I was excited to recently receive the tester pack of balls for the new models. My immediate reaction out of the box was slight disappointment, if I'm being honest. Not having a cast cover made the ball feel somewhat cheap under the completely arbitrary "scratch" test. A few bounces of each on the wedge also made an unfavorable clicking sound that felt similar to many bridgestone balls (also not my favorites). The MTB prime was particularly disappointing in this respect as some of the dimples were very sharp (felt flashy), while most of the ball felt slick. Also, the MTB prime did not hold sharpie well at all - I don't really know how to describe this phenomena, but the ink just piled on the surface instead of adhering to the ball. This was not an issue on the X version, which also did not have the same dimple issue.
I took both balls to the putting green where the black was noticeably softer off the putter face and more pleasing for my sensibilities. Snell were clearly trying to create separation between the models and they succeeded! The X was much firmer, but not unpleasing.
The chipping area is where I noticed the biggest difference to the previous models. The old MTB-X was my favorite in this respect. Nice, low launching spinners always. These balls launched higher for me than the previous generation, and did not inspire the same kind of green side confidence. I typically play a course with very fast greens that I like to hit little spinning shots into, and this is one reason I'd consider not playing this ball.
On course, the performance was great. I played 9 holes with each ball. The front 9 with the Prime was very nice. Plenty of spin on approach shots, especially with short irons. Noticeably lower launch off the driver, but plenty of rollout which makes this feel like a great option on a windy day. The X performed admirably on the back as well, with plenty of greenside spin. Given the limited sample set of shots played, I hesistate to say whether there was any distance loss off the driver or longer clubs, but I did not feel the "pop" off the face that I was used to feeling with the prior generation. Could just have been the day.
Overall, I liked getting to test the new balls, but will probably be sticking with my gamer due to the lack of the cast urethane cover.
