Glove Testing Round #1

[MaryC]

MaryC Initial Report on Bionic Pro and Bionic Performance Ladies Gloves

MaryC Initial Report on Bionic Pro and Bionic Performance Ladies Gloves

First a bit about my game and playing/practicing style:

I've only been playing seriously for a year and a half now after becoming obsessed with the game while watching Kenny Perry almost win the Masters last year. Prior to that, golf was a game I only played when forced to either by my in-laws, my dad and brothers, or by business requirements. I started taking lessons last May and have been completely and totally obsessed. I play/practice at least five times a week, even in the dead of winter. I'm playing to a 31 handicap. I'm also flirting with breaking 100 right now. At the beginning of the golf season, I set two goals for myself: Get to a mid 20 handicap by October and break 100 before my home course goes to winter rules (typically November).

I average 160yds off the tee with the driver, and my gap wedge and six iron are my favorite irons. When I practice, I start with my 56 degree wedge to warm up, work thru my bag from my 9 iron - Driver, play 4 holes on my home course in my head using the clubs I would use to play them, and then cool down with my pitching wedge and my gap wedge. I then go spend about 30 minutes on the putting green.

I play right handed. I have tiny fingers but a wide palm making it hard to find gloves that 100% fit correctly. I typically play either a men's small or cadet XL. My normal glove is Footjoy. I had been playing the StaSof but have pretty much swithced to the Sciflex.

I was sent two gloves the Bionic Pro and the Bionic Performance Ladies gloves in size XL. These gloves are made by the Louisville Slugger company and designed, according the packaging by "a leading orthopedic hand surgeon" to result in an ergonomically correct golf glove.

As such, both gloves are full of stitched joints and lots of flex insert points.

(Inserts/Stiched Joints on Pro)

(Inserts/Stiched Joints on Performance)

The Performance is made of Cabretta leather and the inserts of lycra. The Pro is made of "Limited Premium Leather" but other than the Pro's leather feeling a little thicker, I can't tell the difference between the leather by feeling and rubbing it.

(Bionic Performance Top of Glove)

(Bionic Performance Palm Side of Glove)

(Bionic Pro Top of Glove)

(Bionic Pro Palm Side of Glove)

When it comes to fit on my hand, the Performance fit nicely on my hand. The fingers were the right size and the palm was tight but comfortable. The wrist area was a little small as the velcro flap didn't quite meet correctly but close enough that it was secure.

Bionic Performance Top Side on My Hand

Bionic Performance Palm Side on My Hand

The Pro was a tighter fit and definitely cut more snug. So much so, I couldn't get the velcro flap to close completely. It connected and was secure enough I could play a round with the glove no problem but I had to take my watch off to secure the velcro. The fingers were a bit longer than the Performance too.

Bionic Pro Top Side on My Hand

Bionic Pro Palm Side on My Hand

When I'm buying a glove, there are two things that are show stoppers for me: leather bunching on the thumb at the top and if the thumb is sewn on in a way that several pieces of leather as stitched together at the same place where the club rests. While neither of these gloves have a the former issue, one has the later: the Pro.

Both gloves have some unique features I am really interested in the strategic padding that, if the glove fits properly and your grip is fairly neutral or just strong or weak, should be in the glove where the golf club rests in your hand the palm, the first inside joint of the thumb, and the lower corner heel of your hand.

(Thumb padding on Pro)

(Pam/Lower Corner Heel Padding on Performance)

(Thumb padding on Performance)

Both gloves also have terry cloth inserts to help with sweat control.

(Terry cloth sweat pads on palm of Performance)

(Terry cloth sweat pads on Pro)

Tomorrow in Part 2, I'll give you some insight on how the gloves did during my practice today and the nine holes I played this evening. But right now, my testing assistant

and I are ready for bed.

 

[JRod]

The cat approves! Must be a winner!

