The Hits Just Keep on Coming for Sun Mountain

Hits as in successes. Yes, the Sun Mountain 2024 H2NO bag is another five-star rated product from the Montana-based company.

by Tony Dear

It would probably be fair to say that, in the 43 years since Rick Reimers founded the company in San Jose, CA (before moving it to Missoula, MT in 1984), Sun Mountain has over-achieved somewhat. For a sporting goods manufacturer classed as a small business, – fewer than 750 employees according to the government’s Small Business Administration agency – to have created quite so many genuinely innovative products and altered the course of its industry multiple times is both astonishing and extremely impressive.

Owned by Los Angeles private-equity firm Solace Capital Partners since March 2022, Sun Mountain is still headquartered in Missoula and led by its former President and current CEO, Ed Kowachek, with the recent addition of Chief Brand Officer Grant Knudson, an industry veteran who hopes to turn people’s respect for the company’s products into a love for, and continuing loyalty to, the brand.

 

Among its firsts are 1981’s BACK9 – golf’s original lightweight bag. The FRONT9, launched in early 1984, was equally as lightweight and durable as its predecessor but featured a molded top and bottom that were to become the industry standard. Sun Mountain then made the first L8 bag for Ping and, in 1986, had a profound impact on the way the game is played when it bought out the Eclipse – the first-ever bag with built-in legs enabling it to stand.

Sun Mountain was the first company to make golf–specific outerwear, launching the game’s first two-ply (two layers of thread for added thickness and strength) windshirt – the Headwind, in 1990. The following year it incorporated fleece liners into its Golf Fleece line, something that Montana golfers no doubt appreciated.

There’s more. In 1996, it introduced its Dual X-Strap to balance the weight of the bag between both shoulders, and in ’99 it came out with the Speed Cart, the game’s first easily foldable, three-wheeled push cart. In 2007, it gave the world its first waterproof golf bags, and 17 years later, the company’s H2NO bags are still keeping everything inside the bag dry.
This year’s line features the H2NO 14-Way Stand Bag, H2NO Litespeed Stand Bag, and H2NO Lite Cart Bag, all of which are made with a waterproof fabric, and feature sealed seams and water-resistant zippers.
The 14-Way Stand Bag weighs 5.8 lbs and has an 8.5” top with fourteen individual dividers running the full length of the bag. E-Z Lite Dual Straps made with thick, high-density foam make it easy to carry and get on and off. There are seven pockets including a full-length apparel pocket, a cooler pocket with magnetic closure, multiple accessory pockets, and dual velour-lined valuables pockets.

The Litespeed is the lightest of the three weighing in at only 4.4 lbs. The four-way divider, 7.5” top is smaller than last year’s model, and among the six pockets are a hydration sleeve (water bottle pocket to you and me), full-length apparel pocket, and a two-compartment, velour-lined valuables pocket.

 

For the golfer who prefers to ride, the Lite Cart Bag features a 9” top with 14 club dividers and a putter tube. Like the 14-Way Stand Bag, it weighs 5.8 lbs, and there are seven pockets including two full-length apparel pockets, a hydration pocket, multiple accessory pockets, and a velour-lined valuables pocket. A cart strap pass-through runs behind the long pockets so the bag can be secured on a cart without blocking pocket access. The bottom is molded to fit over the lower bag rest of the company’s golf push carts, minimizing side-to-side movement.

 

$360 – H2NO Lite Cart Bag and H2NO 14-Way Stand Bag
$330 – H2NO Litespeed Stand Bag
Colors – All three are available in Steel/Black; Navy/Dusk/Breeze; Major Brown/Gray
sunmountain.com
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Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.

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