Tiger Woods wears just one glove when hitting some shots around the greens.
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Welcome to Play Smarta regular GOLF.com game improvement column that will help you become a smarter and better golfer.
Golf gloves are an important piece of equipment. They can not only prevent unpleasant blisters and calluses, but also prevent the grip from slipping during the swing when you sweat a little. This is a win-win.
The flaw of wearing a glove is that it can limit your feel – especially on shorter shots. This is why you will often see golfers remove their gloves when putting, or even on shorter shots around the greens. When you need a little more touch on a shot, it’s wise to make sure you have a good feel for the club.
But while removing the glove is usually standard around the greens, there are some shots for which you might consider wearing the glove. In the following video, Tiger Woods explains why he sometimes chooses to leave his glove — even when it’s a shorter shot.
Why does Tiger drop his glove
As we covered above, wearing a glove can reduce your feel on shorter touch shots. That’s why Woods — and most other pros — typically don’t use gloves when playing short game shots. However, there are some shots around the greens that Woods will leave his glove on.
“I used to use a glove all the time,” Woods says. “Then I realized I had more touch and feel without the glove. But out of the bunker, because I’m hitting it a lot harder, (the club) was coming back into my hand. So I put a pull handle on the bunker shots.”
To hit the correct shots into the bunker from the greenside, you will usually swing much harder than other short game shots. And when you’re swinging harder, the club is more likely to slip through your hands. Because of this, Woods uses a glove to make sure he can keep the clubface steady.
“When I hit a full swing, or I have to fight a lot of resistance, like hitting through tall rye grass or hitting through sand, the kick behind it, it’s going to want to spin in my hand.” he says. “The handle gives me an added sense of security that it won’t warp.”
While touch and feel are important around the greens, it’s also important to make sure you have control of the clubface. If you’re struggling to hit hard shots out of the bunkers without a glove, it might be time to get behind the 15-time major winner and see if adding a glove helps.
