Gear · The Glove Report
The short version
A hole in the palm or thumb of your golf glove usually means the club is moving in your hand. The common causes are holding the grip in your palm instead of your fingers, squeezing hard as you start the downswing, a long lead thumb, a glove that is too big, or slick, worn club grips.
This article walks through each cause.
The point is not to leave you over the ball worrying about your grip. Your grip is yours. The point is to show you an option that does not try to change how you hold the club, but gives you a better connection to it: the EXO glove, a golf glove with Zyntech™ nanocell grip pads on the thumb, palm and fingers, where leather gloves wear out first.
Key facts
- Heel pad holes and off-center strikes: Golf Digest, drawing on teacher Jason Guss, explains that a mishit twists the clubface, the grip twists against the glove, and that friction rips the heel pad. It puts the force on the club at impact at around 2,000 pounds. (Golf Digest)
- Palm and thumb wear and grip pressure: Golf Monthly says wear in these areas, "and especially if they are wearing quickly," means "you are probably gripping the club too tightly." (Golf Monthly)
- Grip pressure is not constant: Simply gripping lighter doesn't necessarily help. Sensor data from SuperSpeed Golf shows pressure builds most as the club starts back and in the transition from backswing to downswing, and golfers with stronger hands used a smaller share of their maximum. SensorGrip data reported by GOLF.com found amateurs tend to add pressure as they start the downswing, while tour pros ease off. (SuperSpeed Golf, GOLF.com)
- Worn club grips: Golf Pride recommends regripping at least once a year; Golf Monthly's guide says every 12 to 18 months, or roughly every 30 to 40 rounds. (Golf Pride, Golf Monthly)
- Fit: MyGolfSpy's fit check calls for a smooth palm with no wrinkles; a glove that is too big slips and "forces you to over-grip." (MyGolfSpy)
- EXO abrasion test: In our Martindale abrasion tests, three leather gloves, from a good-quality standard glove to an ultra-premium tour-grade glove, wore through after 74 to 185 rubs, with the tour-grade glove failing first. EXO's nanocells lasted 1,000 to 1,600 rubs before looking depleted, with the synthetic base still intact, and some tests were stopped at 1,600. A lab result, not a round count.
Why does my golf glove get a hole in the palm?
You'll probably only notice it while packing away your new glove after its first round: a thin, shiny patch on the heel pad, the fleshy part of the palm below your little finger. A few rounds later it is a hole. On golf forums the same question comes up again and again, often from golfers who tore a brand-new glove in a couple of rounds (The Sand Trap, Team Titleist).
The cause is almost always the same: the golf club is moving against the glove. Three things make it move.
The grip sits in your palm. When the handle runs across the palm instead of diagonally through the fingers, the heel pad takes the load on every swing. Golf Digest names this as the first thing to check (Golf Digest). Some golfers also have the butt of the club tucked under the heel pad; one Sand Trap reply suggests simply choking down half an inch to an inch (The Sand Trap).
Off-center strikes twist the club. Golf Digest's explanation is gear effect. Hit the ball off the toe or heel and the face twists at impact, so the grip twists inside your hand. Good players rarely rip heel pads, it argues, because centered strikes keep the face from turning through impact (Golf Digest).
You re-grip during the swing. Loosening your hold at the top of the backswing and clamping down again on the way down lets the handle slide, and the glove pays for it (The Sand Trap).
A wear spot in the middle of the palm points the same way. CaddieHQ reads it as an unstable grip, with the club "moving and sliding around in your hand during the swing" (CaddieHQ).
Why is my golf glove wearing out at the thumb?
Thumb wear is the other classic. Golfers describe a grey spot on the pad of the lead thumb, or a hole "between the two joints in the lower part of my thumb" (The Sand Trap). One Golf Monthly forum member wrote that after three rounds "I completely loose all leather and I'm left with that greyish spot" (Golf Monthly forum).
