Years ago, as a teenager, when there were only about three golf ball choices on the market, I played a Maxfli Black Dot 100 compression. Now TaylorMade-adidas, which owns the Maxfli brand, has brought the BlackMAX back with updated technology. And I love this new BlackMAX just as much as I did the previous incarnation.
The essential thing for golfers to know is the new BlackMAX carries just as far, if not farther, than the Titleist Pro V1. And it spins and holds on wedge shots at least as well. In a recent round, late in the afternoon when I wasn't holding anyone up, I played several holes with four balls – two Pro V1s and two BlackMAX – and without checking the label I couldn't tell the difference between them in feel and performance. On one par-4 I hit the BlackMAX over 300 – a little downhill and with the wind, but hey, 300 yards is 300 yards, especially for someone who's over 50.
At big-box retail stores such as Edwin Watts, Golf Galaxy and Golfsmith, the BlackMAX sells for $39.99 a dozen, about $4 less than the Pro V1 and the same as the Nike One and Callaway HX Tour. On discount web sites, I've seen the BlackMAX as low as $32.
Jim Mrva, my high school archrival and now head professional at Monroe Golf Club in Rochester, New York, relates how two of his club's young players were keeping up with Champions Tour pro Lonnie Nielsen's front nine drives, but when Nielsen “broke out the new ball on the back nine” – the BlackMAX -- “they weren't within 20 yards of him.”
“Spin control” is Maxfli's leading marketing pitch. Other Tour-caliber balls “tend to spin too much, making it difficult to put the ball close to the flag,” according to Dean Snell, senior director of golf ball R&D at Maxfli. Certainly we've seen hard-swinging pros spin wedge shots right off the front of the green at The Masters and other Tour events. “BlackMAX is engineered to bounce once and stop quickly without rolling too long but also without spinning back too far. It makes it easier to put the ball near the hole on shots in the scoring zone – from about 100 yards or less,” Snell explains.
Technically, there are four discriminators for the BlackMAX. First, it uses a “neodymium” rubber for its core, compared with “polybutadine” for the Pro V1 and other golf balls such as Wilson Staff. (Some types of glass containing neodymium are used to calibrate spectrometers or to create artificial rubies for lasers.) “The process required to produce the neodymium rubber core is complex and time-consuming,” claims Bill Price, Maxfli director of marketing, but the company's engineers prefer its combination of high coefficient of restitution (COR) and low compression for initial impact velocity yet soft feel.
Second, Maxfli uses a thermo set urethane process for the cover rather than thermo plastic urethane. Without boring you with the manufacturing details, the result is said to be greater durability. Third, a new painting process is supposed to improve aerodynamics and maintain the ball's whiteness.
Finally, the BlackMAX uses a “dual-radius” dimple design, engineered to produce a low spin rate off the driver face. “The dimple design promotes lift, reduces spin decay, and maximizes carry and roll,” Snell states.
-- Reviewed by Rick Adams, Senior Editor