 

[MaryC]

MaryC Initial Report on Bionic Pro and Bionic Performance Ladies Gloves Part 2

MaryC Initial Report on Bionic Pro and Bionic Performance Ladies Gloves Part 2

I took both gloves to the Fairchild Wheeler muni in Easton/Bridgeport, CT (http://www.fairchildwheelergolf.com/web/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage) and hit a small bucket of ball with each of the gloves at the practice range.

Right away I had a definite preference for one of the gloves, The Pro.

Which surprised me because just putting them on my hand, I would have chosen The Performance based on fit and how comfy it felt on my hand but when I actually put a club in my hand, applied my playing pressure, and hit some balls, I didn't like the Performance at all. It was too thick, all the places that had the stitching at the joints gathered and made it feel like I had an oven glove on my hand versus a golf glove. The thicker leather also meant I really couldn't feel my club or the ball when I made contact. Also, the thicker padding at the places in the palm of the hand and at the thumb were rubbing in a way that I could see would be problematic for me when I started to play a round of golf and could lead to a blister for someone who doesn't have callus buildup at those points.

The Pro, the glove that I was not happy with how it fit on my hand, felt really good when I hit balls. It had enough padding at the places where a club fits in your hand but not so much that I couldn't feel the way the ball hit the club face. Even the place where the thumb is sewn onto the glove that I typically have issues with didn't feel like it was going to rub my thumb wrong.

The terry cloth sweatband features of these gloves worked really nicely. It was 93/humid and the range was in full on sunlight when I was there. So, I was definitely sweating and while I was toweling off my face every two shots, I didn't even see any dark, sweat marks on either glove and when I turned the gloves inside out, I could feel that the terry cloth was damp but it was also wicking the moisture away. All the lycra cut outs on the gloves allowed them to breath nicely and there are plenty of ventilation holes in the gloves.

As a final comparison, I put my normal glove on and hit a small bucket of balls. The Bionic Pro stood up very nicely to it in feel and comfort. This also really showed how much thicker the Performance felt on my hand.

By the time I got done hitting balls it was after 4pm and there is a $15 after 4pm rate at Fairchild, so I decided to go play nine holes. I played the first 4 holes with the Performance and the next 4 with the Pro and the final hole with my normal glove.

I played the Black Course since its front nine has the most holes that would require me to hit at least 3 or 4 shots to get to the green, meaning I would get the most glove time since I putt with my glove off and sometimes even hit my less than 40 yrd in shots without a glove.

The Performance didn't bother me as much as I anticipated based on the experience I had with the practice balls. I still didn't like I couldn't really feel the club and ball make connection. It was muted and the bunching of the stitched joints in from the middle finger down through the pinkie was very noticeable. I just couldn't get past it when I was setting up over the ball. For the first two holes, I had to step back, wiggle my fingers, mess around with moving stitch points around to get comfy and then re-address the ball which took me out of my preshot routine.

The Pro, with the exception of having to take my watch off to get the glove to fit correctly, felt really good. I could definitely feel the ball and club face make contact. The only thing that I could say I didn't like about the way the glove felt when I was playing holes was that place where the thumb was sewn onto the rest of the glove. While not as bothersome as some of the other gloves I tried with that construction, there was still more extra leather on the inside of the glove than with my normal glove.

There was no slipping of the club in my hand with either glove and the gloves stayed cool and dry. Actually, they stayed drier than my normal glove, which I really liked on a humid day.

When I got home, I took a look at the gloves again to see how they fared during their time on the club. And I was a bit surprised to find that some of the stitching in both gloves was starting to come undone.

(Finger Stitching coming loose on The Performance Glove)

(Palm Stitching coming loose on The Pro Glove)

I also noticed that the way the pieces of the gloves are cut during manufacturing, there doesn't seem to be a lot of care in trimming excess leather and material as there is in my normal glove. Googling the price point of the three gloves, the Bionic gloves are more expensive than my normal glove. Given the Bionic price point, I would expect the care taken when cutting the leather and sewing to be equal or better than my normal glove.

