They were great- MAXFLI T.E.N. A3, ELITE TOUR 90, M3 TOUR

deetsal · February 2, 2015

Like I tell my wife, correct me if I'm right, these are wound balls that still have balata in them, they feel like butter with a hot knife in your mitts. I have a lot of these and I am either going to dump them or do what i have been doing and take them to the course and compare them to modern balls. I have compared them to Titleist balata 90s, maxfli's, this is what i have found;

1. Titeilist Tour Balata - by a lot.

2. Hogan Balata

3. Maxfli HT Balata

4. Maxfli Elite,

5. Maxfli Revolution, Muli-Layer, A3, M3 tour ---about the same.

Just below these I would put balls like Maxfli u4-Titleist Prov1+x,Callaway Hex Black, ect. in about this order. I would love to do a test and send like 2 of each to a bunch and see what they think

As far as distance with the driver you can flip the order and the Titleist is the shortest. But what a feeling when you hit it on the screws!!.. I have friends that have been in the game only about 10 yrear or so and they can not beleive the feel. When hitting (with a foraged club) it is always the same, they think they hit it real fat untill they see it up in the air, and if they are lucky enough to hit the green, well backspin rules!

They are also fun to use in mellow scrambles into hard greens.

xxio · February 2, 2015

I think those in no5 have windings but are not balata covers.

deetsal · February 3, 2015

Well i guess ther was no interest

storm319 · February 3, 2015

None of those listed in #5 had balata covers and were very different than the other traditional wound balls that you mentioned.

The original Revolution had a wound mantle layer that was much thinner and harder than a traditional wound ball as well as a urethane cover. In reality it was closer to modern multilayer than traditional wound. The later Revolution Solid was a solid 2-piece with a urethane cover like the Bridgestone e5 today. The A3(surlyn) and M3 (urethane) were modern solid 3-piece balls.

deetsal · February 3, 2015

[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422978009' post='10875663']
None of those listed in #5 had balata covers and were very different than the other traditional wound balls that you mentioned.

The original Revolution had a wound mantle layer that was much thinner and harder than a traditional wound ball as well as a urethane cover. In reality it was closer to modern multilayer than traditional wound. The later Revolution Solid was a solid 2-piece with a urethane cover like the Bridgestone e5 today. The A3(surlyn) and M3 (urethane) were modern solid 3-piece balls.
[/quote]Thanks, the A3 has a great feel for surlyn, guess it's the rubber bands. I remember as a kid running ober wound balls with the lawn mower in our pratice field, they would go flying away as they unwound.

storm319 · February 3, 2015

[quote name='deetsaol' timestamp='1422981253' post='10876155']
[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422978009' post='10875663']
None of those listed in #5 had balata covers and were very different than the other traditional wound balls that you mentioned.

The original Revolution had a wound mantle layer that was much thinner and harder than a traditional wound ball as well as a urethane cover. In reality it was closer to modern multilayer than traditional wound. The later Revolution Solid was a solid 2-piece with a urethane cover like the Bridgestone e5 today. The A3(surlyn) and M3 (urethane) were modern solid 3-piece balls.
[/quote]Thanks, the A3 has a great feel for surlyn, guess it's the rubber bands. I remember as a kid running ober wound balls with the lawn mower in our pratice field, they would go flying away as they unwound.
[/quote]

The A3 and M3 were not wound (thus no rubber bands). Single polybutadiene core, single surlyn/ionomer mantle, and single surlyn/ionomer (A3) or urethane (M3) cover.

deetsal · February 3, 2015

[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422990133' post='10877297']
[quote name='deetsaol' timestamp='1422981253' post='10876155']
[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422978009' post='10875663']
None of those listed in #5 had balata covers and were very different than the other traditional wound balls that you mentioned.

The original Revolution had a wound mantle layer that was much thinner and harder than a traditional wound ball as well as a urethane cover. In reality it was closer to modern multilayer than traditional wound. The later Revolution Solid was a solid 2-piece with a urethane cover like the Bridgestone e5 today. The A3(surlyn) and M3 (urethane) were modern solid 3-piece balls.
[/quote]Thanks, the A3 has a great feel for surlyn, guess it's the rubber bands. I remember as a kid running ober wound balls with the lawn mower in our pratice field, they would go flying away as they unwound.
[/quote]

The A3 and M3 were not wound (thus no rubber bands). Single polybutadiene core, single surlyn/ionomer mantle, and single surlyn/ionomer (A3) or urethane (M3) cover.
[/quote]Thanks for the info, they still seem to have a better feel then any surlyn balls today, maybe I will cut a few open. I have the maxfli M3 TOUR 420 and 432, they are urathane covered balls. The A3 RERFORMANCE A3 solid feels like a soft surlyn. I was speaking of wound in general that we use to run over mowing the grass. The Elite Tour Feel have as close to balata as any, if you know about those let us know. Ten T.E.N. also feel close. ray

storm319 · February 3, 2015

[quote name='deetsaol' timestamp='1423013721' post='10880035']
[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422990133' post='10877297']
[quote name='deetsaol' timestamp='1422981253' post='10876155']
[quote name='storm319' timestamp='1422978009' post='10875663']
None of those listed in #5 had balata covers and were very different than the other traditional wound balls that you mentioned.

