Maxfli SoftFli Review (2026): Robot Data on a 35-Compression Ball

Is the Maxfli SoftFli a good golf ball?

Maxfli SoftFli at a glance

Compression and cover come from BallCaddie’s ball catalog. Construction comes from the DICK’S product listing and the dimple count from the Golftees.com listing. Prices were checked October 4, 2026: $19.99 at Golftees.com and The GolfWorks, and $21.99 at both DICK’S and Golf Galaxy. Robot figures come from Today’s Golfer’s 2025 robot test.

The robot data at three swing speeds

In 2025, Today’s Golfer ran 62 balls through an R&D swing robot with Loughborough University’s Sports Technology Institute — 2,232 shots captured on a Foresight GCQuad, at three driver speeds plus a 7-iron and a 40-yard pitch. All six Maxflis were in the field, so the SoftFli can be compared with its five siblings under the same conditions.

The carry deficit narrows at every step down in clubhead speed, from 9.3 yards at tour pace to 5.5 at 93 mph to 2.1 at 78 mph. Today’s Golfer’s own summary called it “one of the lowest-performing golf balls of the entire test” and placed it third from the bottom of 62. Both readings hold. The single ranking covers all three swing speeds at once; a golfer only ever swings at one of them.

Two yards is the real number

The usual sales pitch for a soft ball is that a slow swing can’t fully load a firm core, while a soft core returns energy a slower player would otherwise leave behind. MyGolfSpy calls that a myth, and the 78 mph row is where a soft core would win if the argument held.

It lost, narrowly. At 78 mph the SoftFli produced 159.2 yards of carry against 161.3 for the StraightFli. On the same gauge that read the SoftFli at 48, the StraightFli read 102 — more than twice as firm — and it still carried further at the slowest speed tested. What the SoftFli buys down there is feel, and a price around $20.

Distance is what slower swingers ask for. Of the 648 golfers under 85 mph who have taken the BallCaddie quiz, 69% say they want more distance off the tee and 40% say they prefer a soft feel (self-reported answers, as of October 5, 2026). If you’re in the 40%, you’ll get the feel you want from the SoftFli. If you’re in the 69%, you won’t gain yards with it.

For scale on where 78 mph sits: TrackMan’s amateur data puts a 10-handicap female golfer at 83 mph and the average male at about 94 mph. The 78 mph condition is slow, and it’s still the condition that flatters this ball most.

How soft is it?

Maxfli sells it as “ultra low compression,” and the DICK’S listing gives no number. Our catalog carries ~35, the lowest of any ball we list. Today’s Golfer’s calibrated gauge read 48.

Compression gauges differ, so 35 and 48 can describe the same ball. The ordering carries across scales. On Today’s Golfer’s own gauge the SoftFli read 48 while the Wilson Duo Soft (~37), a ball marketed as the world’s softest, read 55. Whichever number you trust, the SoftFli is at the bottom of the shelf.

Buyers like it. The DICK’S listing carries 387 reviews averaging 4.7 stars, with 97% recommending it. Golf Monthly’s 2022 review of an earlier matte SoftFli described the feel more vividly: the ball “almost catapulted off the putter face” until the reviewer adjusted his stroke, and he flagged a cover that discolours easily.

Where it costs you strokes

An ionomer cover costs you most in the short game.

On the 40-yard pitch, the SoftFli carried 41.9 yards — the longest of all six Maxflis — against 39.6 for the urethane Maxfli Tour X, with 5,432 rpm against the Tour X’s 6,028. On a shot aimed at 40 yards, that’s 1.9 yards long, and 2.3 yards further than the Tour X went, with 596 fewer rpm available to stop it. The SoftFli’s descent angle on that pitch was steeper though, 38.3° against 35.7°, so it lands at a better angle than the spin figure alone suggests.

