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.
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- Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here.
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X
6-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 Tour (21 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8 X
Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3), TaylorMade Tour Preferred MC 2011 (4-PW)
Shafts: Project X Denali Blue 105 TX (3), Project X 6.5 (4-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (50-12F), Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (56-14F), Callaway Jaws Raw (60-08C)
Shafts: Project X 6.5 (50), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (56, 60)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Jailbird Mini DB
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy PistolLock 1.0
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Check out more in-hand photos of Daniel Berger’s clubs in the forums.
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What are the driver and shaft combinations of the best golfers in the world? For gearheads, it’s an endlessly interesting question — even if we can only ever aspire to play LS heads and 7 TX shafts.
At this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, GolfWRX got in-hand looks at the driver setups of a wealth of players.
Check out some of the most interesting combos below, then head to the GolfWRX forums for the rest, as well as the rest of our galleries from New Orleans.
Rory McIlroy
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees @8.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alex Fitzpatrick
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Daniel Berger
Driver: Ping G430 LST (10.5 degrees @9)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Wrap
Rasmus Hojgaard
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
Grip: Golf Pride MCC
Alejandro Tosti
Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees @10.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS T1100 75 6.5
Grip: Golf Pride MCC Plus4
James Nicholas
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (8 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Blue 7 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Kevin Streelman
Driver: Titleist TSR3 (10 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus TR Black 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Sang-moon Bae
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (9+ @8)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 6 X
Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
Russ Cochran
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke (9 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD TP 6 X
Grip: Golf pride MCC Align 
MJ Daffue
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Max (10.5 degrees @9.5)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green RDX 65 TX
Grip: Golf Pride ZGrip Cord Align
Check our more photos from the Zurich Classic here.
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- Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic.
Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Blue 60 TX
3-wood: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond Prototype (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei 1K White 80 TX
Utility: Callaway Apex UW (21 degrees)
Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei AV Raw White 85 TX
Irons: Callaway Apex Pro (3), Callaway X Forged (4-PW)
Shafts: KBS $-Taper 130
Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52-10S, 56-10S, 60-06C)
Shafts: KBS Tour 130 X
Putter: Odyssey Ai One Milled Eight T DB
Grips: Golf Pride MCC
Check out more in-hand photos of Hojgaard in the forums.
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Daniel Berger what’s in the bag accurate as of the Farmers Insurance Open. More photos from the event here. Driver:...
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Rasmus Højgaard what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: Callaway Ai Smoke Triple Diamond (10.5 degrees)...
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Rory McIlroy what’s in the bag accurate as of the Zurich Classic. Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus...
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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.