Most golf rain suits you come across will not have a hood on the back. This seems counter-intuitive because obviously you don’t want water running in your face. However, if you’ve ever tried to golf with a hood on you will know the reason for leaving this element off of golf rain suits. Because of the bending over motion the rain tends to slip onto the inside of the hood. The hood also lowers visibility and neck movement which is important to have with a good golf swing.
The good alternative to golf rain suits that don’t use hoods is a rain hat. A rain hat has a brim that covers the radius of your head and does an excellent job of keeping the water out of your face but without restricting movement. When used with golf rain suits it can be a great overall addition and is really a must have. If you’re going to purchase some golf rain suits be sure to pick up one of these rain hats to add to your gear, visibility and movement is key to your game.
Another alternative is the spandex cap. You may have been at the golf course and seen some golfers wearing this and laughed to yourself as they do look pretty funny. Basically, imagine a speed skaters outfit but on a golfer. This does an excellent job of allowing full range of motion, as well as keeping the majority of water out. These suits can be very expensive at around two hundered dollars for just one. These should be worn under your other golf rain gear as a sort of water insurance so that if it gets past your outer layers it won’t pass the inside. This allow you to skip purchasing golf rain suits and just go with traditional rain coats. This isn’t suggested as although you are doing an excellent job of keeping the rain out, once agian this falls into the “no range of motion” effect we spoke of earlier. What good is a spandex cap or suit if you then put a regualr rain jacket over it? But at the same time who wants to golf in a full spandex outfit? Save yourself some time, money, and embarrassment by sticking to golf rain suits.
The Umbrella Caddie
If you decide to golf at higher end golf courses you may have seen some people with a little extra money to throw around being escorted by a caddie who carried a giant umbrella around to shield them from the rain. Although this can be expensive, admittedly this is the ideal situation to allow you to golf in rain with full range of motion and having to worry very little about the rain. However, if you don’t have the money to afford your own personal umbrella caddie but would still like to go the route of the umbrella there are always other options to consider!
