The Loop

Field Test: True Linkswear Elements and Pants-in-a-Jar

March 05, 2016

We had a huge rainstorm the other day -- a good thing, for two reasons. First, the storm gave me an opportunity to pursue what I now realize would be my No. 1 choice of occupation if for some reason I could no longer work as a writer: vacuuming up water. (Our basement was flooded, and I spent a fulfilling evening emptying it with my wet/dry Shop-Vac, my portable sump pump, and 100 feet of garden hose.) Second, the storm washed away all the remaining snow in this part of the country, making several area golf courses fully playable again. On Sunday, my friends and I traveled to the Woodbridge Country Club, which we first visited in early December:

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The course was wet and muddy in lots of places, and I was able to test my latest golf-related purchase: a pair of True Linkswear Elements golf shoes. I've been an enthusiastic unpaid shill for True Linkswear for several years, but we had a falling out a few months ago over an earlier model, called True Motion, which apparently are not supposed to be worn outdoors. (Mine fell apart.) The company assured me that it was on the case, and that Elements (which are new this year) would address all my issues. I wore mine around town for several days, then subjected them to Woodbridge.

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As far as I can tell, they fully live up to their billing. They're insanely comfortable, like all my dozen other pairs of True golf shoes, and, even though I purposely stood in puddles, they never leaked. I'm going to order a second pair and take both to Ireland in early May. (You can find them online for a hundred bucks.) My only wish is that True would make a high-top version. Their shoes are so low-slung that your socks, which probably aren't waterproof, are vulnerable in tall grass. Rickie Fowler has made the world safe for high-top golf shoes. Let's go!

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The group on Sunday included Keith, a new member. Doug, who's a teacher, asked him if he and his wife have kids; he said they don't yet, but that they have "pulled the goalie." Keith looked like a veteran, because he had dressed to take advantage of our winter shorts rule (two extra handicap strokes for shorts after December 1). I wore shorts, too, and I supplemented them with a concoction that I'm thinking of marketing, as Pants-in-a-Jar. It's a mixture of Warm Skin ("a soothing balm that moisturizes and insulates against weather extremes") and capsaicin creme (an arthritis ointment that generates heat). Warm Skin is what many NFL players use to protect themselves when they play in Green Bay in December. I rubbed a ton on my bare legs before we teed off, and I never felt cold.

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I'm hoping that I won't need to use Pants-in-a-Jar many more times this winter. Three of us ran into our club's greens committee at a local breakfast place on Saturday, and although we couldn't overhear what they were talking about we decided that maybe they were discussing an opening date. Fingers crossed.

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