Hitting a drive down the middle is one thing but hitting a drive down the middle set to music and making that walk back to the cart as the chorus hits is an entirely different experience. (You may even need to learn a club twirl.)
Many golfers enjoy listening to music on the course. It might even be beneficial for some players. Finding the right speaker matters. If you are new to this concept of golf course speakers and want quality, value and reliable battery life, the JBL Clip 3 is a great option.
This JBL Clip 3 did quite well in our 2022 Best Golf Bluetooth Speakers testing. Let’s take a deeper look.
JBL Clip 3 Product Details
The JBL Clip 3 is a portable waterproof Bluetooth speaker with impressive performance despite its size. It comes with a built-in carabiner so you just need a place to hook it and a device that has access to music.
One of our favorite features of the JBL Clip 3 is the 10-hour battery life. We all know how hard it is to remember our gear for golf. Are we going to remember to charge the Bluetooth speaker every time? Probably not. With high-quality sound and the echo-canceling speakerphone, your music will come through quite well.
The JBL brand has been around for more than 70 years and that says something about the durability and usability of the product. You will notice that the JBL Clip 3 ranked high in both of these categories in our testing. The speaker’s features are simple so don’t expect anything too grand but, for the price tag, it’s hard to complain.
Pros
- It comes in 12 different colors.
- Rechargeable Li-ion battery
- Metal carabiner easily hooks to your golf bag.
- Noise-canceling and echo-canceling speakerphone
- Easily pairs to smartphone or tablet
- Waterproof and durable
- JBL has a long history of making high-quality speakers.
Cons
- Features are sparse: this is an introductory-level speaker.
- Range is not as far as some other Bluetooth speakers for golf.
How We Test
The JBL Clip 3 was part of our 2022 Best Golf Speaker test. We spent 23 hours testing 27 products. The metrics used to complete this testing include durability, sound clarity, usability and features, resulting in an overall rating. Despite the JBL Clip 3 being smaller than other speakers tested, its overall results were quite good.
JBL Clip 3 Speaker Review
The JBL Clip 3 received a total rating of 88 out of 100. It also got the award of being the best-value Bluetooth golf speaker in 2022, going up against 26 competitors.
Durability
The durability rating for the JBL Clip 3 speaker was second. With waterproof and shockproof technology, the JBL Clip 3 is prepared for a few bumps and bruises along the way. The clip is solid and, if attached to the cart or bag correctly, there shouldn’t be any major issues.
Sound Clarity
The JBL Clip 3 got eighth overall for sound clarity. This is a bit better than average but, again for the price, it’s hard to complain about the clarity. If you went to The Juilliard School, expect to be able to pick up on this right away. If you simply want to listen to your songs on the course, it should do the trick.
Usability
“Usability” describes how easy it is to set up and start using a golf speaker. The JBL Clip 3 finished fourth in this category. You won’t have a very long learning curve to get this unit up and running.
Features
Overall, the features on the JBL 3 are lacking a bit so it ended up in 19th place. Honestly, without this 19th-place finish, the JBL Clip 3 could have made it into the top five golf speakers for 2022. Don’t expect any bells and whistles on the JBL Clip 3. At this lower price, JBL focused on sound quality, value and durability.
Overall
The JBL Clip 3 scored 88/100 for 12th-place overall. The top finisher was the UE Wonderboom with a total score of 93. For a speaker priced less than $50 that connects in a few seconds, the JBL Clip 3 held its own in this year’s test.
Tester Feedback
The overall feedback from the testers taught us a few things about the JBL Clip 3 speaker.
- The JBL Clip 3 has a durable clip that makes it an excellent choice for a golfer who likes to walk. Simply clip this on and you will be able to make your way around the course without having to baby the speaker the entire time.
- Sound quality is impressive, especially when looking at the overall size and pricing of the unit.
- Connectivity was fast—faster than some of the most premium models on the market.
- Overall features are a bit basic. This is best for an occasional round with sound and not necessarily the model to choose to keep on your cart day in and day out.
- Having 12 color options was a bonus. For some reason, colors on speakers make us want to use them more!
MyGolfSpy Feedback
Bottom Line
The JBL Clip 3 offers tremendous value compared to other golf speakers. If you aren’t quite sure whether music on the golf course is going to help or hurt your game, start here and upgrade at some point down the road.
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