This professional goes the route without equipment, except for this one part

Ben Griffin wouldn’t call himself a gear nerd and he doesn’t like tinkering with his setup, but he does like to test.

“I’m friends with a lot of the reps here on Tour, and I enjoy getting out into the trucks and talking to them and learning about their new gear,” Griffin told GOLF earlier this month. “I’m more open than other players to offering products for different companies, maybe giving them feedback or whatever. So I’m just more open in that way.

“I’m not necessarily trying to change anything, I’m just testing it for fun,” he continued. “Just to see what’s out there. And if something is significantly better, I’m not afraid to make that switch.”

That’s what he did this year at the WM Phoenix Open, testing Ping’s new G440 K driver with different shafts, seeing if anything could beat his gamer. By the end of that session, despite looking like he had grooved to the new 440K, he seemed inclined to keep his older G430 Max 10K in the bag. That club led him to the best season of his career in 2025 and won his first three PGA Tour titles.

Three days later, on Thursday, he reversed course and the new 440 K was in the bag.

That’s the freedom Griffin now has, as a gear-free agent after previous contracts with Mizuno and UST Mamiya golf shafts expired at the end of last season. The eleventh player in the world can play for any club he likes this year.

But there’s one place in the bag where Griffin is trapped, and that’s the piece of equipment he believes is the most important in the game: his golf ball.

Earlier this season, Griffin signed a three-year extension with Maxfli, now part of Dick’s Sporting Goods, as the company’s sole golf ball endorser on the PGA Tour.

“It’s the one product I absolutely believe in the most,” Griffin said. “Ever since I started using the Maxfli product, it felt like a super natural fit. It’s also kind of part of my brand here on Tour. Everyone calls me a guy who plays a Maxfli.”

Griffin only started considering using a Maxfli golf ball two years ago when he saw Lexi Thompson become the LPGA’s lone Maxfli endorser in 2024. Later that spring, he signed with the company.

Since then, he has gradually risen from a scrappy young tour professional who briefly gave up competitive play and entered the mortgage business, to a U.S. Ryder Cup team member and one of the best on the PGA Tour.

It could be assumed that Griffin, being a second-year PGA Tour pro when he signed with the company, was only in it for the money. But he said the decision was based on both the ball’s performance and how the brand aligns with its values.

“I’m not just trying to work with this person because they’re paying me X amount of money or trying to sell a spot on my bag because I have it open,” he said. “I want to work with companies I believe in and companies I can associate myself with and use their products, and Maxfli was a perfect fit.

“It’s funny, when you first start the Tour you’re almost looking for sponsors. Now I’m at the point where I have a lot of options in front of me, and it doesn’t come down to money.”

In some ways, Maxfli’s story of reintroducing professional golf through himself, Thompson and PGA Tour Champions player Fred Funk mirrors Griffin’s own comeback story before earning his PGA Tour card on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2022.

He didn’t miss that.

“It’s a very good product that has been a bit lost in time because of the way the economy has worked with the company since the 1990s,” he said. “Now with what Dick’s is doing, they’re really trying to make a push and a comeback, and it really resonates with me and my story about making a comeback in professional golf.”

Working with Maxfli and not a brand with a slew of clubs gives him the freedom and flexibility he otherwise wouldn’t have if he were locked into an 8, 10 or 14 club contract.

“I have six categories I’m thinking about (driver, fairway wood, irons, wedges, putter and golf ball) and I believe in the Maxfli ball the most of any product, so I already have that one in hand,” he said. “That will never change.”

It also allowed him to create a ball that met his specific needs, which the company did with a new one Maxfli Tour-LS golf ball. The new model retains the same feel and high speed that Griffin loves Guided tourbut lowers the spin at the top of the bag, giving Griffin the freedom to swing away and not have to worry about the spin getting out of control.

If a golf ball is the most important part of the bag, Griffin’s does exactly what it wants and from there it can choose the 14 clubs that best complement it.

Maxfli Tour

Best for golfers looking for more spin and speed with a higher launch, with every club in their bag.

His bag remains largely unchanged this season, and what has changed he describes simply as an update to a newer model, just like his driver. He still has TaylorMade Qi10 fairway woods and he still plays Mizuno Pro S-3 ironsalthough 3- and 4-irons are the newer and more forgiving M-13recent additions for this season. At the end of last season he finally switched from a Scotty Cameron blade putter to a TaylorMade Spider, but he won with that too.