The usual suspects:
- A long thumb. Today's Golfer calls the thumb pad "a notoriously weak point" and links thumb-pad wear to a long thumb that slides up the shaft during the swing (Today's Golfer). Forum golfers suggest trying a "short thumb," bending it so only the end touches the grip (Golf Monthly forum).
- Pushing with the thumb. CaddieHQ reads a worn thumb as a sign "you are likely pushing and steering the club instead of swinging it" (CaddieHQ).
- Too much pressure from the lead thumb. A Sand Trap reply suggests holding a little firmer with the trail hand's index finger to take load off the lead thumb (The Sand Trap).
- Grip size. One Golf Monthly forum member says moving from standard grips with two wraps to midsize grips stopped his thumb wear (Golf Monthly forum). Your experience may differ, but it is worth asking a fitter.
What does the wear pattern on my glove mean?
Your glove is a record of every swing. Read it before you replace it.
| Where it wears | What it usually points to | What to check first | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heel pad (below the little finger) | Grip in the palm; off-center strikes twisting the club | Hold the club more in the fingers; check strike location with face tape | Golf Digest |
| Middle of the palm | Club sliding in the hand; re-gripping mid-swing | Steady pressure from address to finish, with no re-gripping | CaddieHQ |
| Thumb pad or thumb joint | Long thumb; pushing or steering with the thumb | Try a shorter thumb; ease thumb pressure | Today's Golfer |
| Fingertips | Tension, or grips the wrong size | Grip pressure; grip size | CaddieHQ |
| Palm and thumb, fast | Gripping too tightly | Overall pressure, and whether it spikes as you start down | Golf Monthly |
These are patterns, not diagnoses. If the wear keeps coming back, a lesson with a PGA professional who can watch your grip will tell you more than we can.
Is it my grip, my glove size or my club grips?
Often it is a bit of all three. Work through them in this order, because the first one is free.
1. Grip pressure, without overthinking it. Golf Monthly's advice is blunt: palm and thumb wear, especially fast wear, means you are probably holding on too tightly, which also stops your wrists hinging properly (Golf Monthly). The usual fix is to hold the club lighter; CaddieHQ suggests 3 or 4 out of 10 (CaddieHQ).
There is a catch.
Grip pressure does not stay where you set it at address. SuperSpeed Golf's sensor data shows it builds most as you start the club back and as you change direction at the top (SuperSpeed Golf), and SensorGrip data reported by GOLF.com found amateurs tend to squeeze harder as they start down, while tour pros ease off (GOLF.com).
So a light hold at address does not stop the squeeze at the top.
What keeps pressure steadier is grip strength: in SuperSpeed's data, golfers with stronger hands used a smaller share of their maximum through the swing. The goal is a hold you can keep steady from address to finish, not a number to think about over every shot.
2. Glove size. A glove that is too big bunches in the palm, slips, and makes you squeeze harder (MyGolfSpy). Not sure if yours is too big? Here's how a golf glove should fit, with five quick checks.
On the Team Titleist forum, a comment notes that gloves that are too big "can tear in the palm" (Team Titleist), and another golfer says he kept tearing gloves until a proper fitting moved him from XXL to L (Team Titleist).
Check yours: the palm should be smooth with no wrinkles when you grip a club.
Our glove sizing guide walks you through measuring.
3. Your club grips. A slick, shiny, hard grip makes you squeeze harder to hold on.
Golf Pride lists a "slick, glossy feel and appearance" as the most obvious sign of worn grips and recommends regripping at least once a year (Golf Pride). Golf Monthly's rule of thumb is every 12 to 18 months or about 30 to 40 rounds (Golf Monthly).
Cord grips are a special case: they are rough by design, and one Sand Trap member warns they "will tear a glove up quicker than anything" (The Sand Trap).
Why does leather wear through so fast?
Even with a perfect grip, a leather glove is a thin layer of hide being rubbed against rubber dozens of times a round. Every slide polishes it smoother, and the smoother it gets, the harder you squeeze to hold on. Worst of all, you don't even notice.
