I get offered stuff all the time to review here on Breaking Eighty. And much of the time it’s gimmicky, and I have no interest in it.
When the glasses company Jins got ahold of me to tell me about their new golf specific lenses, I initially had a little bit of skepticism.
The basic concept is that the lenses are tinted green, to help provide more contrast and depth perception when reading greens – thus making it easier to see the breaks.
If you’ve ever seen me on a putting green, you know I need all the help I can get, so I agreed to check them out.
Selecting Your Frames
One of the first things you notice about the Jins website is that they have a ton of selection when it comes to frames.
The company is mostly known for doing prescription glasses, but as I don’t wear glasses or contacts – I’d just be treating these as my golf sunglasses. However they did say if I needed it they could fit my golf lenses to any prescription I needed.
Jins has over 1200(!) different pairs of frames, so selecting a pair took quite a bit longer than I was expecting. After all, I want to make sure I look good!
Personally, my style is not the overly sporty style of shades. I like the more classic Ray-Ban Wayfarers look, so I chose a pair that was a little more traditional. These are the ones I decided on.
I picked them out, and just a few days later they showed up on my doorstep.
Included was a nice, but basic hard protective case.
My biggest concern with the golf lenses was the green tint that the glasses showed.
I mean it’s not like I was trying to make a fashion statement with a pair of bright purple lenses on Oakley Frogskins or something – more than anything I just wanted them to not make me look like an idiot on the golf course.
When I received them and took them out, I was pleasantly surprised – as when you wear them, someone looking at you can’t necessarily see the dramatic green tint.
This was honestly my biggest concern, so I was happy to see that alleviated 🙂
Box number one: check.
Using Jins Glasses On the Course
After my concern about lime green shades, my next big concern was whether or not they actually protect my eyes.
If I was going to wear glasses on the course, more important than helping me with greens, was actually making sure I wasn’t squinting before every shot.
I first took the glasses for a spin on a very sunny afternoon, and was very pleased to report that they functioned exactly as a pair of high end sunglasses should.
Box number two: check.
Box number three? Did the golf lenses actually make any kind of noticeable improvement in my ability to work my way around the course?
Surprisingly (why I’m so surprised I’m not sure, I guess I’ve gotten jaded to mediocre golf products), they actually worked as advertised!
Will wearing these turn you from a 24 handicapper to Jordan Spieth on the greens?
Of course they won’t.
But here’s the best way I can describe it.
Many times when I take a photo the original image is pretty flat. Not much contrast, kind of dull, and hard to see the details.
Part of the reason my site has been so successful is because I know how to edit those photos to get them to pop.
The Jins glasses with golf lenses did this for my eyes.
What might have looked a little dull and lacking contrast, now popped, which did make it easier to see the breaks in the greens.
Not making any sense?
Here’s an example of what I mean:
See how the color and detail pops just a bit more on the right.
That’s exactly how wearing these glasses feel.
And when you get on the green, it helps you see those ridges and breaks just a little bit better than before.
Price
Jins lenses and frames definitely skew more to the top end of the market.
The frames I selected were $120 for the frames, and an additional $80 for the golf lenses.
At those prices, you’re starting to get into Maui Jim and other higher end, polarized sunglass brands.
If you want a nice pair of sunglasses that will protect your eyes, and potentially help your golf game – these are great. However, if you’re a brand snob, these won’t necessarily do you many favors.
Final Thoughts
Are these glasses and lenses the be all end all silver bullet you’ve been looking for to improve your golf game?
Probably not.
But if you’re someone who golfs on a regular basis (especially in sunny locations), and you generally wear sunglasses when you play – then I think it’s absolutely worth looking into getting a pair of glasses from Jins with the golf lenses in them.
As I mentioned, when you wear them, they still pretty much look like normal sunglasses, they have frames for no matter what style you’re looking for, and most importantly, if you wear glasses or contacts, you can get them in a prescription.
So let’s just say this, I’ve never been one to play golf with sunglasses, but now that I’ve got these in my bag, I’ll be using them much more often – and probably sinking an extra couple of putts because of it.