The original Revolution had a wound mantle layer that was much thinner and harder than a traditional wound ball as well as a urethane cover. In reality it was closer to modern multilayer than traditional wound. The later Revolution Solid was a solid 2-piece with a urethane cover like the Bridgestone e5 today. The A3(surlyn) and M3 (urethane) were modern solid 3-piece balls.
[/quote]Thanks, the A3 has a great feel for surlyn, guess it's the rubber bands. I remember as a kid running ober wound balls with the lawn mower in our pratice field, they would go flying away as they unwound.
[/quote]

The A3 and M3 were not wound (thus no rubber bands). Single polybutadiene core, single surlyn/ionomer mantle, and single surlyn/ionomer (A3) or urethane (M3) cover.
[/quote]Thanks for the info, they still seem to have a better feel then any surlyn balls today, maybe I will cut a few open. I have the maxfli M3 TOUR 420 and 432, they are urathane covered balls. The A3 RERFORMANCE A3 solid feels like a soft surlyn. I was speaking of wound in general that we use to run over mowing the grass. The Elite Tour Feel have as close to balata as any, if you know about those let us know. Ten T.E.N. also feel close. ray
[/quote]

Are you referring to the A10? If so, that ball had the same wound/mesh mantle and urethane cover construction as the Revolution. There were also 2-piece versions called the A10 Solid and A10 Titanium.

deetsal · February 4, 2015

The A T.E.N. IS SAID TO BE THE BEST BALL EVER MADE BY SOME. IT DOES FEEL GREAT. MUSN LIKE THE A3 TOUR. THANKS, RAY

screamingviking · February 6, 2015

[quote name='deetsaol' timestamp='1422919936' post='10871273']
Like I tell my wife, correct me if I'm right, these are wound balls that still have balata in them, they feel like butter with a hot knife in your mitts. I have a lot of these and I am either going to dump them or do what i have been doing and take them to the course and compare them to modern balls. I have compared them to Titleist balata 90s, maxfli's, this is what i have found;

1. Titeilist Tour Balata - by a lot.

2. Hogan Balata

3. Maxfli HT Balata

4. Maxfli Elite,

5. Maxfli Revolution, Muli-Layer, A3, M3 tour ---about the same.

Just below these I would put balls like Maxfli u4-Titleist Prov1+x,Callaway Hex Black, ect. in about this order. I would love to do a test and send like 2 of each to a bunch and see what they think

As far as distance with the driver you can flip the order and the Titleist is the shortest. But what a feeling when you hit it on the screws!!.. I have friends that have been in the game only about 10 yrear or so and they can not beleive the feel. When hitting (with a foraged club) it is always the same, they think they hit it real fat untill they see it up in the air, and if they are lucky enough to hit the green, well backspin rules!

They are also fun to use in mellow scrambles into hard greens.
[/quote]The ball that changed how golf balls we manufactured forever is the Spalding Top-Flite STRATA...The first of its kind Multi layer ball. Because Top-Flite was considered to be a hard 2 piece ball (top-flite XL) and rightly so, many of the better players discounted this ball in the early stages. Attitudes changed quickly after Mark O'Meara went on to win Two majors (British and Masters) playing the STRATA ball the year it was released. At the time Big time competitor Titleist continued to preach that low handicap players will never embrace this ball and demand the consistency of wound balls.(Ha!) Looking back, they where just trying to protect what market share they had with premium wound balls while they tried to re-invent the STRATA multi-layer technology with the now ever popular Pro-V1. Law suits followed. Callaway purchased the patent rights of all Top-Flite and Strata golf balls when they purchased Spalding. They Quickly dropped the Top-Flite and Strata name off the ball and re-launched the ball under the Callaway name as a Premium multi-layer golf ball. Improvements would continue with the ball by Callaway (dimple patterns, materials etc.) over the years which brought us to HEX ball we know today. The STRATA golf ball needs its rightful place in golf ball technology history. It changed how golf balls where made forever. Sorry Titleist Pro-V lovers.

deetsal · February 6, 2015

The Strata was a great ball. I was told that the Z in Strata Z Balata stands for zero, as zero balata rubber in the ball. Is that true? I have many of thes in 90 and 100s. They play pretty much like a tour ball of today, just firmer.

xxio · February 6, 2015

Faldo won the '96 Masters with the Precept Double Cover Tour (multi-layer ball). Bridgestone/Precept also released the Precept Double Cover Dynawing together with the Double Cover Tour that year. The Dynawing was a 4piece ball with windings. IIRC the releases were Asia only at the time. I played both that year.

The '96 was more known for the Shark collapse and equipment wise was the rise of Odyssey with the Rossie2 being in Faldo's bag.

It was the 2000 Tiger year with the Tour Accuracy that made Titleist rush the ProV into production. I still maintain if the rest of the field also played multi-layer balls TW would not have won 4 Majors in a row. It is a huge advantage to be playing a ProV over a Prestige/Professional/Tour Balata.