I Bought These Golf Gloves On Facebook. I’d Stay FAR Away From One Of Them.

Facebook advertising algorithms are fascinatingly efficient. Click on one ad for just about anything and your feed will soon be flooded with ads for similar stuff.

I know. I clicked on one for a golf glove. It didn’t take long for my timeline to overflow with nothing but golf glove ads.

Therefore, in the name of journalistic curiosity, I plopped down some cash and bought a couple.

OK, five.

I found three that would qualify as very good. One was unusual but I wound up liking it more than I thought I would.

The fifth? Well, we’ll have plenty to say about that one in a bit. Just don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Let’s start with the three winners. These are in no particular order as we’d have no problem recommending any of them.

Skive Premium

I’ll lead off with Skive because it was the first to arrive. Skive Golf is a small, direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand. Skive founder Ty Mayfield started with gloves as the core product and soon expanded into towels, hats and polos. The brand sells mainly through its own website and on Amazon. Like those that follow, its marketing efforts center on social media.

Skive Premium gloves are AAA Cabretta leather and come in a nice variety of colors and patterns. The “drip” models aren’t quite my cup of chowder but they’d probably go great with some of those crazy golf ball designs Vice is coming out with.

I went with the solid white with navy piping. It’s a nice-looking glove with a raised plastic logo. The strap fits snugly and doesn’t stretch over the bottom Velcro. I wear a medium-large and the fit was very much spot-on. There was no excess material in the fingers or anywhere else for that matter.

While I wouldn’t say the leather is overly thick, you’ll probably find it a tad thicker than, say, a top-of-the-line FootJoy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as it will probably last a little longer.

Pricing is typical for the gloves we tried. A single glove sells for $26.95. If you buy three (you can mix and match styles), the price drops to $23. A five-pack drops the price to just over $20 per glove.

MyGolfSpy rating: BUY

Pro Tip: Buy one to make sure you like it. Skive includes a QR code for 30 percent off your next purchase. That could get your five-pack price down to just over $14 per glove.

Seven Iron Golf Tour One Pro

Seven Iron Golf is very similar to Skive in that it’s a new, direct-to-consumer brand specializing in golf gloves. Like Skive, it also offers hats, apparel and accessories, but gloves are the core product.

The company was founded by former Division 1 college football player JD Craigman. The company story is a tale as old as time. Craigman, a former defensive lineman for the University of Kentucky, was frustrated by the lack of glove options and decided to come out with his own.

Like the Skive, the Seven Iron Tour One Pro is 100 percent Cabretta leather. The fit and feel are first-rate. Also like the Skive, it’s on the thicker side. What you might lose in feel, you make up for in longevity. The biggest difference between the two gloves is at the wrist. The Skive has an abbreviated wrist while the Seven Iron glove is a little bit longer and the wristband features a strip of sweat-absorbing material.

The Seven Iron Tour One Pro comes in 19 different colors (and one women’s model) for lefties and righties. You’ll need to check often, however, as many colors are currently out of stock (such is the life of a small DTC brand). Pricing ranges from $19.99 to $28. I bought the Tour One Pro in a greenish-yellow colorway called “Villain” for $26 plus shipping.

Seven Iron doesn’t offer volume discounts.

All in all, it’s a good glove – every bit as good as the Skive.

MyGolfSpy rating: BUY

Pro Tip: Although I didn’t buy one, check out the hats. They look pretty cool, too.

Western Birch Classic Cabretta

You’ve probably used Western Birch Golf Company products before without even knowing it. The company is a fascinating one. Based in Montana, its core business is premium wooden golf tees.

Western Birch was co-founded in 2018 by Louis Rittberger and some partners. Headquartered in Montana, Western Birch is primarily a DTC brand although it does considerable pro shop and custom business.

The Western Birch Classic Cabretta does several things very well.

First off is the zippered canvas sleeve they send the glove in. It’s a nice touch that’s reusable. Like the Seven Iron and Skive gloves, the Western Birch is 100 percent AAA Cabretta leather and the fit is firm and snug. There is more strap overlap than I’d like, which puts it slightly behind the Seven Iron and Skive overall. It does seem a tad thinner than the other two gloves which helps with feel.

