23 replies to this topic

[Big Ben]

Ok, I found one of these balls last season and without knowing a thing about it I played it against my gamer of the day and man was this ball good!! I was bragging about it to my playing partners and promptly did some research on the net when I got home. I could not believe it when I visited the site and realized this was a true ProV equivalent for $20 beans, finally held my breath yesterday and ordered 5 dozen for the the early season. On a separate day another player had actually ordered their premium gloves and showed one to me, it feels IDENTICAL to FJ's top of the line Pure Touch offering, $13.89/ea. buy one get one free! I ordered 3 gloves (6 total with 3 free!) and 5 dozen premium balls for $149 shipped, that's legit!! I goofed around with the math and came up with almost $400 retail with equivalents from major OEM's same buy. Don't laugh but my biggest fear is child labor, anyone know more about this outfit? Not all good players who seek a high performance ball can afford $45-$50/dz so I thought it would be worth while to post my person experience so far....www.mggolf.com, BB

Edited by Big Ben, 05 January 2013 - 12:05 PM.

[jar59]

I assume the ball is not on the USGA Approved Ball list, is it?  

Who knows, it may be hotter than the Pro V1.  It will be interesting to see if the quality control and consistency compare to a topline ball.

[Big Ben]

I believe it is on the conforming list but good question, that's something I better look into, not much into cheating myself. I played that one ball for 2 full rounds and durability was above average but I will know better after I rifle through a few dozen...BB

[Big Ben]

Just checked and YES this ball is conforming! Nice, man I'm glad it is too...BB

[Snowman9000]

I've researched it in the past.  It used to be a remake of the Hogan Tour Deep.  In the past year or so it has been changed to something unknown.  But it is marketed as a value priced ball which performs like a ProV1.

[Big Ben]

It absolutely performed equivalent to the ProV In my limited experience, we shall see if the ball is consistant over time. If it is I have zero concern about making it my gamer, $20 a dozen is an expectational value...BB

[wayne18]

I know a hand full of guys that have been playing this ball for a couple years and they all swear by it. Thought about it myself.

[lander215]

My brother and I have played these balls for years. It's what I play after my winter sale purchased balls run out.

Yes they are legal and yes they are the old Hogan Tour D. Some will argue that but don't listen to them. No way this small glove company produced such a great ball so quickly.

Speaking of gloves they are the only ones I play now as well. Great fit and quality and paying $7 each you can't beat the price.

[BrianL99]

lander215, on 06 January 2013 - 02:59 PM, said:

Speaking of gloves they are the only ones I play now as well. Great fit and quality and paying $7 each you can't beat the price.

I've played their gloves for many years, I just stopped this past season, because they eliminated most of the "colors" ... I hate white gloves.

All I know of their balls, is everyone I've ever heard of playing them, loved them for the price.

[MadGolfer76]

I have two of the gloves sitting on my desk right now - agree that they feel better than FJ and pretty much anything else. The price is just stupid good on them too.

The ball is almost certainly a rebadged Hogan Tour Deep, but who cares? Great ball. I played a dozen about two years ago and really liked it. Haven't played any current iterations and hadn't heard that they switched.

For me, the ball felt slightly firm (but not bad), launched a tad high, but really stuck on the greens. Almost like the TaylorMade Black in some ways, although I don't think the compression is quite as high in the MG.

[Big Ben]

Glad to hear the feedback fellas, all good insight thanks! BB

[ode1]

Does this ball still have the 6 or so deep dimples, ala the Hogan Tour Deep?

[Big Ben]

I actually inquired about this question today and waiting for a response, I'm getting the feeling it's not the same ball it used to be...BB

[Big Ben]

Got the response, stated the ball went through an overhaul about 6mths ago which included manufacturing process, upgrade to the urethane cover composition which includes better abrasion resistance, durability and color. I've asked multiple questions and they respond timely, I'm impressed! BB

Edited by Big Ben, 07 January 2013 - 06:12 PM.

[skaarsgard]

Thanks everyone for the heads-up...  I'm always up to trying out new balls- especially high performing cheaper balls.

