159 wet days a year: the three golf gloves a British golfer needs, from £10.99 to £24.99

British golf is played in the wet more often than most of us care to admit, and the glove on your left hand (or right, for left-handers) takes the brunt of it. A leather glove that gets soaked on the 3rd, dries on the radiator overnight and goes back in the bag on Saturday will not see many more Saturdays. The glove is not the problem. The routine is.

This piece looks at what a British golfer actually needs in the glove department: an everyday glove, something for rain, something for the winter months, and the few habits that decide whether any of them last. Prices were read at a large UK golf retailer in September 2026. Nobody at Panxis Golf has worn or worn out the gloves named below; this is a buying guide and a digest of what golfers say, not a test.

How wet is a British golf year?

The Met Office publishes an areal rainfall series for the whole of the UK. Averaged over the thirty years from 1991 to 2020, that series gives 1,163 mm of rain a year and 159 days on which at least 1 mm fell. Put simply, a golfer who plays twice a week all year round can expect a fair share of those rounds to involve damp grips, wet towels and a glove that never quite dries out between holes.

That figure is the best argument for thinking of gloves as a small kit rather than a single item. One glove cannot be soft and tacky in September sunshine, hold on in a downpour at Easter and keep your fingers working on a frosty December medal. Three different gloves can.

The everyday glove: leather or FootJoy’s FiberSof

FootJoy’s two best-known gloves show the choice neatly. Both are on sale at that retailer, and both were marked below their manufacturer’s RRP when we read the prices in September 2026.

• StaSof, £24.99 (MRRP £26.00). The leather option. The retailer’s page describes it as built from a “soft feeling advanced performance leather” made by Pittards, the English tannery, with perforations and PowerNet mesh for breathability and FootJoy’s ComforTab closure. The FootJoy text reproduced on an Australian retailer’s page adds that this APL leather is designed to resist moisture and keep its softness for longer.
• WeatherSof, £10.99 (MRRP £12.50). The synthetic option, made from a material FootJoy calls FiberSof, with a grippier MicroTac treatment on the stress points and mesh across the back of the hand. The retailer’s page repeats FootJoy’s claim that it is the best-selling golf glove in the world.

The WeatherSof also comes in multipacks at the same shop: £19.99 for two (MRRP £23.00) and £29.99 for three (MRRP £32.00). The three-pack brings each glove to about £10, which matters if you like to rotate.

Which should you buy? Leather gives the thinnest, most direct feel on the grip and is the natural pick for dry-weather golfers who look after their kit. A synthetic glove forgives the things British weather does to leather: it copes better with repeated soaking and tends to recover its shape after drying. Many mid-priced gloves are hybrids, with leather on the palm and a stretchier synthetic back, and sit between the two.

When it rains: why a rain glove is a different animal

A leather glove gets slippery when it is wet. A rain glove is designed the other way round. The retailer describes FootJoy’s RainGrip as a “wet weather essential” that maximises grip in the wet and uses a fast-drying material; the FootJoy text on an Australian retailer’s page names the palm fabric as a water-absorbent Autosuede knit. In Britain, RainGrip is sold as a pair, one for each hand, and the retailer listed it at £21.99 in September 2026 against an MRRP of £24.99.

Two practical points. First, a rain glove replaces your normal glove when the heavens open; it does not sit in the bag as a spare everyday glove. Second, because you wear two, both hands grip through fabric, which many golfers find odd for the first few holes and then stop noticing. Keep the pair in a side pocket with your waterproofs so they come out together.

Winter golf: the WinterSof pair

From November to March, cold fingers cost more shots than a slightly worn palm. FootJoy’s WinterSof is its answer, sold in pairs. The retailer’s page describes waterproof structured nylon and a Weather-Shield foam fleece on the back of the glove to hold warmth and resist cold, plus an extended knit cuff. It was £22.99 in September 2026, with no MRRP shown alongside.

Winter gloves give up feel for warmth, and some golfers keep them on only between shots, slipping a normal glove on for the swing. Others wear them throughout on the coldest days. Both approaches work; what does not work is a thin leather glove in a frost, which stiffens quickly and is rarely the same afterwards.

How many rounds should a glove give you?

