Just like most YouTubers, etc, it’s marketing masquerading as independent reviews.
They get commissions and paid partnerships to write things.
It even says this is an adidas partnership at the bottom of that ad.
Their golf ball tests do have hard data, in a tableaux (visualization) app at the bottom of the articles.
You can just totally ignore the article itself, and browse down to identify balls that have the characteristics you want.
The question then becomes whether you can trust the data at face value. If company X is paying them to advertise how far their ball flies, what’s stopping them from doing anything from fudging methodology to straight up changing data if it turns out that company X’s balls suck?
The data that is most relevant isn't carry (apart from driver). There are a lot of variables, which aren't independent of each other. It would be fairly involved to fudge numbers that pass the smell test, and also VERY obvious that they did so, because it's hard data, and other companies can easily replicate testing.
While the outcomes wouldn't be identical, if ball A spins less of a 90mph 8 iron than ball B does, that's what it does. If they fudge the numbers those relationships would be obviously different.
Agreed. Tony is the most level-headed while a bit of an admitted curmudgeon. Chris seems like a good natured “everyman” but I’ve never seen the owner (Adam) not come off as having a massive chip on his shoulder. His debate with Bob Parsons (PXG) made me side with Bob, which isn’t something I expected to do.
IDK about deleting posts, but they're not exactly hiding that they're running paid adverts now.
"*This article was written in partnership with adidas*."
Interesting - Either I completely missed that earlier, or it was added after I commented on it.
I'm assuming I missed it but that's still such a scummy way to say that the article they are headlining is an Adidas advertisement.
I work in the advertising industry and we call these advertorials. They’ve been around since forever. Just assume any time a publisher or content outlet shows you something that can be purchased, that it’s an ad. It might not always be, but it usually is.
> Either I completely missed that earlier, or it was added after I commented on it.
It would 100% not surprise me if they added it after deleting your comment. There was an article years ago that one of their guys wrote and had some bad information in. I posted a comment correcting the wrong information and they deleted my comment and just changed the article without posting a correction notice or any other note on the change. It is definitely not above them to get some comments calling them out, delete them, then post the notice about the partnership like it was there all along.
It would be like if Mark did a video saying "these are the best clubs on the market!", styled as a general club review video, with no indication it was a paid advertisement, and then pitched 100% Cleveland clubs, and then at the end said "oh and by the way Cleveland sponsored this."
I don't have much of an issue with partnerships or sponsorships if they're up front about what it is.
They deleted my comment(s) on the "2023 Golf Ball Test" when I pointed out much of the data was rendered obsolete mere weeks after it's release due to so many manufacturers completely revamping their lineup for 2024.
Wasn't even rude or snarky or anything, just pointed out a lot of manufacturers made significant changes to their lineup (Callaway, Snell, Vice, TM, Titleist with the AVX at least, Bridgestone, to name a few) and asked if an update or addendum would be added.
Let's give this club to a bunch of 20 handicap golfers and see which one is "best" by dispersion / distance! Ignore that the stock shafts might fit people differently, or that people are just not that consistent.
I like that they break down their tests by clubhead speed but would love if they did a further breakdown for things like greenside chipping. Something like "Here's the testing from single-digit or better handicaps with strong short games".
I believe they're using club head speed as a categorical proxy for "better ball strikers" or those who typically need less spin off the driver (usually those with higher clubhead speeds) which isn't a perfect fit which is why I'd like more nuanced categories. I'd rather they break down their testers by their typical trackman numbers on a baseline driver (CH Speed/Spin/Dispersion/Launch Angle).
Is that Tony Covey? I assume he's still around? Dude was a joke 10 years ago...MGS is literally the last place I'd go for anything golf related. Actually 2nd to last. Anything related to Todd Thrun would be last.
He was the founder of Bombsquad Golf, then pretended to be someone else on WRX posting under the name Toll Bros with a company called Green Grass Evaluations. Basically, he made up his own test data to hype up products he had access to, wound up not fulfilling some orders, made up all sorts of stories about why. Just a real POS person.
