I remember a Peanuts cartoon strip a number of years back in which Charlie Brown explained that the secret to happiness was a convertible and a lake. When the sun is out, the round-headed kid said, you happily drive around in your convertible; when it’s raining, you happily watch your lake fill up.

In the world of golf, our Charlie Brown is Steve Asman. Already developer of the game’s best umbrella, the Gustbuster, Asman needed to find his “convertible,” the product that would prosper when it wasn’t raining. He found it with Sunbuster sunglasses.

Just as he did when introducing the Gustbuster, Asman traveled to numerous PGA Tour stops, talking to players for feedback on his new sunglasses. A die-hard salesman, he tells hysterical stories about trying to get his glasses onto the heads of the pros. He may have met his match in Fuzzy Zoeller, who proved to be almost as stubborn as Asman is excitable. Working together, they created a frame for the player with a big head; now called “The Fuzzy,” it is one of several frames in the Sunbuster collection, all of which offer wrap-around protection and light weight.

The Fuzzy

The different Sunbuster frames look good, come in a choice of colors, and are easily adjusted. But it’s the lens technology that really impresses.

Using a technology that Asman calls GolfCorrect, his lenses offer 100% protection from UVA/UVB rays, are shatterproof, and come in a variety of colors to suit different light and environmental conditions. Plus, they have the unique ability to prevent something called Eye-Plane Shift Disorder (ESD), an image distortion unique to golf.

Standing at address, the golfer looks at the ball through the center of the lens. However, the head has to tilt up slightly to make room for the backswing, forcing the eyes to look down and through the bottom of the lens. If the lens isn’t made to accommodate this shift from center, the ball can appear to move and the golfer—whether or not he realizes it—tries to compensate, which can have disastrous effects on the shot. GolfCorrect lenses are ground to eliminate ESD.

XCel Xchng

One lens in the GolfCorrect family offers another advantage, as well. The purple-hued PuttReaders (top of the page, clockwise from left, Xcel Xchng Large, The Fuzzy, Xcel Xchng Small) reduce the amount of the color green that reaches the eyes, thereby highlighting the other colors and the contours and breaks that can be hard to see when everything is saturated with one hue. But the purple tint isn’t only for putting; the multilayer polycarbonate lenses perform in any light, and like all GolfCorrect lenses they also help eliminate eye fatigue and headaches.

Because it’s hard to be happy—that’s real, Charlie Brown happy—if your head hurts.

Sunbuster glasses are $119.95 regardless of frame or lens color. Check out the website to see the choices in lenses and frames, as well as glasses for other sports.

Ho'okipa with Natural Grey lens

Think Hawaii and it’s only natural to think about sunshine and golf. The bright sun that bathes the 50^th state led to the creation of Maui Jim sunglasses nearly three decades ago, and in the years since golf has been the driving force behind a number of lenses and frames from this high-end optical company.

Maui Jim turns out a wide variety of designs, more than 70 styles and nearly 200 different products: rimless, rimmed, metal, nylon, flexible, colorful, adjustable. There are shapes and sizes to fit any head and any sport, with island-inspired names like Honolua Bay, Hapuna, and White Cap.

Canoes with Maui HT lens

But don’t let the laid-back, Hawaiian sensibility fool you: Maui Jim is serious about sunglasses, particularly lenses. They all feature the company’s patented PolarizedPlus2 technology, which enhances colors while offering 100% protection from UVA, UVB, and UVC rays, and 99.9% protection from glare and squinting. Lenses are also lightweight, resist scratching and breaking, and are available in a choice of colors: Neutral Gray—with the most glare reduction, for full sunlight; Maui Rose—for low to medium light and action sports; HCL Bronze—with enhanced contrast, for hazy, overcast, and foggy conditions.

Big Beach (beta-ti) with Maui Rose lens

The newest lens, the Maui HT (High Transmission), is touted as the best choice for golf. Designed for low-light conditions—think early morning and late afternoon rounds—the palm-green hue boosts color, contrast, and depth perception, sharpening your vision all over the course, especially on the greens. They’re also great for driving (your car, that is) when the sun is low in the sky and in your face.

