My dilemma, Snell MTB-X or Bridgestone Tour B RX

I've been playing the MTB-X for the better part of the summer, but previously, I was playing the B RX. Just for the heck of it, I switched to the B RX the last few rounds to see how it felt / performed. It felt great and performed very good; except it was shorter with the driver and slightly shorter with the irons. I did a number of comparison shots and the MTB-X was definitely longer. I can putt with either ball but like the feel of the RX. It's noticeably softer and hence the nicer feel.

My heart says go with the RX, but the golfer in me says, don't be stupid, you need the extra distance (which I do) so go with the MTB-X.

In order to quantify this difference, I'd say the MTB-X is 10 yards longer with the driver and anywhere from 5-10 yards with irons. Not a big difference, but it certainly seems like it when you are all of a sudden not hitting target areas in the fairway that you normally hit.

What would you do if you were me?

I would take results over feel every single time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 yards further with driver and 5 yards further with an iron is the difference between hitting a 7i or a 9i into the green... seems like a no brained

I was wondering if you tried the BXS? I've found the feel isn't that much different than the RBX, but it performs better (especially around the greens).

I used Bridgestone RX balls for years and liked them. On a whim, I tried the Titleist AVX balls a year ago and found them to be longer on drives and with mid irons. They work find with the softer greens I have been playing in the NE, but I'll be heading south in a few months where the greens are firmer and harder to hold with a ball that just spins less. I bought a box of the Snell MTX balls and will debut them tomorrow and see how they compare. If the distance is good and spin controllable, it just may be my new ball.

There's almost no circumstance I can think of in golf where I'd willingly play a lesser performing club or piece of equipment simply due to looks or feel unless the performance difference was extremely small.

Honestly, I think you should expand your horizons and try some new balls, just to see... Did you do a comparison between the Snell Black and the X? Have you tried any other Bridgestone balls?

I enjoyed the process of trying to find the right golf ball... it's not super expensive and not a huge commitment. Maybe put some different balls in play and see what you like?

I spent the summer playing the MTB Black and went back to the B X on a whim... I miss my Snell balls! I think I'm going to try to the X next spring... probably the Srixon as well... hopefully the Kirkland too!

> @jjfcpa said:

> What would you do if you were me?

I would gather up my inventory of RX balls and give them to a golf buddy. And that’s exactly what I did about a year ago. I found balls that performed better for me, and I never looked back.

whatever helps you score better is what i would say. if you are scoring the same with both then keep what feels good. if your noticing higher scores i would maybe put feel aside and go with whats performing

> @arbeck said:

> I was wondering if you tried the BXS? I've found the feel isn't that much different than the RBX, but it performs better (especially around the greens).

Have not tried it, but will do so based on your suggestions. Thanks.

Try a Tour BX. It will split the difference.

FWIW, the Tour RX and MTB-X aren’t very comparable. The MTB-X is much harder and spins a crazy amount more on irons and touch shots.

The Tour BX spins is between those two in compression and spin.

> @Myherobobhope said:

> Honestly, I think you should expand your horizons and try some new balls, just to see... Did you do a comparison between the Snell Black and the X? Have you tried any other Bridgestone balls?

>

> I enjoyed the process of trying to find the right golf ball... it's not super expensive and not a huge commitment. Maybe put some different balls in play and see what you like?

>

> I spent the summer playing the MTB Black and went back to the B X on a whim... I miss my Snell balls! I think I'm going to try to the X next spring... probably the Srixon as well... hopefully the Kirkland too!

Oh, I've tried at least a dozen different balls over the last year. I can usually tell pretty quickly if they perform and feel as good as my gamer. I played the Snell Black, Bridgestone Tour B RX, and Vice Pro interchangeably, and finally decided that there was little difference. It wasn't until I tried the MTB-X that I found the one that performed the best. I've tried all the Titleist offerings, Callaway balls, and a few other DTC balls, but the Snell just seem to be the best bang for the buck.

> @Mahamilto said:

> Try a Tour BX. It will split the difference.