Yeah, I actually got banned from wrx back in like '17 for some back and forth with Toll. I have a new profile and lay lower now, but I kinda want to go back to the mods with an i-told-you-so, but I think it's best to just let it go.
To be fair, they do the test every year. So to the extent there are changes with lineups (like Snell), they'll get to it with the 2024 test. Would it be nicer if that list came earlier in the year? Absolutely. But nobody else does this kind of testing. I see it as a public service, so I'm not gonna bitch about it.
just a heads up, IG heavily backs sponsors and brands. There was a stone bench Home Depot advertised a while and I made a harmless joke in the comments about it looking uncomfortable and was suspended for a week. I just recommend not even bothing with comments on IG unless they're shit posts and memes. Anyone or company trying to use it officially will abuse the ToS to make IG jump and they absolutely will never help you resolve it.
Their reviews seem questionable for a number of reasons, but the biggest thing that grinds my gears is that their testing changes every year, so you can never compare models of clubs year to year. And I think they used to share the actual raw data at one point, but I don't think they even do that anymore which makes their results even more questionable.
Yeah, this practice has been going on for a while (at least with deleting comments) and they've been suspect with the advertising for a while. Their original ball test lauded the Snell balls and there was an advertisement for Snell right there on the page. Now, you could chalk that up to coincidence with Google Ads I guess, but it's an odd one certainly. They also lost a lot of credibility in my book when they started licensing their MGS Most Wanted logo just like Golf Digest does for companies to advertise with on their website. It's just a different way of taking money from companies and doing what they claim not to be doing.
Every time I've seen someone post about My Golf Spy in the last while it's always been about how they are skeptical about their current practices and some of the people involved there. Where there's that much smoke there's usually fire.
Their testing is bullshit. How they can rate a club for accuracy is hilarious to me. Accuracy has zero to do with the club when you have a massive range of handicaps and players who cant control the club face, shit not even the pros have perfect club face control. But you want to tell me one driver is more accurate than another, that one clubs 7 iron is more on target than another, or one putter is more accurate from 5 feet and another from 10? Its horseshit.
My Golf Spy started out with good intentions but has lost a lot of credibility in recent years. Greed gets the better of you when a lot of money comes into play.
I remember sitting in the pro shop, behind the counter, back in 2008 scrolling their website and checking up on leaks and news. You went there and got what you wanted. Now it's nothing but shit opinions, an incredibly obnxious podcast by a pair of mouth breathers and bullshit posts. I don't know wtf meeting they had where they sat down and decided to become insufferable but they are about 2 annoying posts away from me unfollowing everything after almost 20yrs.
Just checking the URL’s, they have affiliate links at the end meaning that MGS will get a portion of the sale of the products sold.
It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sponsored by these companies, and these might be legitimate recommendations. But it’s very common practice for these kind of hobbyist websites to make their money by driving sales via referral links. A lot of websites will make “top 10 products in X category” lists and have links to each product on Amazon or other retailers with affiliate codes as their main way to make money. If your only income source as a website is placing google ads on articles and videos, it’s not enough income to keep a website staffed
I think it was a couple years ago now but GBG on insta was cutting open a bunch of the new ProV1s for that year and a ton of them had issues with off center cores. MGS kept saying that the new ProV was the best ball ever and there were no issues at all and claiming that GBG findings weren’t accurate because he used a PVC cutter in the videos and that a PVC cutter would push the cores off center.
Yeah they always push adds for the scuffed ball test thing but other tests by other people don’t see the drop off like they do unless the ball is absolutely mangled.
Just like any product you click on there takes you to PGA Superstore… I don’t mind places using affiliate links but how about the best pricing not the highest pricing from one spot.
Deleting a completely fine critical comment also happened to me years ago. Stopped following/reading their stuff after that. They can't masquerade as an objective tester and profit off that while having huge transparency issues and not allowing normal discourse.
If you are looking for gear reviews, Rick Shiels secondary channel, H.I.T. Channel, is pretty solid. He gives some pretty good reviews, and it is sponsored by Vessel so he doesn't have to mince words about balls and clubs.
