By Snyper on 12/20/10

Matt is an opinionated* golf enthusiast from Pennsylvania. He coaches at the high school level, molding the minds and swings of our next generation. His column will appear each Monday on ClubSG. Feel free to chime in with your thoughts and opinions of Matt in the comments. Don't hold back- because Matt won't.

Back in the day, a golf bag was used to carry your golf clubs. While they still serve that purpose, golf bags have evolved to become much much more. Whether it is the name brand in huge print, huge pockets all over, or loud colors, golf bags are as much a statement of self as the clothes that we wear. One of the newest ways to separate your golf bag from everyone else's is to customize your headcovers.

When graphite shafts first burst onto the scene, headcovers began to become more and more important. Though they are called headcovers, their purpose became more about covering the graphite shafts from the heads of your irons than protecting the actual heads of the woods. Graphite was/is very susceptible to being scratched and damaged by the irons in your bag, especially when you are riding and your clubs are bouncing all over the place. So, headcovers developed a long neck that would slide down over the top of the shaft to protect it as well as the head of your club. Pretty soon, everyone was using headcovers for their woods because everyone was buying metal woods with graphite shafts. It didn’t take the retail industry long to realize that this was an opportunity to make some money and so began individualized headcovers.

By far and away, the most common custom headcovers are the animal variety. Even Tiger Woods himself sports an animal in his bag (a tiger, of course). While this hasn’t caught on too quickly among the pros, there are some others who carry an animal of some sort along for the ride on tour. As far as public golf is concerned, you don’t have to search through many foursomes to find at least one dog, cat, bear, or skunk even. In fact, I, myself, have recently added a beagle headcover to my repertoire.

Some other popular upgrades out there are the sports theme headcovers. I’ve seen guys with an entire set of covers boasting the colors and even the mascot of their favorite team. With poker and casinos increasing in popularity, the dice and playing cards headcovers are also gaining popularity. Other random themes include cartoon characters, super heroes, and even beer bottles. Believe it or not, there are even several places out there that still make the old school knitted headcovers! You know the ones; they look more like a pair of winter socks than they do a golf accessory. But in the old days, they were the norm. I’m a big fan of the old school, so kudos to any of you who have those bad boys in your bag.

As is the case with most things, technology has recently entered the world of headcovers. With the increasing size of club heads, sliding a cover on and off has become more and more challenging. So, the newest innovation is the use of magnets to hold headcovers closed. Some brands use also us a zipper to open and close the cover, but magnets seem to be getting more and more popular. I’ll be honest with you and say that I hate magnetic headcovers for drivers. They are a pain to open and half the time they stick to other clubs and pull two or three irons out of the bag with my driver. My previously mentioned beagle was added to my bag to replace a magnetic headcover because I got so tired of that thing. Now, I will give magnets a little credit and say that they are much more useful in the world of putter covers. Because the cover is smaller, the magnetic putter covers don’t have nearly the issues with sticking to other clubs or being difficult to open and close. In fact, I prefer them to the slip-on or Velcro versions.

With Christmas just around the corner, you may want to consider a headcover upgrade for the golfer in your life. They are quite the “in” things these days and you won’t have any trouble finding them in stores. Just about any retail store with a golf section and certainly any golf store will have a row or two of headcovers for you to choose from. Whether you have one that resembles your pet or reminds everyone that you love sports, headcovers are no longer just a way to protect your woods, but also a great way to separate your bag from everyone else’s.


* Matt's views and opinions are his own do not necessarily reflect those of SkyGolf.

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