>

> FWIW, the Tour RX and MTB-X aren’t very comparable. The MTB-X is much harder and spins a crazy amount more on irons and touch shots.

>

> The Tour BX spins is between those two in compression and spin.

I tried the B X and didn't think it felt as nice as the MTB-X. I also thought the distance favored the MTB-X and spin on the greens as well.

@jjfcpa

I follow your comments when it comes to golf balls because I feel like we are often in the same boat. This summer I mostly played Tour BX S and B RX, with a small test of plain Tour BX. I thought RX and XS felt similar off the club face - soft but substantial, and responsive. I got more distance with BX, but I hated the feel off the putter. Way too hard and I couldn’t dial in the distance. I just ordered a Snell test pack of X and Black. I’ve tried Black before and liked it, but I’m secretly hoping MTB-X is my ball. I was a little afraid of the feel though with people saying it’s really firm. Your comment that you thought it was nicer than Tour BX gives me hope!

I will report back with my thoughts after I receive them.

I dont with issues with distance, i am a feel player, meaning the ball has to feel good to me...i play the BRX, and its a great ball

https://mygolfspy.com/most-wanted-golf-ball/

For slow swings. This shows a completely different test result. B rx is way longer. Fwiw

I guess we are all different. The Tour BX felt softer than the MTB black, and MUCH softer than the MTBX to me.

The Tour BRX was completely unplayable for me, it had no grab around the greens or with mid irons. Has to use descent angle to stop anything. Even the AVX spun more.

Maybe try the TourBXS?

> @Orlandogolfguru said:

> https://****.com/most-wanted-golf-ball/

> For slow swings. This shows a completely different test result. B rx is way longer. Fwiw

I would not call 4 yards "way longer" and that's for an 85mph swing speed with the driver. My experience is different, but I'm not sure what my swing speed is with the driver, but I do know that the MTB-X is longer than the RX. Compared it multiple times and same results... MTB-X comes out ahead. Their testing was done with a robot and only individual testing can provide you with YOUR results.

> @jjfcpa said:

> > @Orlandogolfguru said:

> > https://****.com/most-wanted-golf-ball/

> > For slow swings. This shows a completely different test result. B rx is way longer. Fwiw

>

> I would not call 4 yards "way longer" and that's for an 85mph swing speed with the driver. My experience is different, but I'm not sure what my swing speed is with the driver, but I do know that the MTB-X is longer than the RX. Compared it multiple times and same results... MTB-X comes out ahead. Their testing was done with a robot and only individual testing can provide you with YOUR results.

If we changed balls every time we thought we could pick up 4 more yards off the driver...well, we'd be changing balls a lot! Unfortunately, those 4 extra yards aren't additive. We can't change once a month for a year and hit it 50 yards farther. Pity about that.

> @Myherobobhope said:

> Honestly, I think you should expand your horizons and try some new balls, just to see... Did you do a comparison between the Snell Black and the X? Have you tried any other Bridgestone balls?

>

> I enjoyed the process of trying to find the right golf ball... it's not super expensive and not a huge commitment. Maybe put some different balls in play and see what you like?

>

> I spent the summer playing the MTB Black and went back to the B X on a whim... I miss my Snell balls! I think I'm going to try to the X next spring... probably the Srixon as well... hopefully the Kirkland too!

In my experience, the MTB-X does not feel nearly as firm as the my****** ball review made it out to feel. Granted, the RX does feel softer and I really like it, but for me, the MTB-X has a distance edge that I can't ignore. I also like the way the MTB-X feels off the putter. Firm but very adaptable. Leaves no question in your mind whether it was struck firmly or not. This is a huge advantage that I think is often overlooked. I rely on my putting skills to get me lower scores, so the way the ball feels and reacts off the putter is critical to my game. If I had never played the MTB-X, the RX would probably be in my bag.

on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

> @Orlandogolfguru said:

> on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

That's all due to reduced spin. I myself would rather have the spin than the extra couple yards on the irons.

