Archives for September 2017

Volvik golf balls will now be entered into my best golf ball challenge. Just like with all of my reviews, I play one 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course near my house and report my findings after the round.

Every time I play a Volvik golf ball I will update the results here.

Volvik Vivid Golf Ball Review

9-22-17    90 Degrees – Sunny – Humid

Rackham Golf Course – White Tees

Golf balls have been around for a long time. And while golf ball technology has advanced over the years with multiple layers, dimple sizes, and materials used on the inside, it appears not much has changed on the outside. At least for me. The covers feel almost the same. Kind of like comparing a Miller Lite to a craft beer. They can be close in appearance but after one taste you can tell which one has had more effort into making it.

And that is what the Volvik Vivid golf ball is. It’s the worlds first ever matte finish golf ball.

I picked up a sleeve of Vivid’s at Carls Golfland with a gift card I had along with a couple other sleeves of golf balls. I first heard of the Volvik Vivid when Bubba Watson made the switch to them last year. But it wasn’t until I was in the golf store and felt the matte finish that I knew I had to try them.

On the sleeve it says the Volvik Vivid provides “less glare for increased visibility and focus, ultimate distance with a softer feel and greater energy transfer from the Power Dual Core, and added visibility and better course management and ball striking due to unique color enhancement.” Ok. Lets see what you got.

Off The Tee – Hit four fairways today which is below average. Zero times did I hit a draw nor did it slice which agrees with what Volvik claims. I did have three hooks that still went far. Outside of one straight drive, everything else pushed a little to the right.

Distance wise they were ok. All of my well struck drives ended up in spots I hit from with similar golf balls that are not overly marketed to be “distance golf balls.” I’d say similar to the Titleist NXT Tour.

What left a lasting impression with the Vivid was how soft it felt leaving the drivers club face. It’s as if you could feel the driver compress through the matte finish and then make contact with the harder inner cores which delayed the sound from contact. Even the guys I golfed with said the same thing.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – Fairway woods and hybrids had a similar compression and feel at contact, delayed sound, and very little spin left or right. I really enjoyed hitting the Volvik Vivid with these clubs for that reason.

I hit a number of 3 woods, 5 woods, and a couple of hybrid shots today. What made a lasting impression for me was how it was not long but was accurate and soft when it landed. The Vivid did not roll that much after landing.

My best example of its lack of distance is on the Par 5 7th which is a slight left dogleg. I hit a great drive down the left side of the fairway which shaves distance to the hole. Typically I land on the right side but am 20 yards further away. Hit 3 wood like I normally do at the green. I know it wasn’t going to make it but when I got to the ball it was 35 yards off the green.

If my drives with the TaylorMade TP5x and Nike PD Long would have been on the same line (ended on the left side instead of right) as the Vivid then I would have been able to reach the green in two with both.

Irons – This is where the Volvik Vivid shines. I don’t know why but I feel the Vivid plays longer with the irons than most. And the soft initial compression at contact is just awesome. It’s as if the matte finish mashes into the grooves of the irons, disperses itself to get solid contact, loads, and unloads when you hit the harder inner cores.

How it flew and landed were neat too. I had a couple of full iron shots where I could see the ball doing one of those “figure 8’s” (where it starts right, draws, and keeps drawing, ending up spinning back to its starting point).

And when it landed, it landed soft. My guess is the matte finish has something to do with it. The Vivid feels lighter in your hand than every other golf ball with a regular cover. When the Vivid was descending it turned into a feather and just kind of falls. Very little run off. Very small ball marks. It was like that all day.

Wedges – This was another bright spot with the Vivid for me as the spin I was getting was higher than most. It has to be the matte finish again. When you hold the Vivid it has a “grabby” feel to it. I can recall four wedge shots where the ball took the “figure 8” flight again. And I’m talking from 30 to 90 yards.

Never in my left have I seen that sort of ball flight from such a short distance. It was kind of cool to see. Even my one bunker shot checked up on the second bounce saving it from rolling out another four yards on the green.

There was an almost instant comfortability hitting full pitching wedge shots and chip shots with the Vivid as it landed soft every time. I got up and down for par three times which is above average for me.

Putting – And this is the one characteristic of the Vivid that I do not like. That “grabby” feeling happened on every single one of my putts. On 100% of putts longer than 10 feet you could hear the ball grabbing the green as it made its way towards the hole. The guys I was golfing with said the same thing.