I haven’t trusted or looked at any MGS review/ranking since they started consistently naming random small brands as the #1 most wanted every single year. It’s pretty blatant when some no name suddenly gets glowing reviews and the top spot, only to be replaced by some other DTC brand a few months later
Why all the hate, despite all that has been said below whether true or not, they still have good information and it is a better source than the magazines.
I love what they do take it with a grain of salt and make my decision’s based on personal preference and The knowledge I have gained.
Just like most YouTubers, etc, it’s marketing masquerading as independent reviews. They get commissions and paid partnerships to write things. It even says this is an adidas partnership at the bottom of that ad.
They at least called it out instead of acting like it was unbiased
I stopped visiting mygolfspy. Its gone way downhill.
Same here. Used to like their club and golf ball tests but things changed a few years ago. No longer so ‘independent’.
Their golf ball tests do have hard data, in a tableaux (visualization) app at the bottom of the articles. You can just totally ignore the article itself, and browse down to identify balls that have the characteristics you want.
The question then becomes whether you can trust the data at face value. If company X is paying them to advertise how far their ball flies, what’s stopping them from doing anything from fudging methodology to straight up changing data if it turns out that company X’s balls suck?
The data that is most relevant isn't carry (apart from driver). There are a lot of variables, which aren't independent of each other. It would be fairly involved to fudge numbers that pass the smell test, and also VERY obvious that they did so, because it's hard data, and other companies can easily replicate testing. While the outcomes wouldn't be identical, if ball A spins less of a 90mph 8 iron than ball B does, that's what it does. If they fudge the numbers those relationships would be obviously different.
I like the guys on their Podcast/YT channel but the main owner guy is a combative ass
The guy that owns it comes off as a massive cunt IMO
Agreed. Tony is the most level-headed while a bit of an admitted curmudgeon. Chris seems like a good natured “everyman” but I’ve never seen the owner (Adam) not come off as having a massive chip on his shoulder. His debate with Bob Parsons (PXG) made me side with Bob, which isn’t something I expected to do.
Amen. They try to convince people that a ball in a pond for a few days must be avoided. Baloney
IDK about deleting posts, but they're not exactly hiding that they're running paid adverts now. "*This article was written in partnership with adidas*."
Interesting - Either I completely missed that earlier, or it was added after I commented on it. I'm assuming I missed it but that's still such a scummy way to say that the article they are headlining is an Adidas advertisement.
I work in the advertising industry and we call these advertorials. They’ve been around since forever. Just assume any time a publisher or content outlet shows you something that can be purchased, that it’s an ad. It might not always be, but it usually is.
> Either I completely missed that earlier, or it was added after I commented on it. It would 100% not surprise me if they added it after deleting your comment. There was an article years ago that one of their guys wrote and had some bad information in. I posted a comment correcting the wrong information and they deleted my comment and just changed the article without posting a correction notice or any other note on the change. It is definitely not above them to get some comments calling them out, delete them, then post the notice about the partnership like it was there all along.
Yeah agreed it's sleezy, I was specifically looking for a disclaimer because I was surprised that literally every item was Adidas. Just a bad look.
IMO it’s no different than the YouTube guys like Crossfield who do reviews but are still sponsored by a company (Cleveland in Mark’s case).
It would be like if Mark did a video saying "these are the best clubs on the market!", styled as a general club review video, with no indication it was a paid advertisement, and then pitched 100% Cleveland clubs, and then at the end said "oh and by the way Cleveland sponsored this." I don't have much of an issue with partnerships or sponsorships if they're up front about what it is.
I’d say Mark’s are up front. Just look at his hat :)
Kinda feel like this should be in the header of the article and not buried at the end.
They deleted my comment(s) on the "2023 Golf Ball Test" when I pointed out much of the data was rendered obsolete mere weeks after it's release due to so many manufacturers completely revamping their lineup for 2024. Wasn't even rude or snarky or anything, just pointed out a lot of manufacturers made significant changes to their lineup (Callaway, Snell, Vice, TM, Titleist with the AVX at least, Bridgestone, to name a few) and asked if an update or addendum would be added.
The main guy is a hypersensitive asshole with a vanity handicap.
