To prevent rain, bring your rain gear… (or live in Salt Lake)
I’ve had a couple of really awesome pieces of rain gear from Columbia Sportswear tucked in my golf bag just waiting to be worn. The problem is that here in Salt Lake we’re in a desert. Yes we’re associated with “the greatest snow on earth (thanks to my uncle for coining that phrase by the way), but down here in the valley it hasn’t rained for months. The old golf adage has reigned true: “The best way to prevent rain while golfing is bring your rain gear.” I guess I should have had Columbia send me a snow suit too. That way maybe there wouldn’t be snow on the ground right now and I’d be golfing.
I used my new Columbia Sportswear “Match Play” shell this last month or so as a wind breaker though. This piece is so comfortable. Even though it is waterproof, the fabric is so soft I catch myself rubbing the sleeves going “ooooohhhh.” For fun I spilled a water on myself to see how waterproof it was. Sure enough the water beaded up perfectly and none got through. The water just rolled off the jacket like little marbles.
Looks
For a plain old black jacket this thing is good looking. How an apparel designer can make one black item look better than another is beyond my brain’s capacity, but they did it. Must have something to do with the stitching… 🙂
I can swing a club with it on!
One reason I hate wearing too many layers and/or long sleeves, is the restriction I feel during my golf swing. I’m happy to say that I didn’t feel any restriction with the Columbia Match Play shell on. My hack “granny over the top cross the line steep epileptic seizure on crack” swing is free to do what it wants to!
Nice touches
There are some nice little touches in the Match Play shell:
1. Velcro on the sleeves to tighten them up. This is nice to keep the rain out, or keep the sleeve from creeping down too far over your hand. That really helped with my putting, keeping the sleeve out of the way.
2. The waist tie is very nice to tighten up the waist and keep the rain and wind out. Nothing worse than a cold or cold & wet draft.
3. Vented pockets. You put your tees and divot tool in your pocket and they often have dirt on them. The vents keep you “fresh” (so to speak) and they also allow dirt and debris to fall back to where it came from (provided the waist tie isn’t too tight, haha).
Availability
This unit is coming out soon. You can’t really find it on Columbia’s web site, but you will soon. Oh and it is a mere $23 retail! What a deal! Never mind. Typo! Didn’t mean to get you too excited.
Related links
HOG Columbia Sportswear image gallery
Columbia Sportswear’s web site
HOGWire – Golf Industry News
Plenty of rain over here in Ireland…