I have never left so many putts short in my life. I took 35 putts today which is average for me. In those 35 putts were 4 three putts and 5 one putts. What is most sad is out of those 4 three putts, I was putting for birdie on three of them.

The lasting impression I have about putting the Volvik Vivid is how it grabs the green. I cannot remember a ball ever making that sound or a sound when it was supposed to be accelerating, not already decelerating.

Saying that, I did one putt 5 times resulting in two birdie putts made from about 10 feet. The others were the results of good chips also landing within 10 feet.

I just kept telling myself to hit it a little harder. Most of the times that worked and it stopped close. Most of my three putts were due to me being 35+ feet away on my first putt.

Durability – The most durable golf ball I’ve ever played. Hands down. I did lose one on #17 after hooking my drive into some tall grass. But before I lost it there was not a blemish on it. Did not hit any trees and only one shot out of the sand trap.

The matte finish is awesome in this regards. You would have to be hitting a lot of cart paths and trees to beat the Volvik Vivid up to the point where you would not play it again.

Score – 81

GIR – 7

Putts – 35

Fairways – 4

Penalty Strokes – 1

DO NOT BUY THE BLUE VOLVIK VIVID. You will not be able to find it. Look at the pictures below and try to find it.

It became a little annoying trying to find the blue Vivid throughout the round. I was asking the guys I was golfing with to help me find the ball on almost every shot that was not in the fairway or on the green.

The problem was as soon as I hit it, the blue Vivid would blend in with the sky and I would lose sight of it when it made its descent. I could see the direction it was heading but could not tell how far it went. The next Volvik golf ball I buy will be any color but blue.

What I will finish with is I really liked the Volvik Vivid. It played like no other golf ball because of the matte finish. It was refreshing to play a good all around golf ball as in my previous four tests I played the XXIO Aero-Drive, TaylorMade TP5x, Nike PD Long, and Titleist Velocity. All of which are designed for distance first and everything else second. I shot 86+ with those four and with the Vivid I shot 81.

Donald Ross. Pete Dye. Tom Morris. Brad Gibala.

To be included in the list of golfs all time greatest golf architects is no small feat. The tasks laid ahead of them in creating their gems were difficult to say the least. For me, not so much. Got it all done in a day or two.

Welcome to: The Woods Huntington

Huntington Woods, MI only private golf course. Its private because its in my back yard. A golf course so unique and well thought out that it only needs three holes.

Thats right. A 3 hole backyard golf course.

Without further ado.

Hole #1 – Bearded Jim

A 15.5 yard long hole named after my neighbor Jim who has a sweet beard and who is also one cool dude. Him and I share the property line to the right which you cannot see in the picture. Many conversations have been had over the fence while he’s working on something in his garage. He has owned his side of the fence longer than I have been alive.

Hole #1 demands an accurate tee shot. Anything long is gone. Anything right is trouble. The trunk of one of the enormous oak trees guards the front right portion of the green.

Bank your tee shot off its hill and you’ll have a chance at two hopping it into the hole. Otherwise you’ll want to land it right in front of the pin short of the green hoping it checks up and rolls into the hole. Hit it too hard and you’ll have to pray for it to roll up the backstop and come through the backdoor.

Miss the hole but hit it well and it will probably end up in the collection area left of the pin. Hit it too hard and it doesn’t go over the green then it will probably be rolling full tilt off the backstop and off the false front.

Hole #2 – Johnny Boy

A 16 yard long hole named after my dad who being a lefty would be pelting the giant oak tree that engulfs the right fairway along with protecting the right side of the green. Sadly he never got a chance to play a round at The Woods Huntington but if he did I know he’d put up a monster number.

Hole #2 demands precision off the tee with two options to put it in the hole. A real gamer aims between the tree and flag stick hoping for a one hop off the fringe, onto the green, and catching the right to left break ending up in the hole.

Channel your inner Phil Mickelson and land your tee shot on the front left ledge which ricochets to the right for a one hop slam dunk hole in one.

Long is gone. Come up short and you’ll end up in the native area (golf architect slang for dirt). Hit the tree and you better have your head on a swivel as its coming right back at you.

