Testing waterproofs can be a tricky business depending on the weather. You need it to be raining, but you don’t want it to be raining too much as nobody likes to play golf in a biblical monsoon. There have been times when the lack of rain has resulted in me standing in my garden being hosed down by my wife to ensure that the waterproofs I am reviewing are indeed waterproof but, when it came to testing the Mizuno 20K Waterproof Jacket, there were no such problems as it absolutely chucked it down!
In fact, I’ve never been out on the golf course in worse conditions than I was on this late September day at Denham Golf Club for the Golf Monthly Winter Testing Day. The rain arrived around the turn and, by halfway through the back nine, it was absolutely lashing down to the point that we had to walk in after playing the 15th as the thunder and lightning arrived.
There could have been no sterner test of a waterproof jacket than this, but I can say that by and large the Mizuno 20K stood up to the challenge very well. By the time I reached the car park I was drenched, but the polo shirt I was wearing under the jacket was mostly dry. I say mostly because some water did get in, but only because the jacket has no hood. The rain was so heavy that water was running from my head and down the back of my neck, so the collar and shoulders of my polo was a bit wet, but everywhere else was fine.
The lack of a hood is not ideal, especially when the weather is as bad as it was that day, but in fairness I own several waterproof jackets and not one of them has a hood either. It’s never been a problem for me before as, in normal rainy conditions, it’s fine. I’d never been caught in such a torrential downpour though and I did find myself angrily asking “why doesn’t this thing have a bloody hood?” I didn’t have a cap either, but that’s on me. It didn’t help that my three playing partners all had hoods!
Lack of hood aside though, the jacket performed extremely well and did its job. Aesthetically it’s nice despite being quite simple looking. I tested the navy version but it is also available in black. The navy is nice, especially when paired with the matching trousers. The top half is navy and the bottom half is grey, but there is a striking turquoise zipper which really pops against the navy. The Mizuno branding is obvious but not too in your face. There’s the simple running bird logo on the right…
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