At best, having sweaty hands on the golf course is annoying—at worst, you’re hurling a club into oblivion.
Knowing how to stop perspiration from soaking your palms and screwing up your game could give you the edge you need to start “sweating” strokes from your scorecard instead.
The methods below are merely simple tips you can use in the moment or before you hit the links, not major lifestyle changes like daily meditation or a new diet. Although those big moves may help if you frequently find yourself stressed or feel unhealthy, they take time and won’t help when the source of your sweat is the blazing sun. And if you think you might have a medical condition like hyperhidrosis, go see a doctor who can prescribe you something to dry up your moist mitts. We can’t do that. We’re just a golf website.
Using multiple gloves throughout a round can be helpful for reducing sweat. (GETTY IMAGES/Johannes Simon)1. Take your glove off
Covering your hands with golf gloves can make them sweat. And if you’re not wearing one, maybe you should be. Our testing of shots hit with gloves versus no gloves shows faster ball speeds and farther carry distances when golfers wear them.
When wearing a glove, you should be removing it after every shot. This may sound obvious but it’s the sweaty hands’ equivalent of “turning it off, then back on again.” Maybe it just didn’t occur to you and that’s OK. Ideally, you should have at least two gloves so you can swing with one, take it off, hang it from your bag or cart to dry, let your hand chill out before your next stroke and then put on the other glove and repeat the process. With any luck, this will save your hands and gloves from getting sopping wet.
2. Use baby powder or cornstarch
Baby powder, or talcum powder, is super absorbent and well known for keeping babies’ skin dry and rash-free. You’re not a baby (we’re pretty sure) but shaking some of the stuff onto your hands should keep them from sweating too much. It also works quickly so you can apply it as needed. That said, don’t use this if you’re a barehanded golfer. The powder doesn’t soak into your skin so it will transfer to your club grips, making them dusty and slick.
A second similar option is cornstarch. It works about the same as baby powder but it’s a lot more noticeable on your hands. It’ll also dust up your grips if you’re barehanded so keep it inside a glove.
3. Drink cold water and hold ice
When you’re active, especially when it’s hot, you should be drinking water or some other liquid to stay hydrated. What matters most is that you’re chugging something cold. According to a study by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute, drinking cold fluid seems to decrease sweating regardless of your core and skin temperature. One caveat is that this works best in humid or still weather and might not do much in dry or windy weather.
If you’ve got a cooler with you, consider stashing a towel in there or packing it with a couple hand-sized ice packs. Between shots, hold onto whatever cold object you have and you should cool off.
4. Carry multiple towels
Speaking of towels, you should have more than one with you on the course. Make sure they’re made out of an absorbent material like cotton or you’re just going to end up smearing your sweat around instead of soaking it up.
5. Apply antiperspirant
You probably have antiperspirant lying around somewhere—if you’re really sweaty, you may have a shelf dedicated to them. Depending on what you use, though, you may have to wait for it to soak in. We used stick antiperspirant and while it eventually did the job, the brand we used took about 20 minutes to get completely dry. This isn’t something you should count on for a quick fix—put it on before you even get to the course.
Two mistakes to avoid
1. Overusing hand sanitizer
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are astringents that can shrink the size of the pores on your skin. Smaller pores, theoretically, mean less sweat. Hand sanitizer also dries quickly, and actually leaves your hands feeling quite tacky for several minutes. While this may sound good, excessive use of hand sanitizer can really mess up your skin. It’s fine to use this stuff once in a while but you shouldn’t squirt it out before every shot. Trying to grip a club with dry, cracked skin will make you wish you were sweating.
2. Slathering on coconut oil
This was one of those tips that popped up a few times on forums and across the internet while we were researching this story so we tried it out. Not worth it. It can be good for your skin, but it’s not good for the golf course. Rub even a dime-sized dollop into your palms and you’ll be greased up for longer than 10 minutes (the amount of time we were unable to touch anything before we gave in and washed it off).
Other ways to stop sweaty hands and improve your grip
Beyond the methods listed above, you should clean your golf club grips every six weeks or 10 rounds. This will keep them from getting too slick and will help you hold on even during the sweatiest days.
If you’re really struggling with grip slip, you could try replacing your club grips with cord, as this type of material provides increased traction. Maybe even gear up with some sweatbands on your wrists or arms. If your hands aren’t sweating, your arms might be and gravity is going to pull all that moisture down to your fingertips while you’re holding a club. A sweatband will stop that—if you think it fits your style.
We also know we’re only scratching the surface of the products and home remedies people have used to stop their hands from sweating, so let us know if there’s something we missed that you think we should check out.
Top Photo Caption: Keeping your hands dry is a critical part of having confidence on the course. (GETTY IMAGES/Octavio Passos)
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