Equipment
To glove or not to glove?
It is one of golf’s timeless debates—do you need to wear a golf glove?
For many players, it is a make or break piece of equipment, while for others it’s embraced as a fashion accessory as much as a necessity.
One of the best examples of a glove or gloves offering a performance advantage is with rain gloves. Anyone that has traveled to Ireland or Scotland to play golf will attest, not having a pair of rain gloves while trying to play golf in a deluge would be like trying to play golf in bowling shoes—sure it’s “possible,” but the likelihood of success is greatly diminished.
Considering the price for high-quality rain gear, rain gloves pale in comparison and are worth every penny.
Most players on the PGA Tour use a glove with a few exceptions—the modern one being Lucas Glover (I don’t think we need to spell out the irony of that) and the always loveable Freddy Couples. A more historic player well known for beating golf balls and never wearing a glove is Moe Norman—as the Moe stories go, and there are a lot out there, after a certain time he would cut the calluses off the pad in his left hand when they would get too hard and start to bug him.
Factors in selection
The decision to use a glove also relies a lot on a player’s choice of grip. Cord grips are rough and designed to offer maximum traction and all-weather performance, but depending on how often someone plays or hits balls, they can be quite uncomfortable. Now, on the other end of the spectrum are multi-layer grips made with a rubber core and wrapped in some manner with a tacky polyurethane outer layer for soft traction and comfort. For more fairweather golfers, these are the grip of choice, and also provide extra shock absorption on mishits.
It would be negligent not to also point out that one of the most popular grips of the last decade— the MMC from Golf Pride—offers a firm corded top portion for under the glove hand, and a softer lower portion for the bare one, it is the best of both worlds.
So many to choose from
Now when it comes to gloves, the sky is the limit as far as options go, everyone from Costco and its Kirkland Signature brand all the way to luxury designers offer golf gloves. The most premium gloves use thin high-quality leather which is extremely supple and is designed to feel like you are hardly wearing one at all.
Other options like the Claw from Caddy Daddy are designed for both traction and durability and are constructed from synthetic materials designed to outlive the traditional leather glove, they can even be cleaned in a washing machine—for everyone, no, but for many, this is the golden ticket.
When it comes to wearing a glove, I’m solidly on the fence—my hands don’t sweat, and I play just enough golf to keep them blister-free, but for some reason, I enjoy the custom of carrying one around in my back pocket. If it is really humid, then the glove goes on, when it’s cold, I will often wear it too, but for some reason, there is just something about playing fresh cord grips without a glove that I can’t get out of my head.
Neal Shipley was the first to admit that he enjoyed his food while in college. But since his days at Ohio State, he’s slimmed down and earned a PGA Tour Card.
That hasn’t stopped him from having fun with his wedge stampings, though it’s led to some misunderstandings.
On the 54 (degree), we have ‘Big Fudge,'” Shipley told GolfWRX. “It was supposed to be ‘Big Fridge,’ so this happened a little while ago. ‘Big Fridge’ was a nickname between my college teammates and I, with ‘fridge’ meaning stomach, a big stomach.
“We told the Ping guys to put … ‘Big Fridge’ on it, and I think maybe some bad cell service or something, and they thought I said ‘fudge,’ so they put fudge on it.”
On Shipley’s 50-degree he also continues the food theme, this time with his go-to order at the “Golden Arches,” and his stamping “DONS 7.”
“The number 7 meal, the two cheeseburger meal, that was my McDonald’s order, back when I would have McDonald’s frequently,” Shipley shared.
At GolfWRX, we are a community of like-minded individuals who all experience and express our enjoyment of the game in many ways.
It’s that sense of community that drives day-to-day interactions in the forums on topics that range from best driver to what marker you use to mark your ball. It even allows us to share another thing we all love – buying and selling equipment.
Currently, in our GolfWRX buy/sell/trade (BST) forum, @raw10628 has a L.A.B. DF3 putter and Masters putter cover up for grabs.
From the listing: “Some great items here today, time to thin out and make room for next set of gear. All prices include shipping.
LAB DF3 Purple 33.5” 68° lie with TPT – $725. LAB Masters release DF3 cover – $150.”
