Yes, for anyone who plays through a British winter. Rain gloves grip harder the wetter they get, which is the opposite of what leather does. Wear them as a pair, expect to pay somewhere between £10 and £30 in the UK, and keep your leather glove for dry days. They are among the cheapest shot-saving kit you can buy.
The reason they get dismissed is that most golfers try them for the first time on a dry day, find the feel worse than leather, and never go back. That is the wrong test. A rain glove is a specialist tool, and it only makes sense once you understand what it is doing.
How do golf rain gloves work?
A rain glove uses an absorbent synthetic palm rather than leather. Water is drawn into the material instead of sitting on top of it, and the wet fabric then moulds itself to both your hand and the grip. The result is that hand, glove and club behave as one unit. Grip improves as conditions worsen.
Leather does the opposite. A cabretta leather glove is a natural skin, and once it is soaked it goes slick, then dries stiff and shiny with the fit gone. That is the moment most golfers start gripping harder, which is exactly when the swing tightens up and the strike goes.
Do you wear one rain glove or two?
Two. The single-glove habit is a dry-weather convention: one glove on the lead hand for grip, the trail hand bare for feel. In rain, feel is the thing you have already lost, so both hands want the same treatment. Rain gloves are normally sold and worn as a pair for that reason.
Our own Rain Gloves come as a pair at £9.99, with a hard-wearing palm carrying added traction, microfibre stretch panels through the fingers and a velcro tab closure. Buying singles and pairing them up is possible with some brands, and usually costs more than buying the pair outright.
Golf rain gloves vs regular golf gloves
They are different tools for different weather, and a serious winter bag holds more than one. The table below is the short version of what to reach for and when. The distinction that catches people out is cold versus wet: a thermal glove and a rain glove solve different problems, and neither does the other job well.
| Glove | Conditions | Hands | Stuburt example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leather | Dry, any temperature | Lead hand only | Stuburt Leather Glove, 100% cabretta, £14.99 |
| Rain | Wet, mild to cold | Both hands | Rain Gloves, synthetic palm, £9.99 a pair |
| Thermal | Cold and dry | Both hands | Thermal Gloves, fleece-backed, £9.99 a pair |
| Mitts | Cold, between shots | Both hands, removed to play | Mens Winter Mitts, fleece lined, £19.99 |
What are golf rain gloves made from?
Synthetic, always. Palms are a treated synthetic leather or a microfibre suede, often with a textured or raised traction pattern moulded in, and the panels between the fingers are a stretch microfibre so the glove still flexes when it is heavy with water. Elastic is placed at the wrist and knuckles to hold the fit.
Nothing in a rain glove is a natural skin, and that is the point. Our Stuburt Leather Glove at £14.99 is 100% cabretta and is the better glove nine months of the year. The Ladies Urban All Weather Golf Glove at £4.99 splits the difference, with a synthetic body and cabretta at the thumb and palm.
How much should you spend on golf rain gloves?
UK rain gloves run from roughly £12 to £40, with most well-reviewed pairs sitting between £19 and £28. MacWet pairs sell around £24.99 and Galvin Green sits near £39.95. Above about £30 you are buying brand and finish rather than a step change in wet grip, because the underlying material technology is broadly shared.
This is one of the few categories where the value end genuinely holds up. A synthetic palm either draws water in and conforms to the grip or it does not, and that behaviour does not scale neatly with price. Ours sit at £9.99 the pair in the golf gloves and accessories range.
When a rain glove is the wrong glove
On a dry day, every time. A rain glove on dry grips feels dead and slightly tacky, and you lose the feedback a thin leather palm gives you through the handle. If you play mostly in summer and get caught out twice a year, a rain glove is a bag item, not your everyday glove.
Cold and dry is the other case. Frozen hands are a circulation problem, not a grip problem, and a rain glove has no insulation in it at all. That is what fleece-backed Thermal Gloves at £9.99 are for, or mitts you pull off to play the shot. If it is cold and wet, the rain glove wins, because wet hands lose heat faster than cold air takes it.
How to use and look after golf rain gloves
Put them on wet. There is no benefit in keeping them dry under an umbrella, and a rain glove that has not taken water on yet is performing at its worst. Play the round in them, then rinse the mud out under a tap, reshape them by hand and hang them to air dry.
Never dry them on a radiator, in an airing cupboard or in a tumble dryer. Direct heat is what hardens the palm and kills the stretch panels, and it is the single most common way a good pair is ruined. Some brands state that their gloves are machine washable, and a well-kept pair can last two seasons of regular use.
Store them out of the ball pocket, where they get crushed damp against a sleeve of balls. Flat in the top pocket, or clipped to the outside of the bag, is enough. The rest of the wet-weather kit deserves the same treatment, and there is more on that in our guide to what waterproof, showerproof and water repellent actually mean.
Where 1860 comes into this
Stuburt started in Manchester in 1860 as a shoemaking house, and the run of British sport it has kitted out since has one thing in common: the weather. Rain is the normal condition here, not the exception, which is why the wet-weather end of the range is priced as everyday kit rather than as a specialist purchase.
The honest version of the advice is this. Buy the pair of rain gloves, buy a decent umbrella, and only then think about spending three figures on a waterproof suit. The 66" Double Canopy Golf Umbrella at £24.99 and a £9.99 pair of gloves will change more rounds than anything else at that money. The rest of the wet-weather range sits in waterproof golf clothing, and the cold-weather pieces in autumn winter golf kit.
Common questions
Do golf rain gloves work?
Yes, and measurably so in wet conditions. The synthetic palm absorbs water rather than repelling it, then conforms to the grip under pressure, so the club stays fixed in the hand. The effect is strongest once the glove is properly soaked, which is why they feel unremarkable when you first try a dry pair on in a shop.
Can you wash golf rain gloves?
Usually yes, but check the label first. Most synthetic rain gloves can be rinsed under a tap or washed cool, and some brands state theirs are machine washable. What matters more is the drying: reshape them by hand and air dry them away from any direct heat source, because heat is what stiffens the palm and ruins the fit.
How long do golf rain gloves last?
A well-kept pair used regularly can last around two seasons. Lifespan depends far more on drying habits than on rounds played, since heat damage hardens the palm long before the material wears through. Watch the stretch panels between the fingers: when those go slack and the glove stops holding its shape, replace the pair.
How do you use golf rain gloves during a round?
Put both on as soon as the rain starts and leave them on. Do not swap back and forth with a leather glove, because a half-dry leather palm is the worst of both. Keep a towel under the umbrella for the grips themselves, and dry the handle rather than the glove between shots.
If you are building winter kit from scratch, gloves are the cheap fix and layers are the real decision. Our guides to choosing a golf polo shirt and what team replica kit actually is cover the rest of what goes in the bag.
