The Sun Mountain Four 5 lets users sort their clubs into 14 individual slots. It also sports many of the excellent features of its sister bags, including the stellar legs. Unfortunately, it comes at a premium price point, and we had trouble with the straps, both of which drove down its overall rating. Still, in honor of the incredible legs, we’ve thematically begun each of the following sections with a relevant (well, maybe only semi-relevant) line from a ZZ Top song. Maybe we’re getting a little insane, but you show us what kind of Pulitzer Prize winning prose you can come up with after you write reviews of 8 other bags…
Retail price: $199.99
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Editor’s note: this review is for the 2011 version of the Sun Mountain Four 5. Manufacturers generally make minor changes to bag models each 1-2 years. We have provided links to check prices for the latest version of the bag.
CLUB STORAGE
“Well I hear it’s fine…If you’ve got the time…” – La Grange.
The Four 5 has full-length dividers that divide the club area into 14 sectors, one for each club you can carry (and if you’re cheating by carrying more than 14 clubs, it will become patently obvious to your playing partners). As we stated in our review of the Nike SasQuatch Tour Carry Bag, we’re not 100% convinced of the utility of a slot for each club. While pulling clubs OUT for use is easier (since you know exactly where to reach for the club), we found ourselves spending an inordinate amount of time trying to shove clubs back IN to the right slot – which was all the more maddening if we had just yanked the ball into a creek. But reasonable minds can differ on this – if you sort all of your CDs alphabetically, arrange the photographs on your desk chronologically and hang the shirts in your closet according to color, then this may be the set-up for you.
LEGS
“She’s got legs…and she knows how to use them.” – Legs.
The Sun Mountain Four 5 has the same great legs found on the other Sun Mountain bags and the Titleist bags (which seem to be made by the same manufacturer of the Sun Mountain bags). Engaging the legs is as simple as setting the bag down – there’s no need for the forceful downward shove that is required by some of the competitors. There is an element of independent suspension in the legs, in that they don’t both automatically pop out the same amount, which is helpful when dealing with uneven lies. Wide rubber feet enhance the stability.
STRAPS
“I been up, I been down. Take my word…my way ‘round. I ain’t askin’ for much…” – Tush.
Like most of its competitors, the Sun Mountain Four 5 features 4 adjustment points for the straps. The padding on the straps is sufficient – where we encountered difficulty was with the left strap. No amount of sliding buckles and straps up, down or around could eliminate the problem we had with the strap twisting up every time we slid our left arm and shoulder under the strap. Every time. We’re not asking for much – there must be some way to fix this, since the design of the straps seems to be the same as that of other Sun Mountain products. But whether it’s operator error, how the Four 5 is weighted, or otherwise, after 4 rounds of fidgeting with each adjustment point, we just gave up.
POCKETS/STORAGE
“You got to pack it up, work it like a new boy should.” – Gimme All Your Lovin’.
The Sun Mountain Four 5 features 7 real pockets, but claims that it has 8.
- 1 large garment pocket runs along the right side of the bag, with 1 medium sized pocket and 1 small velour-lined valuables pocket (non waterproof) along the outside of this large pocket. The medium sized pocket contains a mesh “pocket” for holding a scorecard, but truthfully, this doesn’t seem worthy of counting as a pocket in and of itself.
- One medium-sized and one small pocket rest on the spine of the bag.
- A medium sized ball pocket is on the left side of the bag, with an additional beverage pouch (no “cooler” lining) along the outside of this ball pocket. The Four 5 gets bonus points because its beverage pouch is big enough to fit the largest energy drink bottles. You need all of the electrolytes you can get!
- If Sun Mountain wants to boost the pocket count, it could bump it by one more if it wants to include the small pen holder along the spine of the bag.
The Sun Mountain Superlight 3.5 includes traditional straps on the right side of the bag for holding an umbrella and a plastic ring for attaching a towel, which fortunately is labeled “TOWEL” lest you embarrassingly clip the wrong item to the ring.
All in all, a traditional layout that works for packing up a fair amount of stuff.
RAIN HOOD
“It’s got me under pressure, it’s got me under pressure.” – Got Me Under Pressure.