To check out the full listing in our BST forum, head through the link. If you are curious about the rules to participate in the BST Forum, you can learn more here: GolfWRX BST Rules
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4
3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
5-wood: Ping G440 Max (19 degrees @18)
Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4
Hybrid: Ping G440 (23 degrees)
Shaft: Oban Isawa Red Hybrid Shaft 04 Flex 70 Gms
Irons: Srixon ZXi7 (5-P)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i80
Wedges: Cleveland RTZ (50-MID, 54-FULL, 58-MID)
Shafts: Aerotech SteelFiber Private Reserve i105
Putter: L.A.B. Golf OZ.1i
Shaft: ACCRA Putter Shaft
Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet
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Maria Torres WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: Ping G440 LST (9 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 5-M4 3-wood: Ping G440 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Accra TourZ Green 6-M4 5-wood: Ping G440...
Eric Cole WITB 2026 (June)
Driver: PXG Lightning Tour Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D (15 degrees) Shaft:...
Si Woo Kim WITB 2026 (May)
Driver: Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X Mini driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Mini...
Wyndham Clark’s winning WITB: 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D (10.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X Titan Yellow 60 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade Qi4D Tour (15 degrees) Shaft: Project...
Bob Pegram
Aug 31, 2020 at 11:29 pm
I used to use full cord grips, but they tore up my hands. I have never used a glove. When I was a beginner a round of golf and a glove cost about the same. I round of golf did my game more good than a glove. I now use mid size rubber grips. My hands usually don’t sweat. I suppose I should get some sort of rain glove before the rainy season arrives since the rubber grips are smoother than the Lamkin Crossline grips I used to use. They wouldn’t slip unless it was raining hard and they got very wet.
Mike
Aug 31, 2020 at 10:46 am
I do not wear a glove and the only reason why is it definitely helps me to reduce my grip pressure and just swing. When i wear a glove I seem to grip the club tighter and that creates problems on the course. If i have a blister or cut, I just use some medical tape or no skin to protect during the round.
Bas Kooij
Aug 31, 2020 at 3:43 am
I only wear gloves on the driving range to prevent blisters. I will occasionally use one with the driver, but usually I don’t wear one on the course.
Dave
Aug 30, 2020 at 4:52 pm
Think about this: 98% of pro golfers wear a thin, white, leather glove on their top hand gripping the club. Being different can be cool and can work, but when an overwhelming majority of the world’s best are doing the exact same thing, its probably for good reason. Wear a glove
Tim
Aug 31, 2020 at 10:43 am
Let me guess – you also buy the exact same equipment setups that the Pros use as well? Just because the Pro’s where one does not mean others should wear one. Do what is RIGHT for YOUR game not just because a Pro is wearing one.
Matt Smith
Aug 31, 2020 at 2:16 pm
That’s not the same thing. Wearing a glove isn’t like choosing between which driver brand, its like choosing to wear shoes or go barefoot
Rob
Aug 30, 2020 at 1:18 pm
I wear a glove for tee shots and occasionally full approach’s. My hands sweat a lot and I can destroy I high quality leather glove in a few rounds. That’s partly why I pretty much only wear it for tee shots. When my hands start sweating badly I have a better grip with no glove than a wet leather one. I like cord grips and don’t find them too rough on my hands at all.
JT
Aug 31, 2020 at 5:54 am
I have the same issue with leather gloves in general that I ruin them in a couple of rounds or sessions at the range. I found that wearing rain gloves (the FJ one) as a regular glove paired with cord grips works amazingly well. On all shots including the short game!
Acemandrake
Aug 30, 2020 at 11:11 am
I never understood the occasional glove wearer. The glove/no glove feels are different.
Also, it’s difficult to go back to no glove after using one for an extended period.
I just wear a glove all the time.
Nack Jicklaus
Aug 30, 2020 at 7:59 am
I played Lamkin full cord grips with no glove in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. For some reason I switched grips and have never played gloveless again. Might have to go back to the old Lamkin cords now and play gloveless again just for fun…
Rich
Aug 29, 2020 at 1:57 pm
Glove or no glove? Glove. Bionic Performance. Best glove ever.