HIRZL Golf gloves beat the summer heat

If you’re a golfer in the U.S., chances are the last month or two have been mighty steamy – temperatures in most places have been over 90F combined with high humidity.

I don’t know about you, but heat indices well over 100F don’t keep me from the course. But they do make for some mighty taxing rounds. It’s just not normal to drink six bottles of water, four beers, and a couple of Gatorades and never once have to visit the little duffers’ room.

The worst part about golfing in this brutal heat is not being able to hang onto your clubs. My hands get so sweaty that normally I’ve gone through a couple of golf gloves before getting to the end of the front nine.

Fortunately, I was sent three gloves by HIRZL Golf just as the oppressive heat was settling in. HIRZL is a Swiss sports glove company that produces high-performance hand gear for both cycling and golf. The golf glove line consists of three models: Trust Control, Trust Feel, and SOFFFT ($30 each).

The SOFFFT is a classic cabretta leather glove that undergoes a tanning procedure eight times more complex than normal cabretta gloves. The leather is so soft, in fact, that it can be machine washed.

In the extreme heat and humidity, however, the real stars of the HIRZL line are the Trust Control and Trust Feel. Both of these gloves are two-toned, with white cabretta covering the back of the glove and mesh cut-outs across the knuckles to make them more flexible and breathable.

But the true innovation with the Trust gloves is the black kangaroo leather on the palms. That’s right—KANGAROO leather. HIRZL calls this “grippp” technology (the Swiss appear to enjoy tripling consonants), and claims that it provides three times more grip in dry conditions and five times more in wet conditions.

Now, I didn’t do any scientific tests of these claims, but I did wear the Trust Control and Trust Feel gloves walking multiple 18-hole rounds at Lake of the Woods Golf Course in Mahomet, Ill., and rounds on both the Donald Ross and Pete Dye courses at French Lick Resort in French Lick, Ind. that were almost as steamy.

I was absolutely amazed at how well even the sweat-soaked gloves performed. The cabretta leather breathes incredibly well, and my clubs simply did not slip from the kangaroo leather palms. Granted, the waterfall of sweat pouring down my arms made my hands so wet that the glove itself slid a bit, but the club grip itself never moved in my hand.

So don’t let the summer heat keep you off the course in these waning weeks of summer. Go find yourself some of these HIRZL Gloves – soft as a marsupial pouch and secure as a Swiss bank account.

The kangaroo leather on the palms of the Trust Feel and Trust Control gloves maintains a secure grip even in oppressive heat and humidity.