To most golfers free golf balls are the best balls.

So, Seth Fournier, 36, of Hartford could be excused for loving the Snell Golf Balls given to him by his father, Greg.

“I’m liking it,” said Seth Fournier who plays to an eight-handicap out of Martindale, and was on the golf teams at Mountain Valley High School and the University of Maine at Farmington. “They feel pretty soft.”

“I always played the Pro VI,” the younger Fournier said, then added, referring to the Snell My Tour ball, “they seem comparable.”

Greg Fournier is a Snell Golf customer, because he runs a league for General Electric employees at Bangor Municipal, and every one of the 48 players in that league receives a dozen Snell balls.

“I like them a lot,” said the elder Fournier, a resident of the Bangor suburb, Herman.

Why Snell Golf balls? Probably the attraction was, in part, lineage of Dean Snell, who founded the company almost three years ago.

Snell’s name is on the patent for the Titleist Pro VI and some very good balls produced by TaylorMade. He has taken his extensive and successful knowledge of golf ball production and opened a small company in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where he has 10 employees.

Basically, he is selling the balls to customers who order them, and they are not available in retail outlets in Maine.

“We are a small, family-run business and we have received such tremendous support from our local market here in Massachusetts,” Snell said. “Over our first years in business, we have seen that grow strongly in Maine and the rest of New England. We can’t be more appreciative.”

At the moment, it could be said that Fournier has a corner on the Maine market for Snell golf balls. But not for long, because Snell balls will be given to approximately 150 players at the annual Camp Sunshine Golf Tournament, June 12 at Point Sebago.

Snell became aware of the virtues of Camp Sunshine and is proud to have made his golf balls available to the players in that tournament.

“Last year, we learned about Camp Sunshine and the tremendous value and importance they play to families that they help,” Snell said. “We are happy to be able to support their fund-raising through the golf tournament and look forward to supporting them in the future, as well.”

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An open house to provide parents with the junior golf opportunities available in this state will be held 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. June 10 at the Waterville Country Club. This is being sponsored by Junior Golf Maine, which conducted a similar open house June 3 at Val Halla.

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The Maine State Golf Association has scheduled a Mid-Week tournament June 6 at Purpoodock, and its Weekly event June 9-10 at Natanis Tomahawk