I've got five rounds of golf in the next seven days, including another nine tonight. I'm going to play with these gloves more over the next week and I'll issue a few interim reports between now and the end of next week.

 

[Sunday_Hacker]

great stuff so far mary! thanks!

 

[9-Iron Man]

Great stuff Mary!! Looking forward to more as well as everyone else's reviews too!!

 

[Goins]

I played 18 holes today and the glove I chose to use was the Footjoy SofJoy. The conditions were sunny with a temp of 92. I shot a miserable 88 so the glove got plenty of use.

As I stated previously I wear my glove the entire round, even while putting. I usually have an issue with a glove sweating through on hot days and sliding around on my hand, that was not an issue with this glove. The glove is very comfortable and feels light around the fingers due to the venting which also aids in keeping your hand dry.

My grip always felt secure and never slid around as has been the case with other gloves. I was also very impressed by the ball marker. Other glove markers that I have seen were too bulky in my opinion and snapped on the glove. I think this flat magnet marker is a huge improvement and found myself using it everytime that I didn't need my divot tool. It has a marker on it as well.

I'm also very impressed with the wear. As you can see in the pictures, the only wear is slight discoloration with no abrasions to the leather whatsoever. I will be giving the FJ Pure Touch an 18 hole flogging tomorrow. Hopefully however it will see many less shots!

 

[JB]

Great writeups everybody. We look forward to everybody else continuing to post pictures and start reviewing. That FJ Pure Touch is something special, albeit pricey, glove.

 

[Bridges]

nice review man! cant wait to hear more!

 

[Goins]

Great writeups everybody. We look forward to everybody else continuing to post pictures and start reviewing. That FJ Pure Touch is something special, albeit pricey, glove.

I like the fit of it alot. Fits very snuggly to all of the fingers and has an expensive feel to it.

 

[TC]

wow! great write ups so far. thanks mary c and degoins for such wondeful in depth reviews with fantastic pics!

this thread should be a good one to follow for a while.

 

[Spank818]

Nice review everyone. I'm liking that there are some brands like Srixon and Mizuno on here that you normally don't associate with gloves. Good stuff, keep em coming!

 

[ddelise]

Got mine today!

To provide perspective for the upcoming reviews, here is a little bit about my game. I am about a 10 handicap. I will shoot anywhere from a 77 - 92, mostly dependent about how I get off the day that day. My driver goes about 260, 7 iron about 165. My chipping and putting is solid. I would say my tee game is a 15 handicap, iron game 13 handicap, chipping and putting 7 handicap. I get to play a couple of times a month, and hit the range with my children a few times/month. I have had my swing speed tested many times. My driver SS is about 106, 6 iron about 91. My SS drops considerably (10 MPH) without a glove - so gloves are an important component of my equipment.

Onto the gloves...

The first glove is a FootJoy Spider2 glove. The main feature of this glove is that the fingers and palm are made with little indents (for lack of a better term) so that the glove grabs the grip for better control. I live in FL, and due to the weather I need the control, so I am hoping this works. I had used this glove a few years back, but stopped due to its being a little too thick feeling for me. However, upon first try, these feel a little thinner than they used to be and might work out OK. I'm looking forward to trying and seeing if there is a difference from what I remember of the original Spider glove.

The second glove I received is a TaylorMade Tour Preferred. This glove is a classic Cabretta glove - very thin, and with a clean look. According to the box, the tanning process should deliver enhanced durability, stain resistance, and superior grip in wet and dry conditions. I will definitely test the superior grip claim against the Spider2. This glove is about 1/2 size smaller than the Spider2. It is not too small for me to wear, but if I were to purchase in the future I would consider an XL Cadet.

I am playing on Sunday and will use both gloves. I will report later in the afternoon.

