Why Golf Headcovers Fall Off And How To Stop It
A cover that works loose on the way round is not just annoying, it is the reason drivers get chipped. Four things cause it and three of them are fixable.
Cause one: the neck has stretched
The neck does all the gripping. Heat is what kills it, so covers left in a hot car boot or put through a tumble dryer lose tension permanently. If the cover slides off with no resistance, the neck has gone and no amount of adjusting will bring it back.
Cause two: wrong club type
A driver cover on a fairway wood, or a mallet cover on a blade putter, will never hold. If the body has visible slack around the head, you have the wrong shape rather than a faulty cover - buy by club type from the driver, fairway wood, hybrid, blade putter or mallet putter collections.
Cause three: the cover is too shallow
The cover should sit past the ferrule, down the hosel. Covers that stop at the crown have nothing to grip and lever themselves off every time the bag tips.
Cause four: a clogged closure
Velcro packed with grass and fibres holds at maybe half strength. Pick it clean with a stiff brush and it improves, but velcro is a consumable. Magnetic closures do not have this failure mode.
Quick fixes to stop headcovers falling off
Before replacing a cover, try these:
- Brush out the closure and the inside of the neck, where grit builds up.
- Store covers on the clubs rather than crushed in a bag pocket.
- Keep the bag out of a hot car boot in summer.
- If the neck is already stretched, replace it. Stretched elastic does not recover, so pick up a fresh cover instead.