Not visible in the picture are four wires hanging above the fairway daring you to chip one through the three windows they create. Basically, trouble everywhere.

Everything else will roll around the green ending up in the collection area short left of the pin.

Hole #3 – Clowns Mouth

Measuring in at a staggering 19.3333 yards repeating and named after most putt putt golf courses last hole which includes some sort of clowns mouth. Hit it in and get a free game!

This monster of a closing hole provides so many options to get a hole in one that no secrets will be shared. Long is gone. Left is gone. Right is a tree. Short is a trench.

Not shown in the picture are the same four wires above Hole #2 begging you to hit it through one of the windows. Theres also a huge branch hanging over the green that DTE Energy has said they were going to cut down a year ago which will knock down any flop shots.

Many a championships have been won or lost on this hole. Just get it to the green and let it do the rest.

And to demonstrate that it is possible to get a hole in one on each hole yours truly has made a video showing you how its done.

After finishing your grueling round feel free to stop by the patio and grab a drink at The Squirrels Nest located right behind the #3 tee box. The staff does not understand the concept of golf etiquette and will scream during a back swing. They probably don’t even have drinks either. They just like to open the window and ask for money.

Course Records

Name	Score	Date
Brad Gibala	6	7-1-17
Brad Gibala	8	6-22-17
Brad Gibala	8	6-24-17
Brad Gibala	9	8-5-17
Brad Gibala	10	8-14-17

**No putting. How many chip shots it took over all 3 holes. Get a hole in one and move on. Add up all your shots. Only rule is your shot cannot hit another ball and go in.

Design Process

From the beginning I knew I did not want just a putting green. While they look cool they are also one dimensional. After awhile they get boring and nobody uses it.

And practicing putting is very boring. Yipee – 30 minutes of practicing three footers!

I instead wanted something where I could practice chipping. And if I could practice a number of different shots from a number of different lengths then it might be fun. Who needs to practice three foot putts when your chipping to within a foot?

One of the unique features of my home in Huntington Woods is its a double lot with a two car attached garage. Most of my neighbors have single lots and their (two or one car) garage is in the backyard which cuts it in half. You don’t realize how key the garage situation is until after you’ve been in the house for awhile.

Three 100 foot tall oak trees provide shade for our entire backyard along with tens of thousands of leaves to rake in the fall. They also provide interesting design elements to the golf course.

What I decided on was one green with three different tee areas. This would allow me to maximize the space in my backyard, give me three different lengths to chip, and three different shots to practice.

The green would go in the back right corner which works out well since any errand tee shot would probably hit a tree, the fence, maybe the back of my neighbors garage, and nothing else unless you go way long.

Construction Phase

The corner of my lot where I decided to put the green used to have a fountain which I had dug up and sold on Craigslist the fall before. To fill it up I put a bunch of leaves and sticks I had in the yard.

Over the winter it decomposed leaving a decent depression. We needed a bunch of dirt for another area in our yard so I added another yard to an order we placed to get delivered.

Many wheelbarrow trips from my driveway to the backyard later and it was time to start shaping the green.

I knew I wanted a backstop with a decent slope to keep more balls from going over and also to allow for shots that went pass the flagstick to have a chance to roll back in.

Once I had the dirt where I wanted it I brought up the roller I borrowed from my mom and started shaping it.

I really wanted my green to be made out of real grass. After doing some research I decided it would be worth a try because my green wasn’t going to be that big. All I needed to get was grass seed and a greens mower. This is what The Woods Huntington looked like in March 2016 after the winter thaw and the 2015 golf season.

It was something to hit golf balls at but not great to look at.

When I started building The Woods Huntington I went to Ace Hardware and bought a bag of Scotts Turf Builder Sun & Shade Mix Grass Seed. My thought was this grass seed would blend in with the rest of the grass in the backyard and I would cut it short with the greens mower to give it the golf green effect.

The grass did grow but not well. Not to be deterred for the 2016 golf season I headed back to the internet and sought out better grass seed along with making the green better to play.

Penncross Creeping Bentgrass was what I decided upon due to it being the most popular grass for putting greens. It also appears to grow well in northern climates which I am in. I bought five pounds of it for $58.

What I found to be most interesting about the Penncross Creeping Bentgrass was how fine the seeds were. Much different the Scotts Turfbuilder I used last year. My concern with this grass seed was how tough it was going to be.

