What Golf Towels Do the Pros Use?

If you've ever watched a PGA Tour broadcast, you've probably noticed that perpetually damp, often oversized towel hanging from the caddie's bag. It’s not just a fancy accessory, it's one of the most consistently used pieces of equipment in a professional's arsenal. A pro's approach to their golf towel is a simple but powerful lesson in consistency and attention to detail. This article will break down exactly what kind of towels the pros use, why they use them in a specific way, and how you can adopt their system to lower your scores and take control of your game.

Why a Golf Towel is a Pro's Secret Weapon

As a golf coach, one of the first areas I look at when a student complains about inconsistent strikes isn't their swing - it's their clubface. You can make a perfect, on-plane swing, but if the grooves of your iron are caked with dirt, sand, or even just a bit of wet grass, the result will be unpredictable. This is a non-negotiable for a professional. Their livelihood depends on knowing exactly how the ball will react off the clubface.

Here’s what happens when your grooves are compromised:

• Reduced Spin: Grooves are designed to channel away water and debris, allowing the face to "grip" the ball and impart backspin. When the grooves are clogged, the ball skids up the face, resulting in a low-spin shot that won’t hold the green. This is the difference between a pin-high shot and one that bounds over the back into trouble.
• Flyer Lies: From the rough, grass can get trapped between the ball and the clubface, creating a "flyer." This significantly reduces spin and increases ball speed, often causing the ball to fly much farther than intended. A clean clubface helps mitigate this effect, giving the player more control even from a bad lie.
• Inconsistent Launch: A patch of mud or a clump of wet sand can change the launch angle and direction in a very real way. A clean face ensures the strike is pure and the ball starts on its intended line.

Pros and their caddies are fanatical about keeping their tools clean because they are eliminating variables. They want every shot to be determined by their skill, not by a random piece of mud. This obsession with cleanliness is the foundation of their towel strategy.

The Two-Towel System: A Tour-Level Standard

Look closely at footage of a Tour pro, and you'll often see two different towels in play. There's the large one on the caddie’s bag and often a smaller one the player keeps for themselves, perhaps hanging from an alignment stick or tucked in their back pocket. This isn't an accident, it's a deliberate system designed for maximum efficiency.

The Caddie's Towel: The Heavy-Duty Cleaner

This is the workhorse. It’s almost always a large, tour-sized (think roughly 20" x 40") towel made of a waffle-weave microfiber material. Caddies typically keep one half of the towel damp and the other half dry.

How It's Used:

1. The Pre-Shot Scrub: Before handing a club to the player, the caddie gives the face a thorough cleaning. They use the wet part of the towel to scrub away any lingering dirt or grass from the previous shot or from scuffing the ground during a practice swing.
2. The Post-Shot Wipe: After every single shot, no matter how clean the divot, the caddie immediately takes the club and cleans it. This becomes an ingrained routine.
3. The Dry Finish: Right after scrubbing with the wet side, they use the dry half to wipe the clubface, shaft, and grip completely dry, ensuring there’s no moisture that could affect the player's next shot.

The caddie’s job is to ensure that every time the player pulls a club, it's in pristine, ready-to-perform condition. This large, dual-purpose towel is the perfect tool for the job.

The Player's Towel: The Personal Touch

While the caddie's towel is for the clubs, the player’s towel is for the player. This is usually a smaller, softer, and always completely dry towel. A player would never wipe sweat from their brow with the same towel used to scrub mud out of their grooves.

What It's Used For:

• Hands and Grips: This is its most important job. On a hot, humid day, hands get sweaty. Before a crucial shot, the player will meticulously dry their hands and the club’s grip to ensure a secure, slip-free hold. A weak or insecure grip is a power-killer and a recipe for an errant shot.
• The Golf Ball: When on the green, players use this towel to clean and dry their ball after marking it. A clean, dimple-free surface is essential for a true roll.
• Face and Brow: Managing sweat on a hot day is about comfort and focus. A quick wipe of the face can prevent sweat from dripping into the eyes during a critical putt or swing.

