Every golf glove is sold on "feel," which tells you nothing. The useful question is what the palm is made of, because that decides how the glove grips when it is dry, how it grips when it is wet, how long it lasts, and what it costs to replace.
The short answer
Cabretta leather gives the best feel and the most secure dry grip, and it molds to your hand. It costs more and it wears out faster, especially if you sweat or play in rain. Synthetic gloves last longer, cost less, and hold up in wet weather, at the cost of feel and a break-in period that never quite arrives. Most good players use cabretta for the round and keep a synthetic or rain glove in the bag for when the weather turns.
What cabretta is
Cabretta is sheepskin from hair sheep (as opposed to wool sheep) — a thin, fine-grained leather that is soft straight out of the package and gets softer. The thinness is the point: it lets you feel where the grip sits in your fingers without the glove getting in the way. It is also why it wears through at the heel of the palm and the thumb pad first, which is where a golf grip loads.
Not all cabretta is equal. Premium gloves use the thinnest, most consistent hides, sometimes with a treatment to slow moisture absorption. Cheaper "cabretta" gloves use thicker or split hides and can feel stiff. The price gap between a $12 and a $30 leather glove is mostly the hide.
What "synthetic" means
Synthetic golf gloves are built from engineered microfiber or polyurethane — a fabric designed to imitate leather's grip while adding durability and, often, breathability panels and stretch inserts across the knuckles. The best ones grip well when wet, which leather does not; the worst feel like a work glove. Many gloves are hybrids: a cabretta palm and thumb for feel, synthetic across the back and fingers for durability and stretch.
Head to head
| Cabretta leather | Synthetic | |
|---|---|---|
| Dry grip and feel | Best — thin, tacky, molds to the hand | Good, slightly muted |
| Wet-weather grip | Poor once soaked; goes slick and stretches | Good; rain gloves are all synthetic |
| Break-in | A few holes; conforms to your hand | Little change over time |
| Durability | Roughly 10–15 rounds for most players; less if you sweat heavily | Often two to three times longer |
| Breathability | Natural; perforations help | Depends on mesh panels |
| Price | Higher | Lower |
| Best for | Dry conditions, feel-first players | Rain, practice sessions, budget |
Which hand, which size
You wear the glove on your lead hand — the left hand for a right-handed golfer, the right hand for a left-handed golfer. A glove should fit like a second skin: snug across the palm with no loose material at the fingertips, and the closure tab should reach with about three-quarters of its length, not stretched to the last edge. If you are between sizes, go smaller on leather (it stretches) and larger on synthetic (it does not).
Making a leather glove last
Three habits roughly double the life of a cabretta glove: take it off between shots and hang it on the bag rather than leaving it on for four hours; let it dry flat and open after the round rather than balled in a side pocket; and rotate two gloves so neither is ever put on damp. If it does get soaked, dry it slowly at room temperature, never on a heater. There is a longer version in how to care for a cabretta glove.
Ours
The HITTEMSTRAIGHT glove is cabretta leather, cut for feel, with the tracer graphic printed across the back of the hand — eight ball flights and the wordmark along the fingers. White, left hand, sizes L, XL and XXL. See the glove.
