It’s always a constant battle for me between my desire for minimalism and the need to be properly equipped for terrain and locations that I’ve never visited. Add to the mix the jumps in weather in Scotland and packing can be tricky.

Thankfully, there was plenty of time to prepare and think through options. We had a handful of gear (mostly clothing and travel gear) that we wanted to test out and the majority of it worked out great.

 

For 10 days, the gear that made it included…

Travel Gear…
* Holderness & Bourne duffle bag
* Seamus dopp kit
* B&O H7 headphones
* SunMountain Golf Bag

Apparel…
* 2 pairs of waterproof shoes (Nike Air Force 1s and Nike LunarControls)
* Linksoul hats, Boardwalker shorts, polos, and rain jacket
* Holderness & Bourne shirts & vests
* Under Armour pants
* SunIce rain pants
* Kentwool socks
* Arcade belts
* Vice Golf Gloves
* Footjoy Rain Gloves

Golf Gear…
* Mackenzie Ballistic Walker Bag
* Jones Utility Series Bag
* Seamus Covers
* Nike Driver, FW, Hybrid
* Srixon 5-PW,
* Miura 56 & 59
* LowTide Whale Tail
* Vice Pro Golf Balls
* Vice Golf Towel
* Holderness & Bourne Scorecard Holders

Reflections On The Gear Choices

Shorts, Polos, and Pants

While I had (for some unknown reason) had the idea that I would wear shorts for the majority of the days of the trip – the only time I ever put them on was on the plane ride to and from Scotland. June in Scotland is warm right? Well, no. It wasn’t freezing, but there was no opportunity to wear shorts. Anytime the weather is above 60F I will gladly throw on the boardwalkers – but this trip resulted in them staying in the bag.

The Under Armour pants that I took along (a combination of styles and thickness) were all excellent. In particular, the Cold Gear pants held up superbly and did a great job of repelling light rain. They ended up being more waterproof than my waterproof pants.

I was able to get by on all days wearing Holderness & Bourne polos and they performed and held up perfectly through the various weather. On the days that were chilly, the new vest was excellent and it served as a nice midlayer when the rain jacket came out. When my rain gear soaked through, I was able to air dry all of the polos and they always felt good when I threw them back on – even without a proper laundry cycle.

Breaking Out the Rain Gear

It rained (and rained hard) every day that we were in Scotland. The good news was that I was covered with all of my rain gear – the bad news is that almost all of that rain gear failed the test in one way or another. Even a brand new and freshly-treated pair of SunIce pants didn’t stand up to the rain.

I was glad that I had multiple rain jackets with me and all of them received the equivelant workout of being belted with a water hose for 3 or 4 hours a day. At the end of the day – they all saturated at one point or another throughout the trip. Most of this was due to the rain bleeding in through the collar – this was a tremendous amount of rain and to this day, I’m still not sure what could have prevented me getting fully drenched on multiple days of the trip. On the lighter rain days, both jackets held up just fine.

As far as shoes go, there wasn’t much more luck with the waterproofness. Both the Air Force 1s and the LunarControls soaked through every day of the trip. On the lighter rain days it would have been possible to keep my feet dry if I would have hit every fairway (and I didn’t). Venturing into the deeper grass saturated each pair of shoes quickly.

The only advice I can give you on the rain is that when it rains hard – you just need to be prepared to be wet.

The FootJoy gloves were excellent and I don’t recall a single slip of my grip – which is a huge testament to the effectiveness of the gloves. It’s worth noting that they don’t repel water, but they have an excellent grip even when thoroughly soaked through.

I asked multiple caddies on the trip what their preferred rain gear was – and without exception, every single one echoed that Galvin Green is the only company that is producing gear that can stand up to the level of the rain that we experienced. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a full Galvin Green setup with me on the trip.

In Transit And At The Airport

Linksoul + the Arcade belts are absolutely the most comfortable combo for traveling. The excellent boardwalker shorts, super-soft shirts, and camo jacket from Linksoul are all great travel gear. It’s hard to stay comfortable jumping from airport to airport and being on the plane for hours on end – but the Linksoul gear made all of this bearable.

The Arcade belts are a great concept that are both functional and comfortable. The elastic in the belts work great and most of the belts lack any type of metal – making it one less thing to worry about when going through security. While these belts are popular in the action sports world – they work equally great for golfers and travelers in general. And the belts also double as great compression straps that you can use in your luggage to keep everything tight and tidy.

 

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