How to Wear Golf Gloves

A golf glove is your most direct link to the club, creating a confident connection for every swing you make. It’s more than just an accessory, it’s a vital piece of performance equipment. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about choosing, fitting, wearing, and caring for your golf glove, so you can build a more secure and consistent connection to the club and your game.

Why Bother With a Golf Glove, Anyway?

Before we get into the how-to, it’s worth understanding the 'why.' Many new golfers, and even some experienced ones, wonder if a glove is truly necessary. While you can certainly play without one, wearing a quality, well-fitting glove offers three huge advantages that can make a real difference in your game.

• A Better, Lighter Grip: This is the number one reason. A good glove increases friction between your hand and the club's grip. This allows you to hold the club with less pressure - what we call "grip pressure." When you have to squeeze the club tightly to prevent it from twisting, your forearms, wrists, and shoulders tense up. This tension kills swing speed and feel. A glove gives you the confidence to hold the club securely with a much lighter, more relaxed pressure, freeing you up to make a fluid, powerful swing.
• Blister and Callus Prevention: If you're new to the game or spending a lot of time at the driving range, friction can be tough on your hands. A glove acts as a protective barrier, preventing the painful blisters and raw spots that can derail a practice session or a round of golf. It lets you focus on your swing, not on how much your hands hurt.
• All-Weather Consistency: Your hands sweat. It rains. The morning dew makes everything slick. A golf glove provides a consistent grip surface no matter the conditions. It wicks away moisture from a sweaty palm on a hot day and helps you maintain control when things get wet, giving you a predictable connection to the club on every single shot.

The Golden Rule: Which Hand Wears the Glove?

This is the first and most common question, and thankfully, the answer is simple and universal. You wear a golf glove on your "lead" hand - that's the hand that a the top of the grips. For the vast majority of golfers, here's how it breaks down:

• Right-Handed Golfers: You wear a glove on your left hand.
• Left-Handed Golfers: You wear a glove on your right hand.

The reasoning behind this is straightforward. Your lead hand (the top hand on the grip) has the most contact with the club and is primarily responsible for guiding the club and controlling the clubface through the swing. Securing this hand ensures the entire club stays stable. Your trail hand (the bottom hand) serves more to support the club and apply power, and keeping it bare can provide a bit more feel, which some players prefer.

While some players, particularly in very cold or wet weather, opt to wear gloves on both hands, the standard for all-around play is a single glove on the lead hand.

Finding Your Perfect Fit: The 'Not Too Tight, Not Too Loose' Rule

A poorly fitting glove is almost worse than no glove at all. If it’s too loose, it will bunch up and cause friction, defeating its primary purpose. If it’s too tight, it will be uncomfortable and can split at the seams. You’re looking for a fit that feels like a second skin.

How a Golf Glove Should Feel

When you try on a new glove, it should be snug. Almost *too* snug. Leather gloves, in particular, will stretch slightly after a few swings. Here’s a checklist for the perfect fit:

• No Extra Material: There should be no loose fabric or wrinkling across the palm or on the back of your hand when you lay your hand flat.
• Fingertip Fit: The tips of your fingers should touch the very end of the glove's fingers. You don't want any extra air-filled space at the tips.
• The Velcro Test: When you first put on a brand-new glove and close the fastener, the Velcro tab should only cover about 75-80% of the landing pad. This leaves room for the leather to stretch and for you to tighten it as you break it in. If the tab completely covers the pad on day one, the glove is too big.

A Simple Test in the Shop

Don't just slide it on and say, "Yep, feels okay." Get a feel for it in a golf-specific way:

1. Gently slide the glove on, working each finger into its slot before pulling it down over your palm.
2. Make a tight fist. Look at your palm. It should be smooth. If you see significant wrinkles or bunching, the glove might be too big.
3. Now, fully extend your fingers. The glove should feel snug but not restrictive. The webbing of the glove should sit nicely where your fingers meet your palm.
4. Fasten the tab, checking that you have a little bit of the landing pad still visible. This shows it has room to stretch.

Remember that glove sizes, just like shoe sizes, can vary between brands. A "Large" from FootJoy might fit differently than a "Large" from Titleist or Callaway. If you're able, try on a few different brands to find the one that best matches the shape of your hand.

Material Matters: Cabretta, Synthetic, and Hybrids

Gloves are not all made from the same stuff, and the material has a significant impact on feel, durability, and price. Understanding the difference will help you choose the right tool for your game and budget.