Ok, finished playing my round today. Here is some more info:
Course - Lake Jovita, South, Dade City, FL
Temp - 95*, humid, no rain

My Grips - On my irons and 3-wood, I use the Golf Pride Decade MultiCompound. On driver and wedges, I use the Golf Pride DD2 grips. I will probably change all my grips to the Decade Multi Compound. I did not notice a performance difference for either glove when using different grips

I shot 82 today - 41/41. I used the Foot Joy Spider2 on the front, and the Taylor Made on the back. I did hit more fairways and greens on the front, but I don't think the glove had anything to do with it.

Foot Joy Spider2:
I surprisingly liked this glove more than I thought I would. As I said earlier, many years ago I played the original Spider, and I felt it was too thick. The new Spider however is fairly thin (more on that later under the Taylor Made review), and I did not have any problem with touch/wedge shots. This glove also fit me perfectly. The looks are a little busy, but not overly distracting. I never experienced any slippage, although I don't think the Spider2 grip technology played into that (I want to test with some wet weather). Additionally, the glove looks almost as new now after playing as it did when coming out of the box. I attribute this to the fact that the palm and finger material is kind of a grey which hides the discoloration which is normally transferred from the grips.

Taylor Made Tour Preferred:
I liked this glove also, although the fit was on the tight side. It was not too tight to be annoying when wearing, but tight enough that at times when putting, I decided to leave it on because it was a pain to get on and off. I never leave on my glove when putting, and was a little concerned when doing so. I can report however, that this glove is so thin that I did not lose any feeling when putting, and actually made my 2 longest putts of the day when wearing it! As for durability, so far/so good. I hit about 50 balls after the round using the glove, and I did not sweat through it at all like I have lately playing with the Golfsmith brand cabretta glove. I believe that the thinness of the glove along with their tanning process allows more breathability than the Golfsmith cabretta glove. I should note however that the glove did get more discolored than the Spider2, calling into question Taylor Made's Scotchgard tanning process. The Tour Preferred has what I would call a 'CoolMax' type of material (they call it Silver ION Microfiber...) on the inside around the wrist of the glove, and I feel this did a good job of keeping my wrist from sweating. One main positive of the glove - the smell! I know this sounds weird, but the Taylor Made cabretta has that classic leather golf/baseball glove smell, and it definitely brought back memories of my playing baseball when I was a kid. A small consideration for sure, but definitely something I noticed.

Overall, both gloves are nice. I have a couple of more tests in mind. I am going to get them both wet and see if the Spider2 performs better than the Taylor Made. I am also going to leave the gloves in the trunk of the car (we all do it at one time or another) and see what happens to them. In the meantime, if I had to choose, I would probably go for the Spider2. Or, I might even consider hitting balls at the range with the Spider2, and using the Taylor Made during dry weather rounds (assuming it won't perform as well as the Spider2).

 

[ddec]

I played both days this weekend, each with a different glove. These are just some initial thoughts after one round with each.

Yesterday I used the Taylormade Targa Tour.

It was in the low 90's around here yesterday. With the humidity it felt more like the upper 90's. When I orignally tried on this glove I thought it would be perfect for this type of weather.
The glove felt good and kept my hand somewhat cool. The glove had a nice feel to it. My biggest complaint about it was the velcro that holds the glove together. I am one that take my glove off after each shot and then puts it back on right before the next. I would put the glove on and fasten it then take my club and get ready for a shot. There were many times when I would grip the club and get ready and the velcro would come undone. I know its not that I had it too tight because I started to experiment with it.

Today I played with the Bridgestone eGlove.

Weather today was in the mid to upper 80's with less humidity than the day before. This glove had great feel to it. The leather felt very very thin which I thought was great. Compared to the Taylormade glove, the velcro was strong. I did not have the same issue with it as I did the Targa Tour. The leather palm was very soft and my hand never got hot. I felt as though I used the same grip pressure as the day before, but there weren't any kind of marks on the glove. I am interested in seeing which glove will be more durable over the next few weeks.

 

[Hawk]

I was out of town this weekend and when I got home I saw a package with my favorite return address on it! Of course, didn't get a chance to test the gloves out yet, but here are some pics, descriptions, and initial thoughts.

