Maxfli Tour was about 4 and a half feet. Distance off the tee was roughly about a 7 yard distance gain for the Tour. Mainly due to more roll.  Accuracy on tee shots goes to the Air. More perfectly centered in the fairway but the Tour was no slouch either. Maybe a couple yards off center. Both perfectly playable all day. 

Was there a clear winner? Not really I could play either one comfortably. I think the Air would be a better cooler weather ball as it does feel softer. After a day of play I did look up the compression ratings on both balls. Tour 85, Air 75. So it validated my feel.  If you asked me to pick one I'm not sure I could but if a course had a lot of trouble around the greens I think I would lean toward the Air. It gets up and stops closer to the ball mark. 

This was day one. I should be on the course again this weekend to continue. 

 

 

[Golf2Much]

Very impressive review @Tom the Golf Nut!  I may have to give the Vice Pro Air a try!

[JDHolmes]

Did you notice a difference in distance from the X to the S?

Yes, the S is significantly longer for me than the X. That is probably due to huge spin I put on the X.

The X would cut/slice 50-75 yards, more in the wind. Yes, I play a 10-20 yard cut/fade most of the time. So, yes I impart side spin which with the X was a huge problem for my game.

Note, your results may vary. Also note, the X is hard (high compression) and a person probably needs 100+ driver swing speed to compress it properly. I'm 98 and have issues with the X and Pro V1X for the same reason...they're hard to compress but easy to spin.

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[PrayingForPar]

@JDHolmes thanks so much for the info! Now I need to pickup some of the S but I have about 32 X to get through before that...Those 48 packs get you tied up for a while. 

[JDHolmes]

31 minutes ago, PrayingForPar said:

@JDHolmes thanks so much for the info! Now I need to pickup some of the S but I have about 32 X to get through before that...Those 48 packs get you tied up for a while. 

Understood. I'm a big S advocate. Recommended them to a group player who hated them and thought they were too hard. I bought the 3.75 dozen from him as a result.

People and golf balls are funny.

[Golf2Much]

I received a dozen each of the Maxfli Tour and Tour X balls on Friday and put the Tour right in play.  I didn't have the opportunity to do the Indepth analysis like @Tom the Golf Nut, but I have a few general observations.  

First, I really didn't notice the Tours feeling any different than the Tour Ss.  That's not too surprising as they are very close in compression.  With the limited data points, I did seem to hit the Tours a little farther than the Tour S balls (about 3 yards or so) and I had the impression I hit them a bit higher too.   It's really too early to declare any consistent distance and ball height improvement with such a limited sample.  However, it is encouraging. 

I'll have one more round with the Tours to see if I can maintain the improvements.  My new Titleist woods arrive for my review on Tuesday.  So not to confound too many variables, I'll be going back to the Tour S balls for my assessment.  Once I've completed that review, I'll be back experimenting with the Tour and Tour X balls.

[Tom the Golf Nut]

Today I pitted the Maxfli Tour against the Tour S.  I played both balls tee to green on the front 9 but I alternated on the back 9. Playing one ball tee to green then on the next hole swap balls and play tee to green. 
Both balls played well but after 18 holes I would lean toward the Tour for myself. The Tour S was just a little shorter off the driver and the height of shots both off the tee and into the greens were lower than the Tour.  Ball roll out was similar to the Tour. I think the Tour S would play better on a windy day where you are looking for a slightly lower ball flight. 
 

At the end of the day all three are very playable and I scored well with each of them.  If you need more height I would go with the Vice Pro Air, then Maxfli Tour, with Maxfli Tour S pulling up the rear. Reverse if you already hit a high ball. Overall distance between balls off the driver for me was somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 to 8 yards. But I’m no robot.  Distance winner is Tour, then Air, then Tour S. The Tour S has a slightly higher compression than the Air but the Air makes up the distance difference with height.  
Fun day playing with a score of 69. Even though I played two ball on the front 9 I only counted the one I hit first for scoring. That alternated as well.

It will be interesting to see if @Golf2Much comes away with the same findings after his testing.

