The reason this Tour leader uses iron covers will melt your heart

Aaron Rai is clearly unique when it comes to his equipment setup.

Eagle-eyed gearheads can pick out his 2019 TaylorMade M6 driver he’s using around Detroit Golf Club, but most fans see the 54-hole co-leader at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic as the “guy who wears two gloves” no matter what the weather.

But Rai’s most endearing part of his gear setup would be the headcovers that adorn his irons. Yes, we’re talking about iron covers, perhaps the most taboo of silly golf-style choices. Ironcovers are basically a rarity on the PGA Tour. Rai is likely the only full-time Tour member who uses them week in and week out.

But the Englishman doesn’t donn the major golf faux pas because he doesn’t care about how it looks — which he doesn’t but that’s beside the point. Rai actually has quite an endearing reason for keeping them on his sticks.

Sure, the covers keep his six TaylorMade P7TW irons from getting nicks as they bounce around, but they also kept his sticks from his junior golf days clean too.

He explained in a 2021 interview with SiriusXM PGA Tour radio that he still uses them to remind himself of where he came from.

“I grew up in very much a working-class family, and golf has always been a very expensive game,” Rai said. “I started from the age of 4 years old, and my dad used to pay for the equipment, pay for my memberships, my entry fees. And it wasn’t money that we really had, to be honest, but he’d always buy me the best clubs.

“When I was about seven or eight years old, [my dad] bought me a set of Titleist 690 MBs, and they were like 800-1,000 pounds back then, just for a set of clubs for a kid. I cherished them. When we used to go out and practice, he used to clean every single groove afterward with a pin and with baby oil.”

Not long after, Rai’s father went out and purchased the iron covers to protect the investment.

“To protect the golf clubs, he thought it would be good to put iron covers on it,” Rai said. “I’ve pretty much had iron covers on all of my sets ever since just to appreciate the value of what I have, and it all started with that first set.

“Although on the PGA Tour, we get given equipment, and we get given everything that we need, it’s more out of principle. The value of not losing perspective of what I have and where I am.

“The covers are going to stay, I’m sorry.”

If Rai is able to separate himself from Akshay Bhatia Sunday and win his maiden PGA Tour victory to add to his two PGA Tour titles, he may very yet become the first player ever to win on the PGA Tour with iron covers.

That’s more wins than any of the so-called “golf purists” at home who might judge him for them have.

Jack Hirsh

Golf.com Editor

Jack Hirsh is an assistant editor at GOLF. A Pennsylvania native, Jack is a 2020 graduate of Penn State University, earning degrees in broadcast journalism and political science. He was captain of his high school golf team and recently returned to the program to serve as head coach. Jack also still *tries* to remain competitive in local amateurs. Before joining GOLF, Jack spent two years working at a TV station in Bend, Oregon, primarily as a Multimedia Journalist/reporter, but also producing, anchoring and even presenting the weather. He can be reached at jack.hirsh@golf.com.