No manufacturer prints a lifespan on the packet. Golf Monthly’s guide to glove care suggests that a well-looked-after leather glove should last somewhere between 15 and 20 rounds. That is a rule of thumb, not a guarantee, and in a wet British season it can shrink quickly if the glove is badly treated.

Three things finish a glove off. Friction on the grip, which is unavoidable. Moisture, from sweat and rain, which is unavoidable here but manageable. And careless drying and storage, which is entirely down to you. The same guide notes that a glove that is too big wears faster, because the hand moves about inside it, so the fit is worth getting right in the shop.

Habits that keep a glove going through a British season

• Take it off between shots. Golf Monthly recommends it, and it is the simplest saving there is. Chipping, putting and the walk to the next tee do not need a glove.
• Use the trolley strap, not your pocket. Most British golfers push or pull a trolley. Fasten the glove by its tab round the handle or a bag strap, palm open, so air gets to it. A glove stuffed in a waterproof pocket simply steams.
• Keep an old glove for the range. Another Golf Monthly suggestion: use a tired glove for practice and warm-up balls, and save the fresh one for the course.
• Carry two in wet weather. Swap at the turn, or after a heavy shower. A dry glove on the back nine is worth more than any grip tape.
• Dry it slowly. On a hook in the utility room, not on a radiator, a boot dryer or the car’s heater vents. Heat is what turns leather hard.
• Store it flat. Golf Monthly advises keeping it in its packaging between rounds, which keeps its shape and stops it curling into a claw.

A glove that has gone shiny across the palm, feels stiff, or makes you squeeze harder to hold the club has done its job, whether or not there is a hole in it. If it keeps wearing through in the same spot, it may be worth looking at how you hold the club; our guide to grip and posture covers the basics.

What golfers are saying about their gloves

Gloves are an evergreen topic on British golf forums, in social media groups and in retailer reviews. The points below are recurring themes from that reading, not a count and not a verdict.

Praised again and again:

• The feel of a new leather glove in the first few rounds, often described as the moment the club feels most secure in the hand.
• Rain gloves in a proper downpour: many golfers say they would not go back to playing wet rounds without a pair.
• Synthetic multipacks as sensible value for golfers who play through the winter and get through gloves quickly.

Criticised just as often:

• Premium leather gloves that tear or harden within weeks, which golfers find hard to accept at the price.
• Sizes that fit differently from one model or batch to the next, with many recommending you try a glove on in the shop.
• Rain gloves that feel thick or unfamiliar at first, especially on short shots around the green.
• The hook-and-loop tab losing its grip before the rest of the glove is worn out.

Where to buy gloves in the UK, and how to build a small glove kit

Every pro shop in the country sells gloves, and this is one purchase where trying the size on the spot is worth more than saving a pound online. A large UK golf retailer, where the prices on this page were read in September 2026, stocks the full FootJoy range discussed here in its shops and online: StaSof at £24.99, WeatherSof at £10.99 or £29.99 for three, RainGrip at £21.99 a pair and WinterSof at £22.99 a pair. Prices change often, and multibuy offers come and go.

A sensible kit for a golfer who plays year round in Britain: two everyday gloves in rotation, a pair of rain gloves in the bag from October to April, and a pair of winter gloves once the frost arrives. On a par four of 400 yards in November, the walk from tee to green is a good time to have the everyday glove off and clipped to the trolley. That kit costs less than a dozen premium balls and will make every one of those 159 wet days a little easier.

How this page was put together

This is a buying guide and a summary of public opinion, not a product test. Prices were read on American Golf’s UK website in September 2026, in pounds, together with the MRRP the shop displays. Materials and features come from FootJoy’s product descriptions as reproduced on the pages of American Golf and of Drummond Golf in Australia. The rainfall figures are our own thirty-year average of the Met Office’s UK areal series for 1991 to 2020. Care advice and the 15-to-20-round figure come from Golf Monthly’s published guide. What golfers say was read in golf forums, social media threads and public retailer reviews; nobody is named, nothing is counted, and an impression is never presented as a statistic.

Nobody here has worn any of these gloves. There is no commercial link on this page, no affiliate arrangement and no commission of any kind. If a piece of content on this site is ever paid for by a brand, it will carry an advertising notice at the top of the page, before the first line.