> @arbeck said:

> > @Orlandogolfguru said:

> > on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

>

> That's all due to reduced spin. I myself would rather have the spin than the extra couple yards on the irons.

Me too. My year and a half adventure using AVX with spring-faced irons cured me of chasing distance through lower iron shot spin. I can always go up one club to get more distance but I can't do anything to create more spin.

> @"North Butte" said:

> > @arbeck said:

> > > @Orlandogolfguru said:

> > > on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

> >

> > That's all due to reduced spin. I myself would rather have the spin than the extra couple yards on the irons.

>

> Me too. My year and a half adventure using AVX with spring-faced irons cured me of chasing distance through lower iron shot spin. I can always go up one club to get more distance but I can't do anything to create more spin.

Almost everything that happens in golf is going to remove spin from your shot. So my feeling is that I should start with as much as possible.

> @arbeck said:

> > @"North Butte" said:

> > > @arbeck said:

> > > > @Orlandogolfguru said:

> > > > on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

> > >

> > > That's all due to reduced spin. I myself would rather have the spin than the extra couple yards on the irons.

> >

> > Me too. My year and a half adventure using AVX with spring-faced irons cured me of chasing distance through lower iron shot spin. I can always go up one club to get more distance but I can't do anything to create more spin.

>

> Almost everything that happens in golf is going to remove spin from your shot. So my feeling is that I should start with as much as possible.

I'm having a bit of difference of opinion with my hybrids right now so I've got my 4-iron back in the bag. Yesterday I had to hit the 4-iron on a Par 3 where, once I carried the bunker in front of the green, there wasn't a lot of room for the ball to roll out. Hit my Pro V1x really solidly and the ball mark was 5 feet short of the hole with the ball ending up 8-9 feet past.

When I was playing AVX, there is no way on earth a 4-iron to a firm green was stopping after less than 15 feet of rollout. No way. It would have been up in the rough beyond the green. If I'd have been playing AVX yesterday I'd probably have had to just hit 5-iron off to the left of the green (to avoid the bunker) and try to leave an uphill chip from the fringe or something.

Op was purely talking of distance, hence the graph. Spin is an entirely different story.

> @Orlandogolfguru said:

> Op was purely talking of distance, hence the graph. Spin is an entirely different story.

Spin and distance can't be separated really. Especially when it comes to irons. If one ball travels further with your irons, it is almost always going to be only due to spin.

Given that comparison I'd go with the MTB-X. A club shorter into greens makes a substantial difference for me.

> @Orlandogolfguru said:

> on the graph you can click on both swing speeds, and also the driver and 7i carry. even though it's on a robot, the b rx flew farther on both 7i tests, by 6-7 yards. that is an extra club into a green, or the difference between green and bunker. i'd take that over feel. i am not knocking the snell at all, it's a great ball. but if you are looking for more distance it's clearly the bridgestone.

I saw those stats, unfortunately, that was not my experience. I think the ball test that Today's Golfer did was a bit more realistic and showed the 7 iron distance difference of less than 2 yards in favor of the RX. Again, I can only say that I think I'm getting better results with the MTB-X. Not sure why, but it may just suit my swing better.

Today's golfer ball test ... [https://todaysgolfer.co.uk/features/equipment-features/2019/september/robot-tested-which-golf-bal-suits-my-game/](https://www.todaysgolfer.co.uk/features/equipment-features/2019/september/robot-tested-which-golf-bal-suits-my-game/ "https://todaysgolfer.co.uk/features/equipment-features/2019/september/robot-tested-which-golf-bal-suits-my-game/")

> @Orlandogolfguru said:

> Op was purely talking of distance, hence the graph. Spin is an entirely different story.

Spin was not mentioned but definitely a part of the equation when looking at distance. I think the comments regarding spin are very relevant. Since I'm generally a short hitter anyway, I'm faced with at least a few up and downs every round. Spin becomes a very important issue because I need to play a relatively short shot into the green and may need as much spin as possible to get the ball close to the hole. I tried the bump and run with short irons and had good luck with it, but determined that I have better results with a good wedge shot as close to the hole as possible.