Quest for Perfect Balls: Maxfli Tour & Tour X

[Shipwreck34]

I've been trying to find the perfect ball to bring the misreads and no-reads on my ST down to the absolute minimum. That is without a doubt the most frustrating part of owning a ST for me. Sure, it's nice when it screws up in my favor, but that's a 10-to-1 scenario for me at least. I swear, my ST just KNOWS when I've actually hit the ball well and says "Wait a second, that can't be right. The numbers here says he hit it flush and really well. No, no, no... we can't have that. Don't count that one."

Putting for me is still the worst when it comes to no reads. 3, 4, 5 shots in a row until it finally reads. By that point I'm so frustrated I can't muster the strength to go through my set up to putt, again, and again, and really focus on all the elements needed. I'm just hitting the thing and hoping the ST actually reads it, damn the outcome.

O.k., diatribe aside... When I was at Dick's this weekend I was searching for yet another set of balls to try with my ST to see if it likes them. I've found a few key criteria that it likes.

• Matte balls
  • I use a LED light on low in my hitting area. It has been mentioned that ST doesn't like anything shiny
• Square or Rectangular Logos
  • I've been able to determine that when facing the logo on the ball towards the camera, that it doesn't like "busy" logos. Some days that means Truvis "Soccer Balls", other days it loves them and I don't have to align them. The results are too inconsistent for me to recommend them.

So, that being said, I'd been looking for anything Matte, with a Square, Rectangular, or Long Straight Logo, and in a color that might not adversely effect the ST. I'd been avoiding straight red for instance, being that I started wearing red knit golfing shoes and my "accidental reads" fell to almost zero. When I wear my black knit shoes, it tries to read almost every time I move the ball with my foot. Concurrent with those parameters, I asked the young man behind the counter if he had any suggestions. Lo-and-behold, he did.

https://www.amazon.com/Maxfli-Total-.../dp/B07R93QXZX

I was most surprised that they came in Matte AND White. I'd been looking for that but hadn't really found any. I was interested in trying that color because the ST manual specifically says "White balls". Plus, the logo is squared off, and they're what I might consider "Premium" balls, or pretty close to it anyway.

Dick's has them on sale for 2 for $50 ($35 a dozen otherwise). I happened to come prepared with my $20 off purchase over $50, and a $10 reward points card. So two dozen of these guys cost me a whole $20. Not too shabby.

I played a round with them on Saturday after I got home, and here are my key take-aways...

• My mis and no reads dropped fairly significantly, with one exception. Putting, the thing I wanted to get better the most.
  • There were still less bad reads on putts, but maybe by a reduction of 10% tops. Not nearly enough.
  • Everything else? Pretty good!
• I was interested to see if this whole "Center of Gravity" thing had any merit. Had been wanting to try it anyway, and here a manufacture did it for me. Score!
  • My impressions from one day of use is that yes, I believe it straightened me out... A LITTLE BIT. More so on Drives than anything else.
    • The effects are minimal. I saw less fade and less draw, but that's about it.
• Between the Tour X (4 piece) and Tour (3 piece), it was about a tie for me
  • The advertised effects the balls are suppose to produce were at least vaguely evident. More testing is required.
    • If I had to pick one right now? Probably the Tour. Gave me less spin on Iron shots, but a lot on wedge shots. I'd have to look deeper into the science of why to understand that outcome better, but it is my general observation after one round.
• The two balls I used for the whole round held up pretty well. Minimal scuffing, although it was there.

So there's my write up on the new Maxfli Tour & Tour X CG balls. The big empty spot for me is still putting. Anyone have any suggestions on what's worked for them? I'll play a special "Putting Ball" if i have to!

Thanks in advance, sorry for the lengthy post. Brevity is not my strong-suit!

[Zarakoff]

I use Titleist pro v 1 practice ball it’s a normal pro v that says in capitals PRACTICE on the side I hit 100’s of balls a day and very rare I get any miss reads I can tell if I pull it and the skytrak agrees hit a great shot and it agrees again it seems spot on numbers to trackman when I use it .
ive only been up and running with my room for less than a month and I’m impressed with the skytrak .
i thought should I get a mevo + but you need 16ft distance from net to mevo I only have 14 so it would work plus putting a dot on balls seems a pain

[Trickle007]

I use srixon z stars and the xv version. Very little misreads.

[Wizard of Coz]

When putting place ball 8 inches to the right of the red dot and roll it over over the dot. I didn't get no reads putting that way. Ball testing inc matte white is cool looking especially max tour all black print. Outdoors it gets dirty and doesn't clean up well.

