Grips on your golf clubs have long been something of an afterthought. Even when setting up the club, you often spend a little time getting the number in hand. At the end of the process, you are usually asked a simple question – What grip do you prefer? – and then you’re on your way.
People in Pride of Golf don’t think this is the most prudent approach.
“We believe in designing equipment for your hands,” says James Ledford, president of Golf Pride. “No gloves for your clubs.”
For Ledford, this distinction is more than semantics. Golf Pride thinks of grips as a true performance category, not just a finishing touch. While club heads, shafts and balls have been studied for decades with standardized tests and performance metrics, grips have largely escaped the same level of scrutiny.
“There really aren’t established protocols for how to study gloves the way the industry studies equipment,” Ledford says. “We all understand the club’s delivery numbers. We don’t have those catch-up standards yet.”
This gap is what Golf Pride wants to close.
Instead of treating grips as passive components, the company is treating them as active performance tools that affect stroke quality, durability and, most importantly, confidence. According to Ledford, control should not be the final decision in the adaptation process, but the starting point. Most golfers think about the clubhead first, then move on to the shaft and only finally consider the grip. The company is intentionally returning that order.
At Golf Pride’s state-of-the-art Performance Lab in Pinehurst, NC, players go through a Touring level handle assembly which takes into account hand size, climatic conditions, texture and durability to limit the possible grip choices. Then it’s time to actually hit a simulator until you find the grip that feels best for your swing. It soon becomes clear how influential this control can be.
“This is where we’re really trying to understand grips as devices,” Ledford says. “It’s about building real data about how controls affect performance.”
For years, grips have been a quiet constant in the bag. Golf Pride is betting that once golfers start treating them like real equipment—not an afterthought—that silence won’t last long.
Golf Pride MCC Grip
MCC™ (New Decade® MultiCompound) is an innovative hybrid glove that combines the positive performance of rubber and cord. The MCC boasts the exclusive Golf Pride® brushed cotton cord in the upper area for strong all-weather control and a performance rubber material in the underhand for maximum feel and response.
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