Custom Rx Lenses

Each prescription lens is fully-custom and handcrafted right here in our shop, which lets us make nearly any lens you can imagine. All of our lenses use our proprietary formulas and optical adjustments which allow for true, fully-functional and distortion-free peripheral vision and a lens experience unlike any other in the world. We firmly believe that lens choice is a largely a matter of personal preference, however there are lenses that are best suited for certain conditions and light environments.

Pricing: The prescription lens costs vary widely depending on the focal style (single-vision, lined bifocal, progressive bifocal) as well as the lens style (Clear, Polarized, Transition). Our lenses begin at $209 and go up from there. For firm price quotes you should call or write.

While we have many lens options available and will gladly make prescription golf lenses to your specifications, here are a few options which receive our strongest recommendations:

Polarized Rose-Copper

Polarized Brown

Polarized Grey

Unfiltered or Clear

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Polarized Rose-Copper with a Blue Mirror*

A polarized lens drastically cuts the glare and sheen that comes off the grass and water on the course. The polarization means you’ll squint less, which will reduce eye fatigue. There are a many polarized lens tones, but we feel that the Rose-Copper provides crisp, high-contrast optics in a variety of conditions. Being a slightly lighter Polarized lens, with a 75% VLT, we like to add a blue mirror to lend a touch of darkness and style.

*For a slightly darker lens, with yellow hues rather than reds, we recommend using a Polarized Brown lens instead of the Rose-Copper.

Polarized Brown

Polarized Grey

Drivewear

Drivewear is a polarized and photochromic lens (simply, a sunglass lens that changes from a light sunglass to a dark sunglass), which makes it a fine choice for variable conditions, early morning tee times, and playing into the fading light of the evening. The Drivewear technology works to adapt to the light conditions, giving you an optimized lens for whatever the conditions may be.

Unfiltered or Clear

A clear lens is exactly how it sounds. If you wear a hat, or aren’t very sensitive to light, or want a lens for overcast days, a clear lens will treat you well.

 

How We Make Them

Each prescription lens we make is crafted by hand, with attention and care, right here in our shop. The process uses various proprietary techniques and passes though multiple people and steps along its path to from the point of order to when it arrives at your door.

After we take the lens order from you, the next step is for us to get the lens materials from which we’ll grind your lenses. We source our lens materials from some of the best laboratories in the country, using different labs depending on the specific, unique requirements of each prescription, lens and frame combination. In order to determine these specs, Bret, the owner and Master Lenscrafter, sits down at his desk with paper and pen to apply the optical formulas and make the proper adjustments to ensure that curved, prescription lens of the sport frame will provide clear, distortion-free optics throughout the lens, including the periphery. This is the most important step in the process. (It is, naturally, double top-secret and this is only a mock-up of our Mt. Falcon lens pattern to suggest the measurements and diagrams Bret makes during this process.)

Next, the lens materials arrive in large-format blanks which we then custom grind into the final lens shapes you’ll ultimately see when the glasses are finished and in your hands. They arrive like this Polar Rose-Copper/Blue Flash Mirror sample :

 

And then we grind them. This is the loud part, and the part that sprays polycarbonate lens dust all over our shop and why people always think we came out of the snow. It’s also the part of the process that lets us craft fully-custom lenses with complete control over the lens styles, shapes, and optics. It is also the fun part and an aspect of our lenses of which we’re quite proud. We have a physical connection with our lenses and our product that other sunglass companies who craft prescription lenses simply don’t have. No one else in the world makes custom sport lenses this way. Here’s a little 17-second clip of what sometimes takes up to an hour:

Video: IMG_1559

While Bret or his son Ian, who is apprenticing here at Sports Optical, are the only ones who actually craft the lenses, the rest of us step up to clean, custom-tint and hand-polish the lenses once they’ve been cut. At this step we do a final inspection for quality, looking for any lens aberrations or any other issues that might otherwise make us hold onto an order and remake a lens. We do our best to ship a set of glasses only if it’s perfect.

Final Step: Something like this…

or this..

or this..

 

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