Finding the manual greens mower was tough. The few that are made are over $300 new which is way out of my budget for the size of green I’m building. Used ones are even more rare.

There are quite a few used powered ones on Craigslist and eBay from golf courses selling old equipment. But those are huge and I don’t mow my lawn with a gas mower. I have a manual reel mower.

After checking Craigslist every day one finally popped up. A Greens Zephyr De-Luxe. The seller bought it at a farm auction because it looked cool. We agreed on $75. This thing was awesome and hilarious. It was heavy as hell and needed a serious blade sharpening.

It was funny watching the grass grow because it was a lighter shade of green then the rest of my yard. When the sun hit it just right in the morning with some dew on it made me laugh because I had a green in my backyard.

Six weeks of watering it twice a day and keeping my two year old off of the green by circling it with some fencing the previous owners left in the shed when we moved in resulted in my masterpiece.

Was chomping at the bit to start dropping lob shots on it. Had my orange Home Depot bucket full of used golf balls I’ve managed to amass over the years ready to go.

Dug out a hole, put the cup in, and placed my flag.

Uh Oh

My first hundred shots into the green from three different tee boxes were fun. I had my backyard golf course. Sadly, there were a few things I was starting to learn about backyard golf course.

1. Putting green grass is hard to grow.
2. I was tearing up my grass with all the pitch shots.

All of the lob shots I hit were leaving ball marks everywhere. On top of that, the foot traffic from me and my two year old going back and forth hitting shots and shagging balls was killing the grass. While the grass was two inches tall when I started hitting shots it probably needed another three weeks of growing to fill in.

My green was dying before I even got a chance to cut it.

Nothing I did to get it growing again worked. I used the rest of the grass seed and did not hit a shot or walk on the green for another three weeks.

But even that could not stop it from dying. My green was dead.

My best guess was it wasn’t just not giving it more time to grow or the foot traffic but all of the stuff falling off the giant oak tree above it too.

Two weeks later there were just a few patches of Creeping Bentgrass on the green. It was June and my dreams of having a backyard golf course were basically over.

I was back to hitting shots at a dirt backstop. It just wasn’t right.

The grass never got long enough for me to use the Greens Zephyr De-Luxe greens mower so I sold it on Craigslist for $50 to a guy who was trying to build a green like me. Told him about my struggles and to not put the green under a tree. I never could get the blades sharp enough with DIY kits anyways.

Hitting pitch shots off of dirt is no fun and it looks like crap. I needed mats. Headed back to Craigslist looking for used mats and everything was beat up. After researching more I decided on…

Country Club Elite Golf Mat Review

These have been very good golf mats. I’d say they are better than the ones the driving range near my house uses.

They provide very good feedback at contact. I’d say they are fairway-esk in that you can come down too hard and hit it chunky (the mat grabs the club) or nice and clean.

Real Feel is the company that makes the Country Club Elite golf mats and are available in a number of different sizes. I bought three 10″ x 30″ Country Club Elite (CCE) Hitting Strips. One for each hole. I almost bought the smallest one where you can stand and hit off.

Reason being is when I go into the backyard to get some swings in I typically hit from the mat closest to my backdoor (Hole #3).

The mats come with rubber and plastic tees if you want to practice drives. I have never used them as all I am doing is chipping.

The Real Feel Golf Mats are very durable. I bought these in 2015 when I was just getting started building The Woods Huntington.

I bought mine directly from Real Feel Golf Mats in 2015 and customer service was fine. Prices are nearly similar at the Real Feel Golf Mats Amazon Store and if you have an Amazon Prime membership you might save more.

And since I occasionally like to go outside in the winter and hit golf balls when there is no snow I decided to leave the golf mats out there.

Hole #1’s mat looks brand new as I only hit off it when I play a round. Like I stated above, I hit off #3’s mat a lot (far right).You can see where I hit most of my shots, right side of the mat, middle to front.

Even after the 2000+ chip shots I’ve taken in the past two years and the number of times I’ve seen my cats and the neighbors cats use the mats as a scratch pad I’d say there is still a lot of life on these Country Club Elite golf mats. Real Feel makes a great golf mat. And yes, they will be left outside every winter moving forward.

Went a little outside the timeline of events to show you how well the golf mats have worked on my golf course for the past two years.