The bag stumbles a bit with its rain hood. Securing the hood is a somewhat convoluted process of threading two Velcro straps through anchors on the front of the bag (instead of around the legs, which was our first guess), then snapping two buttons around the straps, and finally threading a final Velcro strap around the handle. Trying to accomplish all of this under pressure would not be a good idea. We would be willing to sacrifice some of the security in return for simplicity.
CARRYING IMPRESSIONS
“Go for a pelt that’s so nice and thin.” – Sleeping Bag.
The Sun Mountain Four 5 made a favorable impression in our test over several rounds on different golf courses.
- Weight. The Four 5 weighed in at, um, not 4.5 but rather 5.2 pounds as tested (including the rain hood), coming in on the lighter side of bags tested. Over the course of 27 holes, we were glad to have something that was nice and thin.
- Balance. We didn’t have any problems getting the bag to rest evenly across our shoulders.
- Padding. We very much liked the two kidney shaped pads where the bag met the user’s lower back. The shape allowed a bit of air to circulate, keeping us a tiny bit cooler.
- Handles/Straps. We love the handle that is integrated into the rim of the bag. The user simply grasps this handle with the right hand to place the bag securely on the ground (and activate the legs) and slide the strap off of the right shoulder in one simple motion. We wish all bags had something similar.
STYLE
There isn’t much dramatic about the way the Sun Mountain Four 5 looks, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It comes in 6 colors:
- Light grey, with black and red piping
- Black, with white piping
- Yellow, with black trim
- Red, with black trim and white piping
- Green, with black trim and white piping
- Blue, with black trim and red piping
INNOVATION
Aside from the integrated handle at the top of the bag (which we love), there wasn’t much different about the Sun Mountain Four 5. We do note that attached to one of the zippers of the Sun Mountain Four 5 is a plastic half-sphere with cutaways that allow the users to insert the tip of a Sharpie and draw a straight line as an alignment aid.
COST/VALUE
“I don’t worry ‘cause my wallet’s fat…” – Sharp Dressed Man.
One of our biggest issues with the Sun Mountain Four 5 was the value for the money. At a retail price of $199.99, it’s one of the priciest of the bags tested. Its real differentiator over the other less expensive Sun Mountain and Titleist products is the 14-way club storage area, but as we’ve noted that we don’t find that to be a real draw. But hey, if you’ve got a fat wallet, maybe it doesn’t matter…
A++ only Nike could have done better (now no bags from Nike)
Club storage: I differ strongly from this review. Good grips cost more than the bag after awhile when undivided bags ruin or shorten their lives. Most of these slots are generous enough to accommodate a misplaced club -even with jumbo grips – even a ball retriever in same hole. Fully divided (except last few inches of course) is heaven not to wrestle in-out, smooth as glass.
Straps: I can see the critic’s point when Nike & even Ping seems to come adjusted off-the-rack. Problem here is that too little time was invested in trying to make things work. In less than 5 minutes, one trying can easily see that the right upper strap to bag needs to be shortened as much as possible, then adjust others to suit. If one could see behind or had a spotter to advise, 2 minutes adjustment should do it. I admit this is odd among other bags.
Pockets: Certainly pluses & minuses, no news here for any bag unless overly generous. Weak spots are water bottle needs a fat lip so bottle can “fall” unconsciously into place when walking & space not invaded by items in neighbor pockets. Umbrellas are few on the course, seen more are ball retrievers which could fit in this spot if given a full pocket w/bottom (ala Hoofer does) and thus do double duty, attract more buyers. Lastly, an outside putter tube for jumbo grips would attract even more buyers, though I know this falls on deaf ears, as all that make bags have teamed together and see this as frivolous expense except for big cart bag guys.
Rain hood: Like most others (except Hoofer bags) is just in the way, doesn’t pack down, better off with a rain cover/towel combo on those days.
Carrying: too much ado about 4-6-8 ounces when what it carries & how is THE importance. What to lose weight, sissy? Jettison some junk, balls and switch to graphite shafts.
Style: OK, better than most but could use a designer/marketeer that has better taste than competition and his/her team colors most popular nationwide.
Cost: If a bag is tailored to fit, contain, serve w/o hassle, preserve expenses (e.g. grips) and well made, the cost/year is an actual savings enjoyed daily after the string of being a few dollars more than another bag is forgotten. If this bag could provide all of my wish list herein, why not pay even more for it?
I hope the day will come when a golfer can go on line and select items to “build a bag”, then order it shipped to home.