That loop is the problem we wrote about in The golf glove problem, and it is why the visible hole is usually the last sign, not the first. Our guide on how long a golf glove lasts covers the earlier ones: a shiny palm, a stiff feel, a glove that fits looser than it did.
Golfers have workarounds. Some wrap the thumb with tape or cut the fingertip off an old glove and wear it under the new one (The Sand Trap). These buy time, but they treat the hole, not the cause. If you want to understand the material side, our comparison of cabretta leather vs synthetic golf gloves explains why leather behaves the way it does.
Why we built EXO around leather's weak spots
Our approach: a better connection, built where leather fails
When we started developing EXO, we did not start with a material. We started with a pile of used gloves, from elite players and low handicappers all the way to high handicappers, and looked at where they wore out.
By far the most common spots were the thumb, the palm and the base of the index finger: the same places this article is about. So that is where we put the most grip padding.
Our job is not to change how you hold the club. It is to help you hold it better, whatever grip you choose.
Gripping a golf club is an art, and it is yours. The last thing we want is for a glove, or an article like this one, to leave you standing over the ball worrying about grip pressure. So instead of asking you to hold on differently, we built the glove to grip back.
Zyntech™ nanocells are designed to add grip surface where your hand meets the club, and grip research has long shown that people automatically squeeze less when a surface grips back: "the more slippery the object the higher the grip force" (Johansson and Westling, 1984).
We also added padding where avid golfers build calluses, and as testing went on we worked our way out to the fingertips, adding a second row of fingertip padding.
You can see how we test on our test data page, and what the nanocells do in the science behind Zyntech™.
The result is a glove built around the exact spots where leather lets golfers down first.
To check how it stands up, we conducted several Martindale abrasion tests, an industry-standard lab test that rubs a material against an abrasive surface. We tested EXO against three leather gloves: a good-quality standard glove, a premium glove and an ultra-premium tour-grade glove. Every new batch of nanocells goes through the same test.
Each leather glove ran until it wore right through. That took just 74 to 185 rubs. Interestingly, the better the glove, the thinner the leather and the quicker the wear: the tour-grade glove lasted only 74 rubs, and the standard glove lasted longest.
EXO ran until the nanocells looked depleted, with the synthetic base still intact underneath. That took 1,000 to 1,600 rubs, and several tests were stopped at 1,600 simply because the glove had already passed our durability standard.
Even comparing EXO's nanocells at the end of their life with leather wearing right through, that is at least five times as many rubs.
We must note, however, that it is a lab test, not how long it will last on the course.
Your swing, your club grips and how much you practice will decide how long any glove lasts on the course. But it shows how EXO handles the friction that wears leather through, and customer reviews point the same way, with several customers reporting 15 or more rounds before any signs of wear.
If you choose to stick with leather, please take away one thing: its grip wears out long before you see wear, let alone a hole.
Where EXO fits, and where it doesn't
Our approach: help you grip better, not grip differently
Let me be straight with you: no glove fixes a grip fault. You are still going to be you.
Where EXO can help is the material science.
We built EXO without leather. Its palm is a synthetic material developed specially to bond with the Zyntech™ nanocells, which is what gives it its durability over leather.
It is also machine washable, so when the glove gets oil and dirt build-up, you can keep the grip working by throwing it in the wash. Here is what golfers tell us.
"The Glove still performs the same as the day I first used it. I am so impressed with how it performs and the durability in this Florida Summer heat." Rick, verified customer, after about 10 rounds plus practice in two months
"It seemed expensive when I first purchased, but 12 rounds in and it's still as good as new." Gary, verified customer
It is not wear-proof, and we would rather you hear that from us. The nanocells will wear and will separate from the palm, and when that starts happening it is time to replace the glove.
When will that happen?
Unfortunately we cannot give a guarantee, but I feel pretty confident it will last a lot longer than any of the leather gloves in your bag.
