Equipment
Maxfli, the Next Top Flite?
TaylorMade just announced the sale of the Maxfli brand name to big box retailer Dick’s Sporting Goods this week.
This announcement was not really all that surprising. TaylorMade has allowed the Maxfli brand name to languish in a saturated golf ball market. TaylorMade had recently jumped back into the ball market with their TP Red and TP Black premium golf balls. The only Maxfli that was hanging on to any sort of acceptable sales numbers was the Noodle. Not surprisingly, TaylorMade is keeping the Noodle name within their brand strategy. According to Yahoo Finance, the price of the Maxfli brand sale will be kept confidential. You can bet that big box retailers Dick’s Sporting Goods and Golf Galaxy will be selling looking to sell a bunch of Maxflis in the very near future.
In the past, Maxfli made some excellent performance oriented golf balls. The Black Max immediately comes to mind. Of course, the Noodle has always been a top seller. It seems like Maxfli is now destined to be the next Top Flite. The Top Flite brand was swept under the rug by Callaway, becoming an afterthought practically overnight. Only recently has Top Flite, rather their parent company, Callaway, tried to ressurect the Top Flite brand with the introduction of the new D2 series and the Gamer. Unfortunately, it may be a little bit too late for this once proud golf ball label. I don’t see Top Flite as a major player any time soon. I hope that Maxfli can survive into the fututre.
Maxfli has been around the block and it is a shame that this brand will most likely be watered down in some shape or form. Will they now be known as a harsh feeling, two for one, big box deal of a golf ball? If so, that’s too bad. It is surprising that after a failed foray into the ball market during the mid 1990’s (remember the Innergel) TaylorMade used their brand name ahead of an established, and possibly more marketable Maxfli name.
However, it appears TaylorMade had a plan in place. They relied on the Maxfli brand to bridge the gap, if you will, until research and development of the new TP series was ready for tour level battle. According to Dean Snell, TaylorMade’s Senior Director of Research and Development, "In the price point that we are dealing with today for TaylorMade’s golf balls to be the best products in each category we weren’t going to put TaylorMade on there until we were ready with that product. Today we are ready."
TaylorMade waited patiently until the the new TP ball was worthy of the TaylorMade nameplate. They wanted to develop a real tour level presence. Now they have it. With the premium ball in place, It looks like the re-branded TaylorMade Noodle will fill the void nicely a few rungs down in price point.
Will it be long before another once proud golf ball line starts doing guard duty on the shelf, right next to the Top Flite? Maybe, maybe not.
This week, we have our Tour Photographer, Greg Moore, on the ground at the OccuNet Classic at Tascosa Golf Club in Amarillo, Texas, for the 14th event of the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season. With that, we see some great things in the Lead Tape Report as we roll into Amarillo.
Joel Thelen
Monday Qualifier, Joel Thelen is in the field this week. He has played on the Korn Ferry Tour for a full season in 2023, and he is back in action this week. A couple of clubs caught my eye this week in his bag.
First off: His trusted Titleist 816 H2 hybrid. This club came out in October of 2015, and it still remains strong in the bag. Also, take a look at this Odyssey White Hot OG 7, putting a capital S in the 7S model. This custom neck has some impressive lean for an arm-lock-style putter. The bottom of the putter is covered in tape for optimal weighting.
Mitchell Meissner
Taking a look at Mitchell Meissner’s bag this week, we have some great lead tape coverage. Top to bottom working from fairway metals, irons, and wedges. We can see on the short irons and wedges that there is tape at the base of the grip, adding a little counterbalance. Along with that, some tape on the short irons and wedges as well. Moving to his putter, he rolls the Odyssey 7 Bird putter. Meissner putts left-handed and strikes the ball right-handed.
Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament.
Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: Titleist GTS3 (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 70 TX
7-wood: Titleist GTS3 (21 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Chemical Tensei 1K Pro Red 80 TX
Irons: Titleist U505 (3), Titleist 620 MB (4-9)
Shafts: Fujikura Ventus Black HB 8 X, True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM11 (48-10F, 52-12F, 56-14F), WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400
Putters: Scotty Cameron Tour Prototype, Scotty Cameron GOLO 6.3 Prototype
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Align
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
In our forums, one user has offered up a prompt for the true sickos, inviting fellow forum members to share every set of irons they’ve ever owned. As to be expected, this is a lengthy forum topic.
@Lamosteve began:
Can you name every set of irons you’ve owned? Here’s mine
Spalding Dots
Spalding Eclipse
Ram Lazer FX
Lynx Parallax
Mizuno EZ Comp
Ben Hogans
Cleveland CG Red
Taylor Made R9s
PING i20
PING iE1
Taylor Made M6
Our members in the forum have been offering up their own collections. Here are a few posts from the thread, but make sure to check out the entire discussion and have your say at the link below.
- macedan: “Started with a hand-me-down Golden Bear set from my brother when I was in high school, never really played more than once a year or got into the game until about summer of 2017. First purchased a set of Cleveland CG4’s (I actually really miss this set sometimes, soft & not terribly large for a GI iron), moved into Nike Vapor Fly’s by the end of the year. Those lasted until spring of 18 when I decided I wanted new, so I traded them in for TM Rbladez. Honestly, although I liked the Rbladez, poor decision on my part, I think this was really about the only time so far that after a week or two I was kicking myself for not staying with what I had. Rbladez stayed with me until late last summer when I switched to P790’s and (knock on wood) I am hoping this will be my longest lasting set.”
- JimmyC59: “MacGregor Jack Nicklaus Triple Crown. Palmer The Standard. Still play these.”
- jgrzask: “Tommy Armour 845u
Mizuno MP-32
Mizuno MP-33 (2 sets)
Bridgestone J33cb – still own
Srixon i-302 (2 sets) – still own
Tourstage X-Blades – still own
Mizuno Hot Metal – still own
Nike Forged Blades – still own
Titleist 714 AP1 – still own
Cobra Forged SS – still own”
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Bud Cauley had >14 clubs in his bag when photographed prior to the Memorial Tournament. Driver: Titleist GTS2 (8 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura...
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Mike Ewing
Feb 17, 2008 at 4:19 pm
The golf industry is going through a phase of consolidation. The market is tighter and the competitors are scrambling for a larger peice of the pie. Callaway did it with Hogan and Top-flite. Hogan was once a proud name with a decent tour presence, since Callaway the name has almost been silented. Callaway in the mean time has increased it’s marketing on clubs, balls, apparell, shoes,etc. a one stop shop for all your golfing needs all with the Callaway Brand Name attached. Nike has taken a similar approach but starting with clothing/shoes and then entering the ball and club market but once again a one stop shop all with the Nike Brand Name. Now we have Taylormade/Addidas Golf clothing shoes clubs and balls a slightly different approach with the shoes and clothes falling under the Addidas brand name, but the two are becomming more interchangeable. Titleist.Footjoy may want to step it up on the complete brand one stop shop or they might lose out on the tighter market. It’s been a while since we seen a ball club combo from Maxifli the revolution irons are the last I remember. bridgestone and srixon are marketing a combo of ball & club but i would be interested in the market share comparisons to Callaway, Nike, Titleist and Taylormade/Addidas.
18th Legion
Feb 17, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Sorry, I re-read the article and misunderstood the part about TMAG selling the BRAND name to Dick’s, which makes my previous comment irrelevant.
18th Legion
Feb 17, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Has TaylorMade-adidas indicated that they would sell the MaxFli name? It would be a great pick-up for a compnay such as MacGregor or Adams looking to get into the golf ball business. Unfortunately, I could see TMAG not wanting to sell the name to prevent future competition.