Why Put Covers on Your Golf Clubs

Golfers use head covers to protect their clubs and graphite shafts, but they also can make a statement. You'll find practical head covers in a basic barrel or sock shape -- some knitted in retro style and others more modern in stretchy fabrics like neoprene.

Fun head covers include flower shapes, animals and even college team mascots. PGA Tour great Tiger Woods, for example, created renewed interest in such head covers with his tiger, Frank, who was featured in a series of commercials.

Protection

Golf club head covers are designed to protect the heads and shafts of your woods from damage that can occur when the clubs jostle around in your bag. Whether you carry your clubs, pull them on a cart or attach them to a power cart, some jostling is inevitable. For graphite-shafted woods, buy head covers with a long sock that protects the shafts.

Types of Clubs

Head covers are most commonly used for woods, including the driver, fairway woods and any hybrid clubs you carry in your bag. Historically, woods were, as the name implies, made from wood, so head covers provided protection from damage during a round and from the elements. Now that nearly all woods are made of metal or alloys, they don't need that same level of protection.

But woods often come with graphite shafts, which do need to be protected. Some golfers also protect the heads of their irons with rubber or plastic form-fitting covers, but these are not as common.

Styles

When you buy a driver or a set of woods, they often come with head covers that fit the clubs snugly.

Many golfers opt to purchase head covers that add a little pizzazz to their bag. Examples include head covers featuring a sports team's logo or a golf course's logo. It's also possible to buy head covers shaped like animals.

Putter Covers

Many golfers choose to use a head cover on their putter to protect the club from damage in the bag. Putters can be one of the more expensive clubs in a golfer's bag, and many putters are sold with a specially designed head cover that fits over the putter head to protect it. Some putter head covers have a built-in pocket to hold a ball marker or a divot tool.