Griffin shows off the Maxfli Tour X golf ball he will play in the CJ Cup with Byron Nelson.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
McKINNEY, Texas – A few weeks ago, Ben Griffin did something that raised some eyebrows. Before a PGA Tour round begins, players arrive at the tee and show their fellow golfers the golf ball they plan to use — cues and all. It's an easy way to make sure the pellets don't stick together in the course.
Most pros light the ball and go about their business, but on this day at the Houston Open, Griffin lighted his ball and waited for a response. It's the same as the one he got in the following rounds as he chose to rent Maxfli's Tour X for the tournament.
“The reaction is generally the same,” Griffin told GOLF.com. “Their faces light up and they're looking at me and they're like, 'Are you serious?'
On a tour where green-blooded equipment is making headlines, Griffin adopted a more controversial route by agreeing to play the Tour's premier Maxfli ball for the rest of the PGA Tour season after extensive testing. As part of the agreement, Griffin will join Lexi Thompson as Maxfli's latest golf ball endorsement specialist.
“Lexi attracted me to football at first,” Griffin said. “I saw that he was playing with my child, [Alex Ritthamel], who used to play for Lexi's brother Curtis, thought I should check out Maxfli to see how it works. A few months passed and I finally got my hands on some. I did the first test but I didn't plan to do much with football.”
That was until he saw an increase in the speed and distance of the ball.
“It was about 8 yards on the first try,” Griffin said. “On the green side, I didn't see a big difference in the balls. That's when the friendship side started to interest me. There are some weeks out there where distance becomes a priority. “
According to Griffin, he saw the benefits of the extra distance he could make during practice this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson when he easily cleared a 300-yard putt with 10-plus yards.
Jonathan Wall/GOLF
He said: “That made me happy. “You see things like that and you wonder why you didn't change sooner. Because of the positive results, it was a no-brainer for me. I think it will definitely help me.”
When Griffin's soccer deal with Maxfli was announced this week, he confirmed that testing has been ongoing for several months and includes competitive rounds in Houston and the Dominican Republic where he was able to see for himself how well the Tour X performs in the wind.
“Houston was a good test,” Griffin said. Then I played it in the hottest week of the year, in the Dominican, and it performed very well under the conditions. I finished T14 that week. Football was not slowing me down in any way. It was one of those situations where I felt like I could have been in contention if I had made more putts. Once I saw that football was doing well on the Tour, I thought I'd better watch it a little. Over the past few weeks, we have been in contact with Maxfli to see what the possibilities are.”
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The negotiations eventually led to an agreement that extended the history of Maxfli's Tour. Before Thompson and Griffin played Tour ball, Maxfli was known as the home of Dick's Sporting Goods. It's a far cry from the years when Maxfli was a major player on Tour and boasted a roster that once included the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and Fred Couples.
As pros begin to embrace Maxfli again, Griffin said it's time for weekend golfers to reevaluate the brand's status as a big-box offering.
“I have done enough tests where I feel more confident about playing football in the Tour,” he said. “If you look at the price compared to other balls in the store, it is very cheap. But in my opinion, it has the feel of elite football – and the distance to prove it. There is stability in the air, too. I'm hoping to play in the air later this summer in Scotland, and the British Open, I need to make sure I'm using a good ball in those conditions.”
It's easy to look at Griffin's latest deal and wonder if the endorsement dollars drove his decision to sign with Maxfli. What ultimately made him switch balls mid-season was an opportunity to try something different that wasn't available on Tour and put Maxfli back on the tour map.
“It's the only product you use in every short, and I know a lot of guys are hesitant to switch for that reason,” he said. “I'm excited this year to be a free agent and check out some products, at least for the last month or so. I [Maxfli] football is what piqued my interest the most. Maybe part of the reason is because it has no presence [on Tour]. It's an opportunity to show how good it is. I've done enough testing with it to feel confident with it out here.
“It has a lot of potential. This could be the start of us seeing a few guys test it out. Maybe not this year, but in the years to come. It's fun to try something no one else has. Some might say it's dangerous. But for me, it counted a lot. I have seen the numbers to prove that.”
Griffin is hoping his calculated push will pay off — starting this week in Texas.
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