Circling back to early 2017. This is what the green looks like.

Time To Regroup

While I did not have the pretty green anymore I still did have the shape of a green and I still wanted to play. For the 2017 season I decided to make the switch to artificial turf. It was the only way.

Before I get the turf I decided to do some much needed maintenance and design change to The Woods Huntington. A much higher backstop to keep more golf balls from going over the back and to give it a fishbowl feel.

So there are a lot of trees in Huntington Woods. Hence, the name. Every fall the homeowners are instructed to rake or blow their leaves into the streets and the city sucks them up with custom vacuum trucks. The city takes the leaves to Rochester Hills to decompose over the winter.

In the spring the city picks up the compost and dumps it near the Public Works building for the residents to pick up as much as they want for free. They must make a new trip every week as the pile seems to be high through August.

Since I could get as much compost as I wanted for free and did not need dirt to grow grass I decided compost would work just as well as a base under my artificial turf. Headed to the compost pile with my dads truck and loaded up.

Decided to give the compost a couple of weeks to compress and settle before putting the artificial turf down. I also had to shorten the backstop near the oak tree by four inches as my son kept trying to ride his electric ATV over it causing him to flip over backwards. Can’t have that happening every time I’m trying to chip.

Getting the artificial turf posed a coupe of questions. Scoured Craigslist looking for people giving away or selling turf. Did find one guy who bought a house with a professionally done artificial turf green with fringe and fairway who no longer wanted it. He wanted real grass. What an idiot. He was offering it all for free if you came over and dug up all of the rocks. No thanks. Thats a lot of work.

Everything else was used turf from football fields which were being sold in bulk and was out of my price range.

I did not need a lot of turf and the really good stuff had minimum square footage requirements and it was expensive.

I did not want the cheap Florida room green grass type stuff you see on porches. It looks tacky and would probably fall apart after use. I wanted something that gave some sort of golf feel to it.

Menards to the rescue. They were the only big box home improvement retailer who had anything in stock at a decent price which would work. Home Depot and Lowes had nothing.

Global Syn-Turf Endless Putting Green Review

Global Syn-Turf Endless Green Putting was what I chose. It is a synthetic turf designed to mimic the feel of a real green. It was only sold in 6 foot wide sections and I really needed one twelve foot wide section. To get a 12 foot or a 15 foot wide section of similar quality I would have to pay twice as much per foot plus shipping.

The total square foot needed was 240 square feet. 15 foot wide by 16 foot long.

Leaving one 6 foot wide section as is for the hole gave me four feet needed on one side and two feet needed on the other. Went forward with cutting the one piece accordingly. To hold the turf together I bought garden staples from Yardworks. Here is how it turned out.

I did have a little extra left over from trimming pieces around the trees and on the backstop. The final square footage was 192. 16 foot long by 12 feet wide.

The Global Syn-Turf has held up well and still looks brand new. Rain drains through it slowly and does not puddle up. When I hit really good golf balls like a Pro V1 at it the ball will check up which is funny to see. I would say the Global Syn-Turf has exceeded expectations.

Its not exactly like a real grass green but good enough. You can hear the ball as it moves across the woven synthetic fibers if you are close enough.

Being honest, if I could afford to pay a professional to artificial turf my entire backyard I would. It looks good all the time and is so much easier to maintain. Even with me not doing anywhere near a professional job of laying turf (grading, many sub-layers, rocks, etc) I’d say it still looks better than my grass.

Hours Of Fun

It is true that I have taken 98% of the shots taken at The Woods Huntington. Most days I’ll head to the course while my kids are playing in the backyard and hit two or three buckets of balls, roughly 80 shots total.

Unsurprisingly it has made me a much better chipper on the real golf course. After you make your first 100 hole in ones you realize you need to make games and practice different types of chip shots. Every time I read a new way to chip in Golf Digest I try it out there.

My son and daughter want to hit golf balls too. They see me hitting and want to do it too. Hopefully I can keep this going with them.

Having the golf course versus just a putting green was a good idea. Sure, it would be nice to have a professionally done putting green and maybe someday that will happen. But playing golf with friends in your backyard instead of putting three footers is much more fun.

Future Enhancements

I might look into getting the full size mat to hit off of hole #3 as where I stand has worn the grass down to dirt.