Cabretta Leather Gloves

This is the premium choice, favored by most tour professionals and skilled amateurs. Made from the hide of hair sheep, Cabretta leather is incredibly soft, thin, and supple.

• Pros: Unmatched feel and connection to the club. Excellent breathability helps manage moisture. Molds to your hand over time for a custom fit.
• Cons: Less durable than synthetics, more expensive, and can lose its shape if it gets overly wet and isn't dried properly.

Synthetic Gloves

These gloves are engineered for durability and performance in a wider range of conditions. They are often constructed from synthetic leather and feature Lycra or other flexible materials built into the knuckles and finger joints for flexibility.

• Pros: Highly durable and resistant to stretching. Often less expensive. They maintain their softness and performance even in wet or humid conditions.
• Cons: Can feel slightly thicker than Cabretta, offering a bit less "feel." Can be less breathable on very hot days.

Hybrid Gloves

As the name suggests, these gloves aim to provide the best of both worlds. They typically feature a genuine Cabretta leather palm and fingers (where feel is most important) combined with a synthetic backhand and knuckles for enhanced durability, flexibility, and fit.

• Pros: A great balance of exquisite feel and long-lasting durability. Often more affordable than full-leather options. A fantastic all-around choice for the majority of club golfers.

All-Weather / Rain Gloves

These are specialty gloves, almost always sold in pairs. They are made from unique synthetic materials that, contrary to what you’d expect, provide an even better grip when they get wet. If you play often in a rainy climate, a pair of these in your bag is not a luxury - it’s a necessity.

Glove Strategy: Making It Last on the Course

Have you ever noticed tour pros taking their glove off immediately after every full shot? There's a reason for that. Sweat is the enemy of a golf glove. Taking it off between shots to either hang from your back pocket or attach to the Velcro on your bag's towel ring allows både your hand and the inside of the glove to dry out. This single habit can nearly double the life of a quality glove.

Most players will take the glove off for putting and short-game shots around the green. This isn't just to preserve the glove, it also provides maximum feel and touch for those delicate shots where nuance is more important than raw grip.

When putting your glove on, do it gently. And when taking it off, avoid yanking it off from the cuff, which stretches out the wrist area. Instead, gently pull on each finger one by one and then slide the glove off. Developing these small routines will protect your investment.

Off-Course Care: Keeping Your Glove in Playing Condition

How you treat your glove after a round is just as important as how you treat it during one. Tossing a sweaty glove into the dark abyss of a bag pocket is a recipe for a stiff, crusty mess next time you play.

• Drying is Everything: Never use a heater, hairdryer, or direct sunlight to dry a glove, especially a leather one. That’s how you get brittle leather. Always let it air dry. After your round, pull it out of your bag, smooth it out, and let it dry flat on a counter or drape it over a club.
• Cleaning: You rarely need to 'wash' a golf glove. If it gets particularly dirty, you can use a damp cloth to gently wipe the surface. Don’t use soap or detergents, and never submerge it in water or put it in a washing machine.
• Storage: The best a to store a glove between rounds is flat. Many golfers keep the original cardboard and plastic sleeve packaging and slide the smoothed-out glove back inside. This prevents it from getting crunched at the bottom of the bag and helps it retain its shape.
• Know When to Say Goodbye: A glove’s job is to wear out. Once you notice a slick or worn patch on the palm or the heel pad, or if the leather gets stiff and loses its tackiness, it’s time for a new one. A visible hole is a clear signal that retirement is overdue. Rotating between two or three gloves can extend the lives of all of them.

Treating your golf glove as a piece of performance technology rather than a simple accessory will pay dividends in your game. A great glove gives you the confidence to hold the club with light, sensitive pressure, improving your control and letting you swing freely from tee to green.

Final Thoughts

Getting the fit, material, and care of your golf glove right is one of those small details that has an outsized impact on performance. It reinforces a secure, pressure-free connection to the club, which is the foundation of a consistent golf swing. By viewing your glove not just as an accessory but as a critical piece of equipment, you set yourself up for more confident and enjoyable rounds.

Practicing these fundamentals is a huge part of improving your game. When questions arise on bigger 'what-if' scenarios, like navigating a blind tee shot or choosing the right play from a tough lie, it can be helpful to have a resource. For those moments, Caddie AI is there to give you instant, on-demand advice. You can get a smart course strategy or even snap a photo of a tricky lie for a clear recommendation on how to play the shot, removing the guesswork so you can commit to every swing.