The 7-iron numbers are cleaner. The SoftFli carried 158.4 yards against the Tour X’s 156.2 — 2.2 yards longer — while spinning 4,017 rpm against 4,694 and descending at 44.2° against 45.1°. A longer, flatter shot with less spin is harder to stop on a green.

That’s the trade the urethane vs. ionomer breakdown walks through in full. If you score by keeping the ball in play, it barely registers. If your strokes come from stopping wedges on a firm green, step up to the urethane Maxfli Tour S (~80) at $39.99 and accept that it needs more clubhead speed to work.

The SoftFli’s rank is against the whole 62-ball field, urethane tour models included. The balls it competes with on the shelf are soft ionomer ones — the Callaway Supersoft (~49), the Srixon Soft Feel (~58) — and the argument for it there is feel and price. Today’s Golfer still rated the firmer StraightFli the better two-piece Maxfli.

The soft-ball shelf, compared

Compression and price come from BallCaddie’s ball catalog. The Noodle costs $6.99 less and is about twice as firm — among balls under 40 compression, the SoftFli is both the softest and the cheapest. Our softest golf balls ranking puts the same five in order on feel alone, and the Wilson Duo Soft review covers the one ball marketed directly against it.

Does it fit your swing and your miss?

This is BallCaddie’s fitting read, built from the catalog’s launch and spin ratings for the SoftFli (high launch, low spin) and the robot carry gaps above. The 5-yard figure is the 93 mph row, where the SoftFli finished 5.5 yards behind the StraightFli.

Four ways to get the SoftFli wrong

• Buying it because a low number means more distance. At 78 mph the SoftFli lost 2.1 yards to a 102-compression ball in the same test. Down here a low compression number buys feel and costs a couple of yards.
• Playing it above 95 mph. The 114 mph row is a 9.3-yard deficit against the Tour X, more than four times the 78 mph gap. The penalty grows with your clubhead speed.
• Expecting wedge bite. An ionomer cover can’t grab the grooves the way urethane does. The SoftFli’s 40-yard pitch flew 2.3 yards past the Tour X’s with 596 fewer rpm, which is the wrong combination on a shot you’re trying to stop.
• Paying more than you need to. A new dozen ran $19.99 at Golftees.com and The GolfWorks and $21.99 at DICK’S and Golf Galaxy on October 4, 2026, and the DICK’S promo went lower. At 4 dozen for $60 it works out to $1.25 a ball.

Should you buy it?

Buy the SoftFli if your driver swing speed is under about 85 mph, you want the softest ball in our catalog, and you’d rather spend $20 than $40 a dozen. It launches high, spins low off the driver, holds its feel on cold mornings, and comes in gloss white and yellow plus matte colors. The slow-swing picks and the seniors guide both cover the same band from a fitting angle.

Skip it if you swing over 95 mph — the upper boundary our catalog entry puts on this ball — or if wedge spin is already part of how you make par. Those players should read the Maxfli lineup guide and start with the urethane Tour series instead.

If you want your own numbers rather than a category, the BallCaddie fitting quiz scores all 70-plus balls in the catalog against your swing speed, typical miss, greenside priority, and budget. Your fitting report is free; your #1 ball is paid. The quiz itself takes about 90 seconds. If a $20 SoftFli is the right answer for you, that’s the answer you’ll get.

For deeper dives

• Golf ball compression chart — the full compression tier map this ball sits at the bottom of.
• How to choose a golf ball for your swing speed — the fitting framework behind the 85 and 95 mph boundaries used here.
• Maxfli golf balls: the full range — where the SoftFli sits against the Tour, Tour S, and Tour X.
• Best low-compression golf balls — the curated 30–70 compression picks weighed on launch and spin as well as softness.
• Softest golf balls of 2026 — the same shelf ranked purely on feel.

Sources

• Today’s Golfer, Maxfli golf balls, robot tested
• MyGolfSpy, Golf ball compression guide
• Golf Monthly, Maxfli SoftFli golf ball review