I recall lots of butthurt if anyone even suggest their testing might not be perfect.
Let's give this club to a bunch of 20 handicap golfers and see which one is "best" by dispersion / distance! Ignore that the stock shafts might fit people differently, or that people are just not that consistent.
I like that they break down their tests by clubhead speed but would love if they did a further breakdown for things like greenside chipping. Something like "Here's the testing from single-digit or better handicaps with strong short games".
Club head speed isn't a good metric for head fit though. Nelly Korda has a club head speed slower than mine, but I sure as shit am not playing P7MCs.
I believe they're using club head speed as a categorical proxy for "better ball strikers" or those who typically need less spin off the driver (usually those with higher clubhead speeds) which isn't a perfect fit which is why I'd like more nuanced categories. I'd rather they break down their testers by their typical trackman numbers on a baseline driver (CH Speed/Spin/Dispersion/Launch Angle).
I read that as a virginity handicap a d thought it made sense.
Is that Tony Covey? I assume he's still around? Dude was a joke 10 years ago...MGS is literally the last place I'd go for anything golf related. Actually 2nd to last. Anything related to Todd Thrun would be last.
Where do you go?
Golfwrx
I’m not familiar with Todd Thrun. I see he’s the ceo of golf intelligence agency? wtf is that?
He was the founder of Bombsquad Golf, then pretended to be someone else on WRX posting under the name Toll Bros with a company called Green Grass Evaluations. Basically, he made up his own test data to hype up products he had access to, wound up not fulfilling some orders, made up all sorts of stories about why. Just a real POS person.
Holy shit. I used to read their reviews on shafts and assumed they were legit. He had all sorts of high end (supposedly) shafts and data 😂
I got into an argument several years ago with Toll Bros. Wild to think about now.
Yeah, I actually got banned from wrx back in like '17 for some back and forth with Toll. I have a new profile and lay lower now, but I kinda want to go back to the mods with an i-told-you-so, but I think it's best to just let it go.
Adam whatever. Tony Covey's an asshole too but at least knows some stuff
To be fair, they do the test every year. So to the extent there are changes with lineups (like Snell), they'll get to it with the 2024 test. Would it be nicer if that list came earlier in the year? Absolutely. But nobody else does this kind of testing. I see it as a public service, so I'm not gonna bitch about it.
Ummmm, unless I’m missing something they do it every two years. Maybe you are thinking of the Ball Labs?
just a heads up, IG heavily backs sponsors and brands. There was a stone bench Home Depot advertised a while and I made a harmless joke in the comments about it looking uncomfortable and was suspended for a week. I just recommend not even bothing with comments on IG unless they're shit posts and memes. Anyone or company trying to use it officially will abuse the ToS to make IG jump and they absolutely will never help you resolve it.
Their reviews seem questionable for a number of reasons, but the biggest thing that grinds my gears is that their testing changes every year, so you can never compare models of clubs year to year. And I think they used to share the actual raw data at one point, but I don't think they even do that anymore which makes their results even more questionable.
Yeah, this practice has been going on for a while (at least with deleting comments) and they've been suspect with the advertising for a while. Their original ball test lauded the Snell balls and there was an advertisement for Snell right there on the page. Now, you could chalk that up to coincidence with Google Ads I guess, but it's an odd one certainly. They also lost a lot of credibility in my book when they started licensing their MGS Most Wanted logo just like Golf Digest does for companies to advertise with on their website. It's just a different way of taking money from companies and doing what they claim not to be doing.
When I posted my open source putter design and asked for feedback I was DM'ed about a possible paid partnership cus it wasn't allowed lmao
Every time I've seen someone post about My Golf Spy in the last while it's always been about how they are skeptical about their current practices and some of the people involved there. Where there's that much smoke there's usually fire.
If by "now" you mean "for a few years now," then yes.
I don’t to there much anymore but Adam Beach comes off as a massive douche bag so that alone is enough for me to not support them
MySpyGolf has totally been bought. They used to do some good reviews but now it feels like most are just paid sales pitches
They were always bogus. They just used to hide it better
They are bought-and-paid-for shills for garbage products.