Hole #2 will need some more compost next year to build up the bank in front of it. Those damn squirrels and chipmunks keep burrowing underneath there. Regular grass seed will be planted there to give it a better look.

I do not foresee any expansions to the course as I’m tapped on space.

I might take an inch or two off the backstop to slow down golf balls rolling back. It would also give chip shots another chance to decelerate more before bouncing over.

Backyard Golf Course Tips

If you are looking at doing a DIY backyard golf course then these are my suggestions.

• More Holes: Pick a spot in your yard where you can build one green but have more than one tee box.
• Artificial Turf: Real grass sounds fun but it is so much upkeep. Synthetic grass is so much easier and once you lay it down its there. Hit it with a leaf blower every once in awhile and thats it. It looks good all the time too.
• Hitting Strips: You will not need an entire mat to hit off of. Buy a hitting strip mat like the Real Feel Golf Mats I bought and bury them in the grass a bit to give it a level stance.
• Craigslist: Check it for golf course related items people are selling. I saw a number of golf courses selling old items that were a little too big for my course but might work for others. You might even find a number of free items or neat things like golf ball washers if you want to spruce it up.
• Trench: If you are building a green like mine with a backstop be sure to build a little trench in front of the green for balls that roll back. This way they end up in the trench and out of the way of your next shots.

Backyard Green Cost

• Dirt: First load of dirt just for the green $30.
• Scotts Turf Builder Grass Seed: $27
• Compost: Free. Lucky me
• ProActive Backyard Flagstick: $20
• Penncross Creeping Bentgrass: $58
• Global Syn-Turf Endless Putting Green: $186
• Garden Staples (50 count): $6
• Country Club Elite Real Feel Golf Mats 10″ x 30″ Hitting Strips: $122 ($28 each + $13 shipping each)
• Golf Balls: Sort of free. Most of them are ones I find golfing.
• Greens Mower: $25 ($75 purchased – $50 sold for)
• Quikrete Play Sand (50 lb bag): $4

Total: $468

For less than $500 I have a backyard golf green which entertains the shit out of me for endless hours. It would have been less than $400 if I didn’t waste my time trying to grow real grass.

Zillow has said the property value of my house has gone up many tens of dollars since it noticed the green in my backyard with its latest satellite picture.

For Rent

If you live in Huntington Woods, Oakland County, or anywhere else on Earth and want to rent a golf course to practice or for a tournament feel free to contact me with inquiries. I’m sure I can find a way to overcharge you :).

Membership

$1,000,000 lifetime membership fee.

Included with the lifetime fee is unlimited access to The Woods Huntington when I say you can have access. And one use of the potty…forever. Choose wisely.

Occasionally you find an off brand golf ball on some odd area of the golf course and you think nothing of it. And why should you? Most of those golf balls are cheap and you can tell.

But if you ever find an XXIO golf ball do not disregard it. These are premium golf balls. And that means they are also expensive.

Its time to put the XXIO golf ball into my best golf ball on Earth challenge. Just like with all of my reviews, I play an 18 hole round at Rackham Golf Course and write-up a review as soon as I get home.

Whenever I play an XXIO golf ball I will update the review on this page. All of my reviews are written in chronological order.

XXIO Aero-Drive Golf Ball Review

9-15-17  –  80 Degrees  – Sunny

Rackham Golf Course  –  White Tees

XXIO (pronounced “really expensive”) is a golf ball I never knew existed. In all of my years playing golf I cannot remember seeing this brand on a ball or club. Not once.

These golf balls were purchased with a gift card at Carls Golfland. Hence, price was not an issue. Whats funny is when I asked the kid to pick out five sleeves of golf balls he said I had to get the XXIO’s. I thought he sneezed. He did not.

What is also funny is out of the five sleeves he picked out these were the only ones under the counter. It was like a drug deal was going down. Not a lot of people know about the XXIO so they don’t ask for them. At $16 for three balls ($5.33 per ball), it might also be because they are very expensive.

The XXIO Aero-Drive is a three-piece ball with an “Energetic Gradient Growth Core, an Ultra Soft Metal Mix, with a Highly Resilient Ionomer Cover”. Those are some big words for a golf ball.

What I thought to be interesting about the sleeve was half of it was written in French. And they are the only golf balls I’ve tested which are made in Japan. I can’t get the Hattori Hanzo sword scene from Kill Bill out of my mind thinking about the XXIO golf ball.

