The Ultimate Golf Rain Gear

For golfers, April brings first and foremost the Masters tournament, which for many recreational types signals the start of their playing season.

Second and secondarily, it brings April showers to dampen any newly restored enthusiasm. In every golfer's life, more than a little rain is sure to fall.

Yet rain gear usually ranks beneath extra socks on our priority list. Should we even remember to bring waterproof stuff to the course, it's as wrinkled as the back of a tour pro's neck from being rolled up in our golf bag -- never mind ugly, out-of-date, as breathable as a rubber suit and often not even sport-specific.

(No matter how much time you spend off the fairways and in the trees, golf is not the same as duck hunting.)

We seem to think preparedness itself guarantees bad weather.

Of course, there's another way to look at things: If we spend enough money, the ever-sadistic golf gods will ensure that our purchase goes unused, like a tuxedo bought just before the bride gets cold feet.

By this logic, the purchase of Tour Stretch rain gear from Dunning Golf should keep away the drops until sometime next year.

Spending $1,200 on a jacket and a pair of pants is a sunshine-worthy sacrifice, no?

Dunning Golf is a Canadian company founded by principal designer Ralph Dunning, a former marathon, triathlon, Ironman and endurance cycling competitor, and as such someone who understands the importance of fabric performance.

He turned to golf after the inevitable knee problems and now plays to a single-digit handicap -- more than respectable, if no match for Dunning-sponsored PGA Tour pros Zach Johnson and John Senden.

The company is certainly no FootJoy in terms of golf-outerwear market share, but it is making noise among the elite of talent, taste and wallet.

Making noise is one of the last things you want from your rain gear, however, and Tour Stretch remains as quiet as the Augusta National galleries, owing to fabric developed in conjunction with Switzerland's Schoeller Textiles.