Buying one of the best rain jackets is one of the more strange purchases you make in golf because, ultimately, you never want to use it.
If I had my way, every round of golf I play would be in splitting sunshine and minimal breeze, meaning I can play in a shorts and polo shirt year-round. Considering I live in Ireland, this is a rarity, and a reliable jacket to keep me dry against the elements in high-level necessity. It therefore places me in a good position to test Levelwear's premium waterproof jacket, the 'Repel', and I didn't have to wait long for inclement weather to test it in.
First impression are that this jacket is all about performance - it has just one colorway (black) and has minimal design features. This is in by no ways a criticism for I don't want my wet jacket to be a fashion statement, I want it to keep me dry. For me at least, that is its one and only purpose.
So, did it keep me dry? My first morning testing it was a gloomy, drizzly day at Royal County Down which provided a stern test for the Repel. It was consistent, light rain that my late grandfather would describe as "wettining rain", his term for rain that doesn't look very heavy, but you stand in it for 10 minutes and you're soaked.
The Repel, well, repelled the rain brilliantly and I was bone-dry after 9 holes and just under two hours in the conditions. Rain drops bounced off the three-layer bonded polyester fabric rather than remaining there, whilst the sealed zips meant no water ever seeped in.
Two well-placed front pockets gave my hands somewhere to stay warm and dry, a feature that isn't overly common for most golf wet jackets - I've never understood why every rain jacket doesn't have front pockets.
My second round of golf testing the Repel Jacket was in heavier rain, but it wasn't persistent. The WR15k/MVP15k waterproof rating again kept me bone-dry against the stronger downpours and once the showers had passed and the sun returned, the jacket was easy to dry and store back in my bag.
The Repel jacket, therefore, does exactly what it is set out to do. So what about the smaller quality of life features that can set it apart from other jackets in the mid-to-lower end of the price scale? There were a number of small but impactful features I thought could be improved in future iterations of this jacket, the first being that the fit is slightly boxy and meant the front zip protruded out once I zipped it up. The sleeve cuffs are adjustable, but only with two buttons as opposed to, say, a velcro strap. This limits your adjustability a touch.
Realistically, the best waterproof golf jackets are ones you don't even realize you are wearing. They just feel like another layer, like one of the best golf hoodies or pullovers, rather than an actual coat or jacket. My go-to wet jacket, the Kjus Rain Rescue 2.0 achieves this and unfortunately, the Repel does not. However, there are two important things to note here. Firstly, the Repel jacket doesn't feel restrictive, rather it just doesn't feel as streamlined as the Kjus. Secondly, and more importantly, the Kjus jacket is well over double the price ($399) of the Levelwear ($175).
This is also a rather heavy jacket - again, not a criticism, but it is important to know what type of wet jacket you want before vouching for one. The Repel is better suited for a trip for some Scottish or Irish links golf where the weather is unpredictable and you can often play an entire round in the rain, rather than something you can stuff in the bag in case of a light shower in the middle of summer.
All-in-all, I was left impressed by the Repel. I could have done with this jacket on many days of my 12-year caddy career at Royal County Down, the ones where the rain was never-ending and any jacket I seemed to wear always let in.
It isn't the perfect jacket though, and those who don't like wearing wet gear may not gel with this, but the foundations are there for Levelwear to tweak and make subtle improvements to allow future versions of the Repel to be one of, if not the best value waterproof in a ever-crowded market.