XXIO Aero-Drive claims to have “Super Long Distance, Mid-High Approach Spin, Ultra Soft Feel, and High Durability.” OK. Sounds good. Lets get at it.

Off The Tee – It was one of the more odd days hitting driver with the XXIO. I only hit one fairway. The least accurate day of driving in my testing. But man, the XXIO jumped off the driver. Hit my furthest drive ever on #9. It ended up in front of the fairway bunker and to the right.

Could not hit a draw with the XXIO and my shots either went straight or faded to the right. Had two slices today too. It looked like the XXIO was so close to coming around and drawing but never did. It was odd as I’ll get into the spin I was getting with the irons.

Outside of two bad drives, everything else was just barely off the fairway which gave me a chance with my second shot to shoot at the green. I feel that the XXIO is a golf ball you have to get comfortable hitting with before you get the “Super Long Distance” out of it. Like a training manual needs to come with it.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – This is where the XXIO shines. It was jumping off my fairway woods and hybrids. If the fairway markers are correct and lets say they are, than I hit two 3 woods over 260 yards on #7 and on #14. Ill include the 3 wood I hit on #18 in the mix too as it flew.

The compression with the 3 wood was awesome. It has the softness of a Pro V1 with the distance of the TaylorMade TP5x. It had a similar feeling with the 5 wood too. The only time I used my 4 hybrid today was to chip.

Irons – The XXIO felt like a beast with the irons. Contact with the club face feels like hitting a whale but the end result is above average spin when it hits the green. I only had 6 greens in regulation today which isn’t that bad since I hit the fairway once.

The XXIO didn’t leave ball marks on the green, it left dents. The backspin and sidespin were impressive. On the Par 3 5th hole I hit a 7 iron which landed on the downslope of a hill. It dug out a chunk of the green, kicked it forward, and backspun some twenty feet. It was awesome. Almost every approach shot that hit the green left a dent and stopped.

Wedges – If there was a hang up with the XXIO Aero-Drive it was with the wedges for me. Since the XXIO feels like a semi truck at contact, it also means its hard to slow down when it’s not coming straight down. Getting a lot of spin with full iron swing shots was happening but not with half shots or wedges.

Not once did the XXIO check up or spin with a wedge. Everything rolled out.

Putting – Five 3 putts and four 1 putts. The XXIO felt like a tank when it left the putter face. Softness was not a sensation I felt when putting. Just like a semi-truck, when the XXIO gets rolling, its hard to slow down.

37 putts were taken today which means it was not a good putting day. I did do well putting from the fringe as I hit the flag stick twice but neither went in.

Durability – The good news is I did not lose a golf ball. And I beat the XXIO Aero-Drive up today. Found two sand traps and hit two trees quite hard.

There is one small scuff mark on the cover but that’s it. You could not tell I played with it unless you were under  lights.

Score – 86

GIR – 6

Putts – 37

Fairways – 1

Penalty Strokes – 0

I do not know what it is about the XXIO Aero-Drive but it feels like there needs to be a owners manual for it. Do not throw away an XXIO if you find one as this an expensive ball. You can tell the Aero-Drive is a premium golf ball once you get past the 1990s font they use. I swear the font is just like Lockheed Martin.

This is a golf ball I need to play again in a non-scientific setting. Every time I took a full swing it felt like the ball took over and did what it wanted to do. If I can only find that owners manual.

It is time to see what TaylorMade golf balls can do in my un-scientific test to find the best golf ball on Earth. I have never really played TaylorMade balls over the years. From time to time I would put them in play if I found one but nothing about them begged me to play them.

All of my golf ball reviews are done at Rackham Golf Course in Huntington Woods, MI. I play there once a week during the summer and its right down the street from my house.

When I test any TaylorMade golf ball I will update it here. All of my reviews will be done in chronological order.

TaylorMade TP5x Golf Ball Review

9-14-17    75 degrees    Sunny

Rackham Golf Course     White Tees

I picked up a sleeve of TaylorMade TP5x golf balls the last time I went to Carl’s Golfland. I asked the kid behind the desk to pick some balls he’d play with price being no issue (I had a gift card). One of those was the TaylorMade TP5x.