First glove is the Adidas Inertia

The box says that this is a combination of synthetic material and cabretta leather. It has a double reinforced palm to prevent premature wear. It also features 360° micro-perforation to increase airflow. You can see some of this on the thumb area, but there are also tiny little pin-holes all over the glove. There is a micro-fiber wristband to keep the wrist dry and it has a small thermoplastic tab that you can grab onto when pulling the velcro tight. Also, there is a small, snap-on ball marker on the wrist band.

Initial thoughts are that this is substantially thicker and a bit more stiff than the cabretta leather gloves that I have used. How this affects durability and heat control is yet to be determined. The glove is very attractive and the fit is true to size. It feels a bit rougher inside than other gloves, but it is still comfortable. The thumb area is softer than the rest of the glove because it is just leather (no synthetic).

The second glove is a Bionic Pro.

The company says that this glove is made of a breathable, lightweight leather that, along with terrycloth, absorbs persperation. It was designed with ergonomics in mind to allow a lighter, more comfortable grip to "help increase swing speed and add distance." It is also designed to prevent hand fatigue. It also states that the glove is machine washable/air dry and it conforms to USGA standards.

Initial thoughts are: This glove is not my favorite when it comes to aesthetics. It has small spots of blue and black fabric. The black I like, but not the blue. I'm a freak when it comes to matching colors, and blue isn't a neutral color that can go with just anything. The glove is extremely soft and feels very nice on the hand. You can tell it was made with high quality leather. The fit is true to size. The only way to describe the way the glove feels on the hand is "unique". I've never worn a glove that feels like it does. There is padding in spots that makes it feel much more plush, especially in the palms, than any other glove I've worn. At the same time, the leather is very thin and soft everywhere else. It really was comfortable to me and I look forward to trying it out.

I will update throughout the week, as I plan on visiting the range once or twice and playing at least once over the weekend. Thanks to THP, Adidas, and Bionic for providing the gloves for me to test.

 

[One-T]

Here some pictures of the gloves I received today from THP.

Bridgestone eglove

Initial thoughts....The Taylormade has tiny holes in the palm of the glove that should give some ventilation. Looks like it will be a great glove for those hot/humid days. The Bridgestone glove feels very soft when I grip the club with it. I expect to get out this afternoon, I will probably test the Taylormade because it is a hot one out there today.

I used to play this Bridgestone and I really liked it, it held up very well for me so I am intersted to see what you think?

 

[One-T]

So far, from looks alone, I am really diggin the FJ Pure touch and I cant wait to hear Hawks feedback on the Adidas, thats prob the nicest Adidas glove I have ever seen!

 

[Bridges]

Alright well i just got the gloves in about an hour ago and tried them on and messed around with him. I will give you the pictures first so you can see them before i start giving thoughts about them..
BIONIC PRO and BIONIC PERFORMANCE GLOVES


both gloves. Pro on the left, performance on the right.

top of the Pro

palm of the Pro

top of the Performance

palm of the Performance

First initial thoughts.
I will describe the glove then list what it feels like on the club for both gloves.

BIONIC PERFORMANCE GLOVE
The glove reminded exactly like a baseball glove, it had added padding around the fingers and palm. The fit was perfect. it felt exactly like i wanted it to on my hand (tightness wise). It was bulky on my fingers because of the extra padding in the middle, ring, and pinky fingers. Has a lot of slits/vents (26 to be exact) in the palm, and fingers so that your hand can breathe and I really liked that because with the humidity and heat down here your hands sweat and this should allow for a lot of breathing for your hand. I really liked the looks of this better than the Pro, but it just reminded me so much of a baseball glove and I am not sure how this is going to turn out on the course because i like to feel the grip and not have padding in the way on the fingers, the rest of the glove was fine just the finger area part. little more on this glove down below...