HT lenses, and most of Maui Jim’s products, are available in prescription models. Four new rimless metal frames were recently introduced, made of beta-titanium with a choice of colored nylon temples. There’s even a line of sunglass reading glasses. And I can tell you from personal experience that with a little care, Maui Jim sunglasses will last for years.

Retail prices range from $179 to $299. Check out the frames and lenses on the website, which also features very candid user comments on each style.

The golf-specific line includes more than 20 frame designs, each with a set of three interchangeable lenses.

–GT (golf-tennis) lens is a smoky green: It’s for full sun when you want to see the ball in flight, and is likely to be your everyday lens.

–EC (extreme contrast) lens is purple, and as its name implies, it offers the most contrast, enabling you to see contours and other characteristics washed out by sun and glare, making it the choice for reading greens.

–AC Red (which actually looks more orange) means All Conditions, so it works anytime but is especially good in overcast conditions, early in the morning and late in the day, in low light and shadow.

Tifosi lenses also feature a bit of technology called “decentering,” something I heard about from a number of optical companies at the PGA Show. Some manufacturers make (or buy) their lenses with the maximum point of no distortion in the center of the lens, which is fine for many activities. However, as a golfer think how often you look through somewhere other than dead center: Addressing the ball, both on a full shot and putting, you’re actually looking down and through the lower part of the lens; decentering moves the non-distortion spot a little lower for those times when clarity is vital.

I was also impressed by the frames, made of durable nylon so they are extremely flexible. The temples and nosepiece don’t only bend to fit your head size and shape, they’re also hydrophilic, which means they grip better when wet (i.e., sweaty). And some of the lenses feature Fototec, gradually darkening in brightening sunlight.

Tifosi sunglasses can be found at more than 3,500 retail locations including Edwin Watts Golf, PGA Tour Superstores, and GolfDom; there’s a dealer locator, including online outlets, on the company website, where you can see all the options and learn more about the technology.

Every Tifosi sunglass comes in a hard-shell case that has pockets for the other lenses and a cleaning cloth. They also come with a lifetime warranty and can be fitted with prescription lenses.

As I said, a lot of bang for not a lot of buck.

Weir Golf Signature Series Grinder Mela-Lens Polarized

Over the past few years, the definition of “golf equipment” has expanded to include shoes, gloves, spikes, and even tees as manufacturers have argued that with technological improvements, their products can affect a player’s performance.

So why not sunglasses?

Quality shades can help your game as well as your well-being. Besides protecting you from harmful ultraviolet rays, glare, and the onset of headaches, advances in lenses can make it easier to see the target, read greens, and judge distances. Correct information can make you more confident, and as every instructor will tell you, confidence leads to better shots and scores.

Hunter Mahan H Mela-Lens Tour Series

Over the next few weeks, as I write about what I saw at the recent PGA Merchandise Show, I’ll introduce a number of sunglass companies that impressed me with their products and technology. The order is purely random, having nothing to do with quality or preference. I think they’re all good.

First up is Sundog Eyewear, a Canadian firm that boasts Paula Creamer, Hunter Mahan, and local boy Mike Weir on its staff.

Last year Sundog introduced Mela-Lens, lenses infused with synthetic melanin—the chemical in our bodies that produces freckles and tans and protects us from the sun’s harmful effects. Like nearly all the products I saw, Sundog glasses block 100% of UVA and UVB rays (which can cause all manner of eye damage, including cataracts) without any distortion of the image or color. Mela-Lens lenses are said to be especially good at improving contrast by filtering, rather than blocking, harmful “blue” rays, sharpening detail without distorting colors.

Paula Creamer Collection Captiva Mela-Lens

Mela-Lens—available in the Paula Creamer and Hunter Mahan lines and the company’s Core Collection—come in two colors: brown and gray. Gray is the all-purpose choice, especially good in brighter light. Brown produces better contrast, making it the choice in low-light and shadow. New this year, Mela-Lens is also available in either polarized (glare-reducing) or Photochromic (the lenses darken as the light gets stronger) versions.

Sundog offers a lot of tech at a reasonable price, most of their glasses costing between $45 and $150. They’re available at many off-course golf stores, such as PGA Tour Superstores, Golf Galaxy (U.S.), and Golf Town (Canada), and at more than 5,000 top public and private clubs around the world. For much more information, check out their website.