Why can't I restrict all from executing a folder? Why isn't the code working?

mkdir new_folder
cd new_folder
cd ..
chmod 666 new_folder
cd new_folder //this is allowed
ls -la
total 0
drwxrw-rw-   2 David  staff   68 Mar 16 18:20 .
drwx------@ 10 David  staff  340 Mar 16 18:20 ..
Davids-MacBook-Pro-2:new_folder David$ cd ..
ls -al | grep new_folder
drwxrw-rw-   2 David  staff      68 Mar 16 18:20 new_folder
Desktop David$
A folder/directory requires at least one executable bit or you won't be able to open/traverse it. Therefore chmod 666 folder is a pointless command.