[Shipwreck34]

DATA! Beautiful data!

Two things that stood out to me.

1.) My general feeling was correct, the Tour had less spin than the Tour X, but still plenty of spin with wedge shots
2.) It doesn't really matter because the tolerances are so close. From the MG at the bottom to the Tour X at the top was a difference of 1,400 RPM (or whatever, is it PM?) yet the Total distance was exactly the same, although the Tour X looks like it benefited from some nice backspin. Same thing with the 7 Iron shots; a whole 1.2% difference in distance from highest to lowest (not accounting for whatever variance the test allowed for).

I'd say the main take-away is find the cheapest ball on the list, because they're all pretty much the same unless someone is paying you to use them!

As for your putting advice, I thank you and I will definitely try that. Hopefully will incorporate it into the guide I'm building. Oh, and I'm assuming you meant "I didn't get no 'mis'reads". Because I've got getting 'no' reads down pat! Ha ha.

[Wizard of Coz]

I didn't like MG at all. Kirkland 3 piece cover didn't hold up well. Maxfli was durable looked great and if the course was firm and fast it would be a great choice.
I prefer
snell black/ tp5/tp5x lower spinning

if I need more spin I would use maxfli tour or bridgestone tourbxs.

[Jard]

I play my gamer now (Bridgestone Tour BXS) but last year's gamer was the Srizon Z Star XV. The Srixons lasted a whole lot longer before cracking.

[ganders75]

To lower no-reads IMO titleist is the way to go. Nice straight, asymmetrical logo. I do not align the ball to the unit, ever. Never have. I was using DT trusoft - compromise on price vs performance. They're EOL now, but logo hasn't changed on new balls obvs. I honestly normally have 0 no reads a practice session.

[Shipwreck34]

Yep, tried 'em. Were already in the bag.

Hmmm, further enhancing my fears that my particular SkyTrak is dumber than the average bear.

[ganders75]

maybe I just have a good one, but it honestly never misses a shot. I have Gc2 also, and other than the delay there is pretty much nothing between them...

[Wizard of Coz]

My skytrak had way more no reads than my gc2 both a good and poor shots. My skytrak wasnt good for flop shots or short game either. Gc2 is great. Ball speed with driver was around 4mph faster with gc2. Other than that, I thought skytrak was great with irons and shot shape plus an awesome practice range.

[minyfly]

Hey you tried anything else outside of changing the ball? Experimenting with lighting? I've also heard that a busy background can interfere with the camera, maybe a backdrop will help. I don't putt on mine but I probably only have 1 or 2 misreads a session.

[Shipwreck34]

Yeah, I've tried everything I could find on this forum, and even put out a long list of everything I've found as well along the way on someone else's post.

The struggle is real, and constant. LOL

[s0707]

Fwiw, I put with a Black Ping Sigma Tyne and I don't get many misreads (on skytrak). I'm sure the dark metal helps. Here's a link to the type: https://www.globalgolf.com/golf-club...-black-putter/

I also have an old Lynx Predator putter and I do get a lot of misreads with that one, I presume, because of the shinier silver color.

[Shipwreck34]

I use an Odyssey Stroke Lab #7. It has silver on it, but it's matte and not shiny. The only shiny bit is the shaft.

I know this doesn't, or shouldn't make sense, but after a suggestion from Wiz, I started placing the ball 4"+ behind the red dot. That was actually working rather well and I thought I had it beat until the most recent ST software update, now it's back to the same amount of miss/no reads while using THAT method. I've had to go back to the way I was doing it, with the ball 2" from the dot inline from the unit. Really weird, and I don't get it.

[ganders75]

Shipwreck34 try and get hold of a IR trail camera. Use it to see if there is anything IR reflective in the FOV of your Skytrak. Could be logo on your mat, shoe laces, pants, or even just a nail in the wall behind you which it's picking up. It's really odd to have that many no reads, got to be something else going on. Assume you've already done it, but out of the case too. I used to get a few crazy long misreads with an old case - I think due to reflection off the window cutout edges...

[ganders75]

For me, it was my trousers. They lit up like the sun under IR light but looked matt grey under normal. Weird, but I'd never have realised without the trail cam.

[Shipwreck34]

For real? This $2,000 tool is easily thwarted by a pair of TROUSERS?!!

Am I going to have to wrap my golf room in anti-thermal material and play naked to get this thing to work right?!

[ganders75]

Haha, they were massively reflective for some reason - never even considered it when I bought em obvs. I've taped some stuff in black non-reflective theater tape, it didn't seem to like the logo on my truestrike mat for example...