AskMyGolfSpy Vol. 39 

AskMyGolfSpy is an opportunity to submit questions to our experts here at MGS. Today, we’re pulling questions left at the bottom of previous editions. If nothing else, it proves we read the comments. 

 Sometimes. 

If you’ve got a question for a future edition of AskMyGolfSpy, you can pass it along to the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or right here in the comments section below!   

Q: Are direct-to-consumer clubs like DTC balls when it comes to manufacturing? Are they all being manufactured in only a few factories? Or are they actually being made somewhere owned by the company? – Mike B 

Unlike the major ball manufacturers, nobody owns their own club factories so, in that respect, everybody is a little bit DTC. 

With allowances for the fact that everybody borrows a little bit from everybody else, the difference is that OEM products are 100-percent designed by the manufacturer. A good bit of the DTC stuff comes from what’s called “open molds.” From there, designs are tweaked—milling, logos, whatever the DTC company doing the ordering wants. The idea is to add a bit of unique flair to make the product stand out in the marketplace. 

It is important to note that most big OEMs have people working inside the factories, making sure the product is what it’s supposed to be. Golf brands and their factories will often partner on new technologies. COBRA’s milled face, TaylorMade’s Carbon faces and Mizuno’s GFF HD are examples. In the case of Mizuno, the Grain Flow Forging patent is co-owned by Chuo, its Japanese forging house. 

Finally, forging isn’t exclusively for golf clubs so some forging houses make other things. In the case of Chuo, golf is secondary. Its primary business is forging precision auto parts. 

Q: Are game-improvement irons more accurate than non game-improvement irons? – Brandon Wheeler 

From our testing, our initial conclusion is that with player’s irons, small cavity-backs, etc., your best shots tend to be a little bit better while your worst shots tend to be a whole lot worse.  

If you believe that golf is a game of misses, you’re making the argument for game-improvement designs. 

All of that said, we have something in the works that will look more closely at the heart of your question. 

Q: I’m in this awkward stage where I’m a decent player (~10 handicap) and need a “performance” ball with good grab on the greens but am also still good to lose a ball most rounds. Currently playing Pro V1s and losing just one of those hurts. I think I’d like to switch to a cheaper ball, maybe around $30ish a dozen – Brandon B 

I get it. This is a question where I’m almost always going to tell you to consider Maxfli’s Tour line. List price is around $40 a dozen but they’re almost always on sale or bulk discounted. 

If you’re looking for a cheaper Pro V1 alternative, the standard Maxfli Tour is first on my list followed by the Vice Pro. Both are made by Foremost in Taiwan which our Ball Lab data suggests is among the most consistent factories out there. 

I’d be remiss not to mention Snell. The caveat is that their new balls haven’t been out long so we don’t have much in the way of data on them. 

Q: Why did 2023 Maxfli Tour golf balls not come in yellow this year? – Lane VC 

Continuing our inadvertent Maxlfi theme … 

I think there are still some supply chain bottlenecks so most everyone is focusing on their core, which basically means white balls. 

That said, Maxfli expects to start shipping yellow versions in August. 

Q: What are the best lightweight X-stiff iron shafts? When I play a full 18 holes, by hole 16 I feel like the clubs are starting to feel heavy. I have 125-gram X-stiff iron shafts right now. Are there any that are lightweight? – Branden 

I’m always uneasy about the use of “best” as it relates to anything other than quality. The best-performing shaft for me may not be the best for you (or many others). 

With that said, not everyone can make a smooth transition from 125 grams to something truly lightweight (in the 100 gram range, for example) so it might be worth trying baby steps. 

The last shift I made was from a true 125-gram shaft to one with an actual weight of around 118. If I go lighter, things get weird. 

It might also be worth trying a “premium” graphite offering to see if reducing impact vibration helps reduce fatigue. The new Fujikura AXIOM is intriguing and I really like the Mitsubishi MMT offering as well. They definitely cost more but might be worth it. 

The easiest thing to do is to find a retailer with the Mizuno shaft optimizer. It’s not 100-percent precise but with just a few swings it can give you a handful of recommendations based on your actual swing. You might find a lighter option among them. 

Q: Why don’t major manufacturers have a sub-category line of clubs that do not confirm to USGA rules for max distance? With golf becoming more popular as an entertainment/leisure activity, there are lots of players that have zero desire to play in USGA regulated competitions, but would love to buy a driver that goes 15 yards further – Odie 

This is an interesting one. I think all of the bigger brands view themselves as serious golf companies who make serious equipment for serious players. 

With that, the focus is always going to be on conforming equipment. 

Certainly, there have been rumors over the years and I’m positive the idea has been bounced around in conference rooms from time to time. As you may recall, TaylorMade went so far as to have a couple of uber non-conforming MOAD prototypes made. 

There may also be an element in this that’s as basic as not wanting to raise the ire of the governing bodies. Manufacturers already walk a fine line with new technologies that push right up against the limits. Intentionally stepping out of bounds might be incentive enough for the USGA to favor a stricter interpretation of the rulebook. 

As some may recall, at the conclusion of its first season of Driver Vs. Driver, Wilson rushed to get the Triton driver on shelves before it was cleared by the USGA. 

The USGA ultimately found it to be non-conforming (based on a specific weight configuration). The rules are the rules, though some saw it as the USGA dropping the hammer to provide a not-so-subtle reminder that there are consequences for not maintaining the status quo. 

Q: Given a consistent swing and swing speed, what would be the distance gain going from a 70-compression ball to an 80- or 90-compression ball? – Fred 

There isn’t an easy answer to this one. In our first golf ball test, the data we collected suggested roughly a four-mph difference between a 100-compression and 70-ish compression golf ball. 

All things being equal, that would translate to 10-plus yards. 

The challenge here is that you seldom get an “all things equal” scenario because both the aerodynamics of the ball and the launch parameters created by the golfer influence the total distance number. 

Typically, lower-compression balls are designed to fly higher and lower spin while firmer balls can have nearly any flight and spin combination the manufacturer chooses.  

With that, gaps tend to narrow a bit but, again, it’s complicated. 

Q: When is TaylorMade going to release their next generation of TP5 and TP5x golf balls? Believe the current models came out in early 2021 meaning they are 2+ years old and I thought TM was on a 2-year refresh cycle like the other major golf ball manufacturers. – Matt M 

TaylorMade’s ball business has confused and surprised me for going on three years now.  

IMO, the current TP5 and TP5x are curious design choices relative to their predecessors. Given the direction TM took with performance, I was surprised when we didn’t see a third TP offering hit the market. And, yeah, I was surprised when January rolled around and TaylorMade didn’t launch new balls. 

Behind the scenes, a lot has happened with TaylorMade’s ball business. They bought one of the factories that produces its core and mantle layers outright. It built a state-of-the-art indoor testing facility (which we were forbidden from photographing) and renovated The Kingdom to include equally state-of-the-art outdoor testing capabilities. 

Basically, instead of throwing everything behind releasing a new ball on schedule, it invested time and money on technologies to help it make a better ball. 

I can’t promise the manifestation of those efforts will actually be a better ball but I’m confident the company could release a new TP5 series tomorrow if it wanted to and that you will absolutely see new models early next year, if not sooner.  

More Questions?   

As always, if you have any questions for the MGS crew (and they don’t have to be about the golf ball), drop them below for a chance to be featured in next week’s #AskMyGolfSpy!