BIONIC PERFORMANCE GLOVE AND THOUGHTS ABOUT IT ON THE CLUB
Alright i put it on, grabbed the 7 iron and headed outside to swing some. As soon as i took my grip it did not feel very good to me, felt really weird and bulky, it made me try to grip the club harder so i could get the feel of the grip instead of that bulkiness in the middle, ring and pinky fingers. you can see in the pictures how the glove is different there in those fingers than the rest of the glove and that's where the bulky feel came from. The slits on the fingers where kind of annoying but not terribly bad. Like i said it reminded me a lot of a baseball glove which i was used to but did not know how i would like that on a golf club. so far not real good for me and what i like in a golf glove but still a lot of testing to be done. just need a little time getting used to it.


BIONIC PRO GLOVE
When i first saw the package that it came in, i said "this must be a nice glove if it gets its own special box" so i was really excited to get it out and try it on. Its a simple glove, not crazy with colors just some black and blue on there and a clean look. It fits a tad tighter than the performance did but not a whole lot that would make a big difference. It has small holes in the index, thumb, and pinky fingers and also has slits for breathing. (see pictures above). Does not have that bulky feel that i got with the performance glove. it has some padding in the upper palm area that you can notice but its not annoying at all.


BIONIC PRO GLOVE AND THOUGHTS ABOUT IT ON THE CLUB
Slipped this bad boy on after I swung a few times with the performance and immediately it just felt better and what i wanted in a glove. Did not have the bulky finger parts like i felt in the other glove and just felt nice. I picked up the 7 iron and took my grip and swung it around a few times trying out a few times and it really impressed me. Now it also has slits in it but they are not as big as whats in the performance glove nor as bulky feeling so i really did not notice them that much. The only complaint i have so far is that the black slit things between the fingers kind of bunch up when i take my grip and make it feel a little weird between there, but its manageable and not really a huge annoying feel just something i thought i would point out. you can see the black slits between the fingers in the picture so you know what I am talking about.

Comparing them to my current Taylormade React glove both bionic's are thicker than it, but they also fit better on my hand (tightness wise) and all three are medium sized gloves. I can also tell that both the performance and pro will last a lot longer than what a brand new TM react glove would, and I hope they do because of the price difference. They are not cheap but they're very very well made gloves and i understand why they're priced higher.

Im excited to test them out some more and see how they do in the Texas heat/humidity, and other factors. I will have another review in a couple of days or so. thanks for reading!

 

[Goins]

I played another 18 today this time using the Fj Pure Touch. The conditions were humid, overcast and 84 degrees. My score was 86, 2 shots better than yesterday with the SofJoy.

I have to start this review by saying this glove is on a whole different level than any glove I have played before. The fit of this glove is awesome to say the least and is almost like a second skin. You get absolutely no slippage whatsoever with your clubs. The tackiness of the leather is amazing and is so supple that it conforms very well to your hand.

The humidity was high, yet I did not sweat through the glove which surprised me because of such a snug fit. There was also very minimal wear, mostly just discoloration as you can see in the pictures.

I'd like to talk a bit more on how sticky this glove is. It seems to give your grips new life, virtually no twisting at all. So much so that I found myself closing the face over too much and had to adjust for it. I also like how well the fingers fit, almost like you don't have a glove on.

I'll be putting both of these gloves back to task this coming weekend and let you know how they hold up with multiple rounds. I feel that both gloves perform very well with the Pure Touch having that something extra.

 

[Hanks]

excellent reviews everyone! I'm really enjoying the pics and write ups

 

[Bridges]

hey hawk i cant see your pictures of the glove?

 

[Hawk]

That's weird. They are uploaded to my THP account (can't access PB right now). Anybody else having issues?

 

[ddec]

I can't see them either

 

[Hawk]

hmmm, that's weird. I'm pretty sure some people could see them. I will update this tonight with links to PB so everybody can.

 

[Kmac]

hmmm, that's weird. I'm pretty sure some people could see them. I will update this tonight with links to PB so everybody can.

I see them fine.

 

[JB]

hawk,
I see them fine.