I’m sure you are aware that we play year round no matter the temperature but you probably didn’t know that both Chris and I don’t wear a glove on our playing hand. Zero degrees outside? No glove. Super high winds? No glove. A foot of snow or driving rain? No glove. We have always preferred to use our bare hand. After all it’s the only thing that comes in contact with the disc we wish to propel and we can deal with cold hands for a while. If only there were a viable solution…

We recently received a pair of the disc golf gloves from Friction Gloves and I was very skeptical about using a glove to throw. I know this company produces a solid glove for Ultimate, but I don’t plan on catching my disc. Before we get into the review, let’s list a few features that are necessary for a disc golf glove:

A perfect fit – we don’t want the glove impacting or changing our form

Enough grip to hold the disc but not so much that every drive is a grip-lock

Durable enough to last many rounds

Thick enough to provide a little extra warmth on those cold days

Fit

Since a perfect fit is high on my list of features I was concerned about ordering a glove on-line. Fortunately the Friction Gloves web site walks you through the sizing process. I ended up being an extra large, which concerned me since I generally wear a medium-large golf glove. Upon arrival, I was glad to see that the size chart was perfect and the glove fits very well. Chris has shorter fingers than I do but the XL still fit him fairly well.

Grip

Grip is important for obvious reasons. Really the perfect glove would mimic a human hand’s grip properties. The Friction Glove does far better than I expected in this area. There were times in my test rounds where I forgot I was wearing a glove. I missed a few putts which I could blame on the glove, but I could also blame the new putter I’ve been testing or my form which suffered from the winter cold.

Durability

I can’t speak to the long-term durability of the glove just yet, but it has held up to several rounds of play and a few rounds of yard practice too. I’ll update this review in the future as the glove gets more use.

Warmth

First, we should consider our expectations on warmth. In order to fit perfectly snug and offer a great grip without sacrificing feel, I wouldn’t expect a glove to warm my hand like some fancy ski gloves. I played a few rounds at 30-40 degrees with minimal wind and the gloves were almost too warm at times. Another round we played in 0 degree wind chill was cold enough that our hand warmer packets couldn’t keep up. I noticed a drastic difference and my hands quickly became cold when I removed the glove mid-round for a few holes.

Added bonuses

I love finding features that I didn’t know I needed but have a hard time living without (heated seats in your car, for instance). One of the major facets of cold weather play is the rough ejection of the disc. The plastic firms up and the rim tends to scrape my fingers on the way out of my hand. This is further exacerbated by a newer disc with the flashing still in full force. With the Friction Gloves I quickly noticed that it no longer hurt to throw in the cold weather.

Conclusion

I’m all in on the Friction Gloves. I actually enjoy playing in the winter so any extra edge I can get is a plus. I see no ill-effect to my game while wearing the glove.

Learn more or order some gloves for yourself at the Friction Gloves website.