The design is simple and clean. They’re white with blue, red, green or black trim. The logo threw me for a minute. I wondered why a company called Western Birch would have a big “M” with a jagged midsection on it. That, however, was a Homer Simpson “DOH” moment. Turn the glove around and it’s a big “W” with a birch tree cut into the middle.

The best part? These gloves are $19.99 each. Western Birch also throws a handful of tees in with each order (Clinch does, as well).

MyGolfSpy rating: BUY

Pro Tip: Shipping is free on orders of $50 or more. We almost always need tees and the company’s hats and T-shirts are fun.

Clinch Tactile Glove

This is the one I wasn’t sure about.

On Facebook, the Clinch Tactile looked like a garden glove. That, as it turns out, is Clinch’s proprietary CrushGroove fabric.

Clinch was founded in Portland, Ore., in 2021 by Jason DeSoldato and Matt Mahoney. Their mission was to replace traditional Cabretta leather with a technical, performance fabric that wouldn’t stretch out, wear out or get overly slippery when wet.

According to the company, CrushGroove grips better when wet, is more breathable and moisture-wicking and more durable than Cabretta. Clinch says its Tactile Glove will last two to three times longer than a traditional glove.

It can even be washed and reused without degrading.

I don’t know about any of that. I do know my preconceived notions went out the window when I put it on. The Clinch Tactile fits very well, and the feel is very different. The material stretched just enough to feel snug: not too loose, not too tight. I’m still not sold on the connection with the club but it’s a work in progress.

The Clinch Tactile comes in six colors and sells for $25.

MyGolfSpy rating: IFFY

Pro Tip: It doesn’t look or feel like a traditional golf glove. It’s anything but. If, however, you leave your preconceived notions at the door and keep an open mind, you might actually like it.

Gent Golfers Personalized

Words are my business, my friends. That said, I must admit that I do not have the words to express how truly awful the Gent Golfers golf glove is.

And that’s not even the worst part.

The AI-generated ads on Facebook, while brilliantly produced, are borderline criminal.

“Every Gent Golfer glove is made once, for one person.” Really? Is any individual glove made more than once?

“A private club in Texas made it part of their membership. Every member wears one.” Really? Texas? They wear these?

Finally, the ad shows a glove initialed “TW” with a card behind it that reads “T. Woods.” Yeah, I don’t think so.

While the ads are laughable, the gloves are truly horrible. They’re touted as being breathable and “USA-designed, crafted with American Quality in mind.” My order confirmation showed the single glove shipping from China. If you look at their mobile website, you might find it in English. You might also find it in German.

The “leather” is heavy, very thick and not remotely breathable. The fit is even worse, if that’s possible. There’s so much extra material in the fingers that you can actually fold it over your fingertips. The strap stretches well over halfway across the seal on the back and this is on a glove marked “Medium.”

The inner plastic had a QR code. I snapped a picture of it just to see where it would lead. Google wasn’t sure, telling me it might be a “localized waste management container in Slovakia.”

I wish to hell I was making this up but I’m nowhere near that imaginative.

Oh, by the way, it was $39 (on permanent markdown from $55). At least they got my initials right.

And speaking of Slovakian waste management containers …

MyGolfSpy rating: Stay far, far, VERY FAR away from Gent Golfers.

Final thoughts

My go-to golf gloves this year are the Penfold GX (a great glove for $24), the Cabsoft from forelinksgolf ($23 per glove when buying a three-pack) and Red Rooster ($30, less if you subscribe). I could easily see the Skive or Seven Iron sliding into that rotation. Western Birch could too, with a little better fit.

Buying anything based on a Facebook ad is risky business. In that sense, an 80-percent hit rate might be some sort of record. That said, despite my lifelong commitment to measured cynicism, I remain truly shocked at how horribly, terribly and profoundly putrid the Gent Golfer glove is. The Facebook ad is merely added comedy.

But what the hell? I’ve blown $40 on dumber stuff.

For those of you ready to pound the keyboard with love for MG or Kirkland, be my guest. I’ve tried MG (not a fan) and Kirkland (better, but a funky fit for me) and have decided that a little extra cash on gloves is worth it to me. We all make our own decisions on what we will and won’t pay for. The gloves tested here won’t win any “Cheapest You Can Buy” trophies but you will get a good glove for your money.

Except the Gent Golfers one. Don’t do that.

Next up: Facebook golf shoe buys.

We can’t wait.