I remember a time when picking a golf ball was simple. You had virtually three choices: Distance, Wound and Tour balls. The distance balls were a two piece construction with a rock hard cover – Top Flite, Nitro and Dunlop ruled the market with these guys. Wound balls were what we might call a spin ball today – Titleist’s DT’s were tops in the market here, even though many others tried, they were the brand. Then you had the tour ball. A softer cover, wound ball that would spin on the hardest greens on the planet. Of course, you could also hit the softer balls out of round after a few holes, so that was an issue. Companies like Titleist and their Tour Balata and Maxfli with their HT100’s were the ball of choice of anyone that played them back in the day, I played the HT100’s back in the day and that’s when I got excited to see the new Maxfli U/6 Tour Soft ball.
The design behind the U/6 Tour Soft was amazing to me, the fact that you could cram 6 different layers into a golf ball blew my mind. At the center of the U/6 is a ultra low compression core that will get you faster ball flight speeds and keep spin low. Surrounding that, you have 4 different mantle layers for creating a more powerful ball flight and controlling spin better than ever before. The mantles are covered by a cast urethane cover, which is pretty much the standard in ball covers today. While the design sounds impressive on paper, the true test of whether or not the $45 a dozen ball is worth it will come on the course. Now, a quick note about that price – pretty much everyone on the planet has them for less than $45 a box, in fact, Amazon has sellers moving them for as low as $18.99 a box, so keep that in mind when pricing them out per ball.
The performance of the ball left me feeling very mixed. I didn’t experience any longer distance off the tee than I did with my Wilson Zips. I also failed to see any better performance on approach shots or while trying to spin the ball on the green. While the performance wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t anything to write home about either. The U/6 Tour Soft was definitely a playable ball, but it lacked anything that really set it apart and made me think I had to have this ball in my bag. Driving with the U/6 Tour Soft left me feeling a bit squishy. The soft urethane cover compressed nicely off the club head, but it didn’t have the same snap as the ionomer cover of the Zip and it didn’t have the same core feel like the Vice Pro Plus. IT sort of fell into a strange spot of being a good ball, but not a great ball. The mid-range price point just put it in this strange “$2 ball” that just was area.
I expected the U/6 Tour Soft and it’s urethane cover to perform well around the green, and it was fine. That’s probably the most painful thing I can say about a ball, it was fine. It didn’t feel great coming off the putter face, nor did it feel bad, it just felt, “ehhh?” During both chipping and putting with the U/6 Tour Soft, I didn’t feel anything that set the ball apart from anything else, but maybe that’s a good thing. I mean honestly, I was throwing this up against balls that cost nearly $4 a piece and it held it’s own just fine. Again, it wasn’t a poor performing ball or something that made me decide that it was a bad move to play it, but it just didn’t do much for me in the feel or distance department. It does make me want to find a sleeve of the Tour X ball to take for a spin as I think this ball would be a closer match to my game.
The Maxfli U/6 Tour Soft ball is available from various retailers including Dicks and Amazon, though the latter has a better price per dozen. While the U/6 Tour Soft didn’t do much for me personally, I think it could be a good fit for those looking to add a urethane covered ball to their game. The $2 a ball price point is getting crowded with a ton of performance balls, but I think the U/6 Tour Soft is somewhere near the top of the heap right now. When you look at direct sellers like Vice, Snell and Nicklaus, the market gets much blurrier, but if you prefer to run down to a local store to get your balls, there’s a good chance that you can find the U/6 Tour Soft around. That’s always one of my big worries is having to find balls for a tournament weekend and not having anyone carry them locally. I’m sure that the U/6 Tour Soft would be one of those balls that should be around somewhere near you. While the U/6 Tour Soft won’t be going in my bag right now, if you are looking for a cost effective, urethane ball that will perform well, the U/6 Tour Soft might just be for you.
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