Which Type of Golf Glove is Best For You?

When we first begin playing, golfers tend to start with the most readily available gear to begin with - clubs, accessories and all. It’s only when we’ve been playing for a while that many golfers graduate to using bigger and better things that will undoubtedly improve technique.

While often overlooked, the humble golf glove is a fine example of this. At first glance, whether you're a left-handed golfer or a right-handed golfer, all golf gloves are designed to accomplish the same goal;  improve our grip so we’re able to hit more consistent and powerful shots time after time.

But on closer inspection - and you may have found this as you gained experience - there are numerous different types of golf gloves to choose from, each with their own benefits.

So if you’ve been looking for a golf glove to match your own personal playing style, or you’ve always used the same, random glove and are ready to tighten up your game in all departments, keep reading to see which golf glove may be of most use to you!

The different types of golf gloves and their advantages

Leather golf gloves

Leather is a classic material that has been used to craft the best golf gloves for over a century. Featuring a premium look and an even more premium feel, leather golf gloves are often the choice of professional players, or amateur players who only want the best gear in their golf bag.

But aside from simple aesthetics, leather golf gloves do offer significant advantages that help improve our golf swing.

For one, while soft on the inside, leather golf gloves help create traction between our hands and the golf club, thanks to the surface materials interacting in a rougher, more resistant way than others. This gives us a firmer, more controlled grip on the club.

That isn’t to say leather gloves cost us anything in the way of feel, though. Many premium leather golf gloves are crafted to be thin enough to still offer a good level of feel between the player and their club, ensuring awkward contacts with the ball can be noted and fixed quickly.

Synthetic gloves

Beyond leather, you’ll also find golf gloves made from more stretchy, synthetic materials - or a combination of the two. In the case of a hybrid, where only part of the glove is synthetic and the rest is made of leather, the synthetic material is often reserved for the parts of the glove expected to experience more movement, such as the knuckles and fingers.

This offers players a slight feeling of freedom in their golf gloves, and can feel less restrictive than more traditional alternatives. You may also find gloves that are entirely synthetic, providing a stretchy and more relaxed feel all the way around, though many of these are not favoured by players who are used to the heightened sense of responsiveness and grip found in leather. 

Wet weather gloves

When the rain starts to fall and your grasp on the club begins to slip, it pays to have a wet-weather golf glove available in your bag. Wet-weather golf gloves are known for their adaptive qualities, changing their texture when they come into contact with water droplets. Thanks to this, they actually aid our grip with the golf club when it’s wet, rather than hindering it.

So if you’re an all-weather type of golfer and enjoy playing no matter the conditions, or you’d rather your score wasn’t harmed when the weather suddenly shifts, rain gloves are definitely worth having around.

Half-finger golf gloves

They’re not overly common, but enough so to still mention. Half-finger golf gloves are exactly what you think they are; golf gloves that are cut off at the second knuckle, much like fingerless gloves you’ll have seen people wearing in winter. They’re more common among female players, though male varieties are also available.

The half-finger design is said to have two distinct advantages - greater airflow throughout the fingers and hands on hot days, and reduced finger fatigue when compared to traditional golf gloves. However, there aren’t enough players utilising them to give us a definitive answer on their effectiveness yet.  

Choose from a wide selection of men's golf gloves and women's golf gloves at Clarkes Golf

If you’re ready to test out a new type of golf glove, or if you want to stick with a golf glove brand or type you’ve trusted for years, choose Clarkes Golf. 

We’re home to a wide selection of golf gloves - including gloves for left-handed golfers and right-handed players - from all the major brands, including FootJoy, Nike and Under Armour to name but a few. Whether you're a small, medium or large-handed player, we'll have golf gloves to suit you.