 

[Dan1993]

A question for those testing! If I'm a slower swing speed player that struggles to generate spin across the bag, am I better off with the tour or the tour X?

[Tom the Golf Nut]

5 hours ago, Dan1993 said:

A question for those testing! If I'm a slower swing speed player that struggles to generate spin across the bag, am I better off with the tour or the tour X?

The Tour X generates more spin but it is a firmer ball that generally requires a faster swing speed to compress the ball to generate the spin and get you the distance. I would try the Tour first.

 

[Hook DeLoft]

Not the balls that were asked about, but I recently tried the new Callaway Tour X and found it worked extremely well for me.  I need more height and more spin and it provided that for me and I noticed no distance loss with the driver.  I am swinging the driver in the mid 80's these days and my 7 iron around 73mph.  However, the Callaway Tour X is at the high end of prices for balls.

[mountaineermatt]

I am in the same boat here, and am looking to try out the Maxfli balls. I currently play the newest version of the Titleist AVX which has helped me straighten my tee shots tremendously. However, I already have a low ball flight, and the lost spin ability around the greens have gotten me curious about trying out different options. 

Thanks to the MGS deal on 4 dozen Maxfli's, I just purchased 2 dozen of the Tour S's and 2 dozen of the Tour balls. Based on the spin ratings that MGS has comparing all the balls, the Tour S is going to be most similar to the AVX's, but the Tour's seemed like a nice spin upgrade without going too overboard. 

[Shrek74]

On 9/13/2024 at 5:09 PM, Golf2Much said:

Ever since late last year, I've been using the Maxfli Tour S ball.   Given my anemic 72 mph driver and 61 mph seven iron swing speeds, I felt the softer version of their Tour ball would be the best for me.  Since December, 2023 I've broken 80 eight times with my handicap ranging from 11 to 13.  Going back in my scoring history over the last 17 years, I typically break 80 four times a year.  So, I should be happy with my choice, right?

My home course is a classic Rees Jones design:  small, well bunkered greens with false fronts.  I tend not to generate a great deal of spin across all my clubs. 

As I was skimming through Golf Galaxy today, I saw their breakdown of their Tour labeled balls.  My current gamer, the Tour S is the softest, but also has a low/mid ball flight and iron spin.  That got me thinking that maybe the harder Tour or Tour X may be a better option to generate more height on my iron approach shots and overall more spin.  

I'd appreciate any feedback from others who have tried the set of Maxfli Tour balls and experienced improvement in height and spin with the Tour or Tour X.

Thanks in advance!

So have you come to any conclusions? Or still testing?

[chisag]

... This is a great thread for demonstrating how any reviews or OEM recommendations are just starting points. I am guessing "on paper" many should fit into a specific version of the Tour series, but through personal experience they find a different ball works better for their game. No surprise as someone swinging a driver 90mph may produce more or less spin, more or less sidespin, a higher or lower launch and depending on where you play more distance from carry OR more distance from roll. 

... The "S" ball didn't spin enough for me in the desert with hard, fast greens. Some days I can't even find my ball mark. I played the Tour for several years and when the 2023 X was released I tried a dozen of those and found they worked better for my game. I am of the opinion that it is very difficult to hit the ball "too high" and many that think they are doing just that should go to a Tour event and see just how high elite players hit their shots. That said, playing in constant windy conditions in some parts of the country or excessive spin from hitting down with drivers can produce a combination of too high/too much spin. 

... These threads are awesome for helping others find a starting point. Because one golfers Maxfli X is another golfers Maxfli S. 

[ctg44]

I would say that too high is definitely a thing....it's very easy to get there here in North Texas some months.  Playing anything but a Tiger stinger many months of the year can be considered "too" high.  If you hit a driver at an 18° launch angle and an apex of 125-150' into a 25mph headwind, it's losing a ton of distance.  If it's a crosswind, it's going right or left hard, and if you're prone to a hook or a slice, and the wind is going the same way, enjoy your re-tee.  It's worse out in West Texas, where the wind blows like that almost all year long.