Where EXO is not the answer:
- You play cord grips. We do not recommend EXO with cord grips, because their rough texture can make the nanocell surface peel early (The EXO glove). This is not universal for all golfers with cord grips, but we have had enough feedback that it is worth noting. While we haven't run tests, we doubt leather would fare much better on cord grips either.
If you want to see how we test, the test data page shows the numbers and how we got them, and Why EXO explains what we set out to fix.
Here is what golfers who play and practice a lot have told us:
"I have played this glove for about 3 months and at least 25 rounds of golf... I play with confidence that my glove will not fail me." Brad, verified customer, whose leather gloves usually got a hole in the heel within 4 or 5 rounds
"The glove is still holding up strong and only beginning to show a little sign of wear in the palm grip section. I would have gone through at least three gloves by now of other brands." Matt, verified customer, who plays daily on a simulator plus practice and league
"I've been using it for the past three months, and it's still in great shape with no visible wear." John, verified customer
"The heat, humidity and added sweat are causing me to burn through gloves. The EXO looks brand new." Anthony, verified customer, who plays more than 100 rounds a year in South Carolina
Until next time, play well!
Paul,
Founder EXO
Frequently asked questions
Why does my golf glove rip in the palm?
Usually because the club is moving against the glove. The common causes are holding the grip in your palm rather than your fingers, off-center strikes that twist the club (Golf Digest), re-gripping mid-swing, and a glove that is too big. Worn, slick club grips make it worse. EXO is a leather-free golf glove with nanocell grip zones on the palm and fingers to help minimize movement.
Is a hole in my golf glove thumb a grip problem?
We are not teaching pros, but the instruction sources mostly agree: often, yes. Thumb wear usually points to a long lead thumb that slides up the shaft or too much pressure from the thumb (Today's Golfer). Try a shorter thumb, lighter pressure, and check that your grips are the right size. If the wear keeps coming back, a PGA professional can watch your grip and tell you what is moving.
How long should a golf glove last before it wears through?
There is no single number, and the biggest glove brand won't give one. FootJoy's senior product manager told GOLF.com there are "too many external factors to put a hard figure on it" (GOLF.com). Golf guides put the average at five to 10 rounds, but it depends on how often you play and practice, your grip, your glove size and your club grips. Tour pros change gloves far sooner: Tiger Woods has said he starts every round with a new glove (National Club Golfer). That isn't for looks.
In our experience, leather gloves lose their peak grip at around 3 to 5 rounds, though it varies by golfer.
Can worn club grips wear out my glove?
Yes. Slick, hard grips make you squeeze harder, and the extra pressure and slipping wear the glove faster. Golf Pride recommends regripping at least once a year (Golf Pride), and Golf Monthly suggests every 12 to 18 months or about 30 to 40 rounds (Golf Monthly). Cord grips are rough by design and are known to be hard on gloves.
Will the EXO golf glove wear through in the palm or thumb?
Any glove can wear if the club is twisting in your hand, but EXO is built to minimize that movement and to last much longer than leather. In Martindale abrasion tests, leather gloves wore through after 74 to 185 rubs, while EXO's nanocells lasted 1,000 to 1,600 rubs. Several of our customers report using the glove for 15 or more rounds before any visible wear starts showing (customer reviews).
Built for the spots where leather wears out
Zyntech™ nanocell grip pads on the thumb, palm and fingers, on a synthetic base that holds its shape. Machine washable.
See the EXO GloveSources: Golf Digest · Golf Monthly: gear warning signs · Golf Monthly: changing grips · Golf Pride · MyGolfSpy · Today's Golfer · CaddieHQ (palm, wear patterns) · SuperSpeed Golf · GOLF.com: grip pressure data · GOLF.com: glove lifespan · National Club Golfer · Johansson and Westling, 1984 · Forum threads: Sand Trap, Sand Trap, Golf Monthly, Golf Monthly, Team Titleist, Team Titleist. Abrasion figures are from our Martindale lab tests and are not a round count. Customer quotes are from verified reviews; individual results vary.