Before I headed out to the course I did some reading about them. Turns out the TP5x is a five piece golf ball (hence the 5) made out of a Tri-Fast Core and Dual Spin Cover which delivers “Progressive Compression for Maximum Energy Transfer”.

There’s also some mumbo jumbo about “the contrast of an ultra-soft cast urethane cover and a semi-rigid inner-cover creates maximum interaction between the cover and club grooves, resulting in exceptional spin performance with full wedge shots and pinpoint control from around the green.” Blah blah blah blah.

I prefer TaylorMades slogan for the TP5x: The Most Complete Tour Ball. Ok. I can work with that. Saddle up buttercup.


Off The Tee – I really liked hitting the TP5x with driver. Had an odd day off the tee. Hit above average distance drives on #’s 1, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and by far the longest I’ve ever hit a drive on #17. None of those shots had a draw as they all went straight and high with little roll (how I normally hit driver).

I sprayed all of my other tee shots right with two bad slices. Not saying it was the balls fault but I also popped one up. It seemed like the harder I swung the more control the TP5x wanted to give back.

The sound coming off the driver face with the TP5x is sweet too. You can tell it is a premium golf ball.

Only hit 4 fairways which is way below average. Some of those were close to the fairway but in the fairway is all that matters in this test.

Fairway Woods & Hybrids – I think this is where the TP5x really shines as the ball was flying off my 3 and 5 wood along with my 4 hybrid. After hitting a big drive on the Par 5 7th that just went off the fairway I was left with 265 yards to the green and I had to hit it under a tree branch. This was the best look I’ve ever had on a second shot to this green.

I hit a piss missile with my 3 wood. It went dead straight and almost rolled up onto the green. Came up 5 yards short. This was at least 5 yards closer than the Nike PD Long I hit last week.

The TaylorMade TP5x had the best compression and feeling I can remember hitting any fairway wood or hybrid. The ball felt like it smushed.

Irons – And this is where things get a little shaky with the TP5x. I know it is a premium golf ball but the TP5x did not compress with the irons like a Pro V1 does. That nice soft feeling was not there. Outside of one well struck 7 iron on the Par 3 8th where I put it on the green I could not get anything going with irons.

Distance was there. Accuracy was not. Was all over the place. And when I did hit the green the TP5x rolled out. I can’t remember fixing that many ball marks today. Out of my 7 greens in regulation today only 2 were from full iron swings. I guess this makes sense since TaylorMade says the TP5x has a low iron spin.

Wedges – I used these a lot today from the distance I was getting with driver and fairway woods. Not once did the TP5x check up or show any spin at all on the greens. Everything rolled out. Like, everything.

Getting golf balls to backspin or check up isn’t something I try to do but it does happen when I hit the Pro V1 and even the Vice Pro Plus. I do not agree with TaylorMades claim that the TP5x has the highest wedge spin.

Putting – I had 4 one putts, 3 three putts, and a four putt. This was probably the least exciting day of putting I’ve ever had. Outside of a 10 footer I made to save par on #2 there was nothing going on. Nothing was getting close.

The four putt was just embarrassing as I put my tee shot on the #13 green with a 5 wood which is hard to do at 204 yards. Might have been the third time I’ve ever been on. And then to 4 putt. DAMMITTT!!!

Maybe 5 layers is too many layers. It has a soft feel leaving the putter face but just feels like its missing something. Or maybe there is too much of something covering up the good parts.

Had 37 putts. No BUENO!!!

Durability – I would like to tell you I played all 18 holes with the TP5x but that would be a lie. I lost one and am 99% sure somebody playing the 18th hole picked up my approach shot on the 15th hole. I was left of the fairway and behind bushes from 170 yards out and could not see the green.

I smoked my 4 hybrid and all I could see is it heading towards the green. The guy I was playing with said he saw it hit the back of the green and bounce over. There is no reason why I should not have been able to find it besides somebody picking it up. I did not give myself a penalty shot.

Score – 87

GIR – 7

Putts – 37

Fairways – 4

Penalty Strokes – 1

The TaylorMade TP5x is a premium golf ball. No doubt about that. Distance was very long with driver and fairway woods. But I did not feel confident with irons and wedges. And putting was less than spectacular. Maybe its just me but the TP5x felt softer flying off the woods taking a full swing than it did with half shot wedges and 10 foot putts.