Separating these tasks is about hygiene, but more importantly, it's about confidence. The player knows they have a sterile, dry surface for their hands and a heavy-duty cleaner for their clubs. It's another variable controlled.

Key Features: What Differentiates a Great Golf Towel?

You don't need a corporate sponsor to get a tour-level towel. You just need to know what features to look for. Ditching that old bath towel or kitchen rag for a purpose-built golf towel can make a significant difference.

Material Matters: Microfiber vs. Cotton

The vast majority of towels you see on tour are waffle-weave microfiber. There’s a good reason for this. Microfiber filaments are incredibly fine, making them phenomenal at trapping dirt and absorbing water. The waffle-weave pattern creates pockets that scoop up debris from club grooves much more effectively than the flat loop of a traditional terry cloth towel.

Cotton terry cloth, while soft, tends to just smear dirt around and becomes heavy and waterlogged quickly. It can also leave behind lint in the grooves, which is counterproductive. For club cleaning, waffle-weave microfiber is the undisputed champion.

Design and Size: Function Over Form

• Tour-Size Towel (Large): This is ideal if you use a riding cart or push cart. Its size allows you to easily maintain a "wet side" and a "dry side" without them bleeding into each other. Caddies on tour rely on this larger size.
• Caddie-Size Towel (Medium): This is the most versatile option and perfect for walkers. At around 16" x 24", it's large enough for the wet/dry method but won't drag on the ground when attached to a stand bag.
• Slit or Center Cut: Many modern towels feature a slit down the center. This is a brilliant design innovation. Instead of using a fallible carabiner clip, you can simply drape the towel over a club or an alignment stick in your bag. It hangs perfectly balanced and will never fall off.

Brands in the Bag: Who Are the Pros Using?

You'll see a variety of logos on towels out on tour, but they generally fall into a few categories.

The Golden Standard: Club Glove
The most ubiquitous towel you’ll see in the hands of caddies is the Club Glove Caddy Towel. It’s large, durable, comes in the quintessential waffle-weave microfiber, and is built to withstand hundreds of rounds. They are often co-branded with tournament logos, player initials, or equipment sponsors. This is the de-facto professional choice.

OEM and Apparel Brands: Titleist, TaylorMade, PING, Nike
Most top players are under contract with major equipment or apparel companies, and their branded towels are part of the deal. Rest assured, these aren't cheap giveaways. Brands like Titleist and TaylorMade produce high-quality microfiber towels for their staff players that are often available to the public. They know their players demand performance in every piece of their gear, including the towel.

Boutique and Style-Forward Brands: Ghost Golf, Uther, Asher Golf
A newer trend has seen the rise of brands that focus on high-performance towels with unique designs. Companies like Ghost Golf have magnetic towels that stick to your cart for convenience, while others offer more modern aesthetics. While pros might be paid to use a certain logo, many still secretly use these high-quality alternatives with their sponsor's logo stitched on.

The ultimate lesson here is that the *type* of towel matters far more than the *brand*. Focus on getting a high-quality, waffle-weave microfiber towel in a size that suits your game, and you'll have the same tool the pros rely on.

Final Thoughts

A tour-level towel system isn't about looking like a pro, it's about adopting a professional mindset of controlling every possible variable. Keeping your a clubface spotless and your hands dry ensures that the outcome of your shot is down to your swing, not a piece of mud. Adopting a two-towel system - a damp, microfiber workhorse for clubs and a smaller, dry towel for you - is a simple change that can add a surprising level of consistency to your game.

While a clean club sets you up for success, you still need to make the right decision on club selection and shot strategy. That’s an area where technology can provide the same level of support a Tour pro gets from their caddie. With features like real-time strategic advice, Caddie AI acts as your on-demand golf expert. If you're stuck in the trees or facing a tricky yardage, you can analyze the situation - even by sending a photo of your lie - and get the same kind of smart, percentage-based recommendation that a professional would. I am here to help take the guesswork out of your game so you can play with more confidence on every shot.