Snell Golf MTB-X Golf Ball Review

Competition among manufacturers at the urethane-covered end of the golf ball market has been hotting up over the last few years. In particular, we have seen a range of more affordable alternatives to what we see played on tour. We’ve tested the likes of the Kirkland Signature 2.0 and Trust’s Bison range of balls to find out how they stack up against more expensive alternatives and in this review and video, we are focussing on the Snell Golf MTB-X golf ball.

Snell Golf MTB-X Golf Ball Review

At under $35 per dozen, we wanted to see how the MTB-X compares to the best golf balls on the market in 2022 so we played 18-holes at Essendon Golf Club. We had Arccos running during the round to provide performance insights.

What became very clear during the round was the impressive distance on offer. My average driving distance was 277 yards and this included one drive that went 311 yards. This was on a par with what I’d expect from my usual golf ball, the Titleist Pro V1x. In my experience when you drop down in price, especially as a faster swinger, distance off the tee can fall away. This was something we noticed with the Kirkland Signature 2.0. That the Snell Golf MTB-X still offered excellent long game performance was a big plus. 

The MTB-X features a thicker, firmer mantle layer and Snell says this should deliver more spin on mid and short iron shots. For us, this translated into good control when hitting into the green. The trajectory and ball flight were relatively high without being uncontrollable. We did notice longer approach shots grabbing when they hit the green. However, the spin control was less noticeable in the short game (we should say that the greens on the day of testing were firm and we weren’t expecting a huge amount of short game spin).

The feel off the putter was on the firm side (the MTB Black version is designed to offer a softer feel). This may well be a consideration if you usually play on super-fast greens but for me, playing year round in different conditions, the firm feel was perfectly playable. 

Another important factor when considering more affordable, urethane golf balls is durability. Does the ball have a premium finish and how well does that finish maintain during play? Well, firstly, we really liked the look of this ball. Unlike the Trust Bison X, it has exactly the sort of finish we’d expect from a premium ball. However, by the end of the round it did start to look a little tired (we managed to keep the same ball in play throughout). The paint finish, particularly on the logo, started to fade more than we would expect from those Tour-played options at the premium end of the market like the Callaway Chrome Soft. The gallery image below shows the ball before and after the round.

Image 1 of 2

For less than $35 per dozen, there is a lot to like about the Snell Golf MTB-X golf ball. We think it is up there with the best mid price golf balls on the market in 2022. The long game performance was the stand-out feature here and we felt it also offered good control when playing into and on the greens.