However, with the winter upon us, there are also very excellent balls out there to compete with Prov1 as suggested in other threads that we should all buy into while the prices are great:

Mxfli u4 and u4x -  $35 p/ two dz at Dicks.  I personally like the u4 better than the standard ProV1 as its softer and spins a tad less.  ProvV1x is better than the U4x for my game as I get better green side spin.  But seriously, that's me being way too critical and picking one over the other as the maxfli  balls are eerily similar in performance and at a fraction of the cost, cannot be beat.

Wilson FG tour blems - $15 p/ dz.  very, very soft and similar to ProV1 in spin.

We are lucky to have so many comparable options to golf's premier ball at a third of the price.

[lander215]

I'll be darned they did change them! Just checked the last few that I have left from last season. I would have bought these in the August/September time frame.

Didn't notice any difference playing them though, which is good and bad lol.

[ode1]

The quest begins to figure out what ball it actually is now

[BILLYMALOOLY]

I did try it last year i found one at my course and played it aginst evry top ball. and it was just as good dist. and evrything. if you can git over playing a master grip. but yes good ball for shure/ it shocked me.

[golfcaddy1969]

Is this a Maxfli product?? Sorry I have no idea which ball this is.

[swbyps]

Snowman9000, on 05 January 2013 - 01:57 PM, said:

I've researched it in the past.  It used to be a remake of the Hogan Tour Deep. In the past year or so it has been changed to something unknown.  But it is marketed as a value priced ball which performs like a ProV1.

Yea....probably my TF Gamer V2  

Edited by swbyps, 11 January 2013 - 02:19 PM.

[marmooskapaul]

I dont play the c4 anymore, but i love the gloves and  love the 415 cr putter.  i have two of them and three of my playing friends have them.
paul

[Starched]

marmooskapaul, on 16 January 2013 - 07:13 PM, said:

I dont play the c4 anymore, but i love the gloves and  love the 415 cr putter.  i have two of them and three of my playing friends have them.
paul

Hey Guys in answer to the first guys post. MG's business strategy is pretty simple, they buy in bulk core and mantle and cover lots at the ball factory that have been inventoried but not produced, they then sign an agreement for a private label with a bunch of legal disclaimers, and the OEM's get to off load product without taking a full loss. Probably the same strategy for gloves, etc. Once they sign an agreement for the excess raw material, they ten are allowed to have the ball plant turn the machine on and produce the same ball with a different logo. The company was started by someone who was smart and also an insider in the golf manufacturing space. They will not ever tell you what product they are remarking and reselling for obvious reasons so it will always be a guess. The first ball they had which they sold from 2008 until last year was in fact the Hogan Tour Deep. They sorta botched that ability to be secretive because the Hogan Tour Deep was the only ball on the conforming list with the six dimples and the 382 dimple count. The USGA list now shows the MG Tour C4 to have 332 which is a really common count so it will be harder to figure out. Too bad, the Hogan Tour Deep was a kick a** ball.

[Starched]

The great preponderance of 332 dimple ball on the current conforming list with 3 piece construction and urethane are Callaway, which makes sense becuase they made the old Tour Deep under the Spalding/Top Flite/Strata company which Callaway bought. So it is quite likely something like the previous version of the Hex Chrome or Tour i or Tour i (s), but if the pattern is not hexagonal than that might not be a fit. Other suspects are Top Flite Gamer V2 that they get permission to put a Urethane cover on. The bottom line is that indeed the MG balls are high quality urethane tour balls, just a couple years old in terms of prior OEM model versions. They are a good deal and would serve the vast majority of players (even scratch golfers) with good tour ball performance. But MG does not design, produce, or make golf balls. It is a licensing agreement with someone.

Similar examples are Macregor VIP = Srixon Z-UR   etc.

Bridgestone makes all of Nike's golf balls.

They are only about 5 really big ball manufacturing plants left - Korea, Japan, China x2 , US .

Titleist have 332 dimples but I cannot imagine Titleist doing business with someone like MG.

[Big Ben]

The ball business is so lucrative it only makes sense that mass excess inventory gets dumped in this regard, the OEM's recongnize a stigma will be placed on any non-mainstream offering so I'm sure any competitive threat is perceived marginal...BB

Edited by Big Ben, 18 April 2013 - 03:25 PM.