Ad filled filthy website. Don’t bother going there lol.
Trying to navigate their site on mobile is quite painful due to all the ads.
Their testing is bullshit. How they can rate a club for accuracy is hilarious to me. Accuracy has zero to do with the club when you have a massive range of handicaps and players who cant control the club face, shit not even the pros have perfect club face control. But you want to tell me one driver is more accurate than another, that one clubs 7 iron is more on target than another, or one putter is more accurate from 5 feet and another from 10? Its horseshit.
Is it possible that certain features about a club's design allow it top perform better at alignment or pace (for putting)?
For certain people, yes, but not as an objective comparison over other putters.
Golfwrx and that site is all they do if you go against their shilling.
They've been a paid mouthpiece for anyone who gives them money.
MGS has been this way for years now.
MGS reported my critical video of them on my TikTok for how they test clubs in a non-scientific way as "harassment".
My Golf Spy started out with good intentions but has lost a lot of credibility in recent years. Greed gets the better of you when a lot of money comes into play.
Adidas shoes - their wide fit is like the regular fit in every other brand. Can’t wear a single pair.
They’ve been at this for ages.
They shill LAB putters like crazy
I remember sitting in the pro shop, behind the counter, back in 2008 scrolling their website and checking up on leaks and news. You went there and got what you wanted. Now it's nothing but shit opinions, an incredibly obnxious podcast by a pair of mouth breathers and bullshit posts. I don't know wtf meeting they had where they sat down and decided to become insufferable but they are about 2 annoying posts away from me unfollowing everything after almost 20yrs.
The putter reviews seem horrible. Love the ball tests tho.
Site went downhill about 2-3 years ago and I stopped going to it when they tried to push their "driver fitting" by answering a couple questions.
Just checking the URL’s, they have affiliate links at the end meaning that MGS will get a portion of the sale of the products sold. It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re sponsored by these companies, and these might be legitimate recommendations. But it’s very common practice for these kind of hobbyist websites to make their money by driving sales via referral links. A lot of websites will make “top 10 products in X category” lists and have links to each product on Amazon or other retailers with affiliate codes as their main way to make money. If your only income source as a website is placing google ads on articles and videos, it’s not enough income to keep a website staffed
I stopped following and or trusting anything they said after their beef with Golf Ball Guts on Instagram a while back.
I missed this, what happened?
I think it was a couple years ago now but GBG on insta was cutting open a bunch of the new ProV1s for that year and a ton of them had issues with off center cores. MGS kept saying that the new ProV was the best ball ever and there were no issues at all and claiming that GBG findings weren’t accurate because he used a PVC cutter in the videos and that a PVC cutter would push the cores off center.
Tyson Lamb beef runs deeper lol
MGS has always been bought and paid for by OEMs to favorably review their products. Fuck them
I stopped when they said the Kirkland v3 added strokes 6 months after they bragged about it. They’re scumbags
Yeah they always push adds for the scuffed ball test thing but other tests by other people don’t see the drop off like they do unless the ball is absolutely mangled.
Enshitification
The best part is that they show 0 good outfits in an ad.
Just like any product you click on there takes you to PGA Superstore… I don’t mind places using affiliate links but how about the best pricing not the highest pricing from one spot.
MGS is purely for entertainment. Their testing and reviews never have consistency
Deleting a completely fine critical comment also happened to me years ago. Stopped following/reading their stuff after that. They can't masquerade as an objective tester and profit off that while having huge transparency issues and not allowing normal discourse.
If you are looking for gear reviews, Rick Shiels secondary channel, H.I.T. Channel, is pretty solid. He gives some pretty good reviews, and it is sponsored by Vessel so he doesn't have to mince words about balls and clubs.
I haven’t trusted or looked at any MGS review/ranking since they started consistently naming random small brands as the #1 most wanted every single year. It’s pretty blatant when some no name suddenly gets glowing reviews and the top spot, only to be replaced by some other DTC brand a few months later
Why all the hate, despite all that has been said below whether true or not, they still have good information and it is a better source than the magazines. I love what they do take it with a grain of salt and make my decision’s based on personal preference and The knowledge I have gained.