MyGolfSpy Ball Lab is where we quantify the quality and consistency of the golf balls on the market to help you find the best ball for your money. Today we’re evaluating the Maxfli Tour. For more information, visit our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
About the Maxfli Tour
The Maxfli Tour is the second generation of Maxfli’s three-piece Tour-level offering. For the uninitiated, Maxfli is a house brand for DICK’S Sporting Goods/Golf Galaxy, though the ball is also available through Golfworks. Given the near exclusivity of retail availability and the $35 price point, it’s reasonable to think of Maxfli Tour alongside other premium direct-to-consumer offerings like Snell, Vice and OnCore. Notably, the Maxfli Tour is manufactured by Foremost in Taiwan. It’s the same factory that procures balls for Vice and OnCore. It also manufactures balls for Wilson and TaylorMade. While the dimple pattern is the stock 318-dimple design common to many Foremost-made balls, the rest of the ball is proprietary to Maxfli.
One point of distinction for Maxfli’s Tour series is the inclusion of CG Balancing technology. While Foremost balls are generally well made, Maxfli understands that absolute perfection in ball manufacturing is unattainable so by running every ball through the equivalent of an industrial-strength check-go-pro and putting the side stamp where the ball is perfectly balanced, golfers have the opportunity to hit straighter drives. We haven’t specifically tested the technology though it’s worth mentioning that when we’ve done robot testing on the Maxfli Tour line, it has performed admirably, even without aligning impact with the side stamp.
Maxfli Tour — Compression
On our gauges, the Maxfli Tour has an average of 85 compression. That puts it in the firm category. With consideration for only balls that offer Tour-level compression, the Maxfli Tour is on the softer side; 85 compression places it next to the 2020 Bridgestone Tour B XS (86 compression).
Maxfli Tour — Diameter and Weight
Foremost typically does a solid job with diameter so it’s not surprising that none of the balls in our Maxfli Tour golf ball sample failed to meet our standard of roundness. Other than a few TaylorMade balls, which appear to be designed directly to the USGA’s size limit, we’ve never had a Foremost ball fail to conform to the USGA size rule. So it’s also not surprising that 100 percent of the balls in the sample conformed to the USGA’s minimum size requirement.
Foremost has, at times, struggled with weight and we have found several balls over the weight limit in the past. With the Maxfli Tour, I’m happy to report that 100 percent of the balls conformed to the USGA’s weight limit. As you’ll see, we did find some inconsistency in weight but nothing so bad as to break any of the basic rules.
Maxfli Tour — Inspection
I can summarize our visual inspection by stating simply that our sample of the new Maxfli Tour golf balls was among the cleanest we’ve seen. We found no major defects and the number of minor defects could nearly be counted on a single hand. By any reasonable measure, it’s an exceptional result.
Centeredness and Concentricity
Other than a couple of minor inconsistencies in mantle thickness, we found nothing of note and certainly nothing that we believe would impact performance.
Core Consistency
Core color was consistent across the entire sample. We did note a couple of small pieces of non-uniform core material but they were also very minor.
Cover
No significant cover defects were noted.
Maxfli Tour — Consistency
In this section, we detail the consistency of the Maxfli Tour. While the above sections largely evaluate conformance to USGA rules, our consistency metrics provide a measure of how similar the balls in our sample are to one another relative to all of the models we’ve tested to date.
Maxfli Tour – One Ball at a Time
The chart below shows the weight, diameter and compression measurements for each of the balls in our Maxfli Tour sample.
Weight Consistency
- As noted, there is some inconsistency in the weight of the Maxfli Tour. Generally speaking, weight consistency is the one area where Foremost struggles a bit.
- While Box 1 and Box 3 were similar, balls in Box 2 were consistently lighter.
- Overall, the weight consistency of the Maxfli Tour falls within the low end of the average range.
Diameter Consistency
- While diameter consistency wasn’t exceptional, it was far from bad.
- Overall, the weight consistency of the Maxfli Tour falls solidly in the middle of the Average range.
Compression Consistency
- For our total compression consistency metric, the Maxfli Tour climbs into the Good range (above average).
- Looking at the average compression in the sample, the Maxfli Tour rates as Good.
- Comparing the compression deltas (the difference in compression across the three points measured on each ball), the Maxfli Tour falls on the high end of the Average range.
- None of the balls in the sample had a compression delta greater than 3.5 compression points.
- If not for the last sleeve in the third box, compression consistency would rival the best balls we’ve tested to date. It’s still very good.
True Price
True Price is how we quantify the quality of a golf ball. It's a projection of what you'd have to spend to ensure you get 12 good balls.
The True Price will always be equal to or greater than the retail price. The greater the difference between the retail price and the True Price, the more you should be concerned about the quality of the ball.
Maxfli Tour — Summary
To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
The Good
- Compression consistency is above average.
- Diameter consistency is solidly average.
- On inspection, we found no significant defects within our sample.
- 100 percent of the sample conforms to USGA rules.
The Bad
- While far from bad, weight consistency could be a little tighter.
Maxfli Tour — Final Grade
The Maxfli Tour CG golf ball gets an overall grade of 85.
The score is above the average for the market as a whole and is, frankly, outstanding considering the $34.99 retail price (and that’s before we consider that the Maxfli Tour is frequently on sale for less). Our visual inspection found the balls to be near perfect which is more than we’d expect from nearly any ball on the market right now.
The bottom line is that Maxfli Tour absolutely belongs in the conversation with the leading direct-to-consumer balls on the market and there’s a strong argument to be made that it’s one of the most consistent balls that doesn’t have a Titleist logo on it. For golfers looking to save a few bucks, the Maxfli Tour is an exceptional offering.
With zero bad balls in the mix, the “True Price” of the Maxfli Tour is $34.99. That’s equal to the retail price which means you’re getting exactly what you pay for.
*If you’re shopping for Maxfli Tour, be sure to buy the box with the gold stripes. There are still some prior gen (gray/silver stripe) boxes available online and possibly in-store.
An overview of the equipment we use can be found here. To learn more about our test process, how we define “bad” balls and our True Price metric, check out our About MyGolfSpy Ball Lab page.
drew
1 year ago
more info on what the layers mean and why they are there and what ball to use in specific weather conditions