asron rai said his habit of using iron covers traces back to a working-class childhood and a father who treated golf equipment with unusual care. The practice is part family memory, part respect for what he had to protect.
He said he was in position to win for the first time on the PGA Tour in the final round of the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic. Rai has also drawn attention for playing with two gloves, but the iron covers come from home.
Aaron Rai and his father
“I grew up in very much a working-class family, and golf has always been a very expensive game,” Rai said in an interview with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio. He said he started at age 4, while his father paid for equipment, memberships and entry fees.
“And it wasn’t money that we really had, to be honest, but he’d always buy me the best clubs,” he said. When he was about seven or eight years old, his father bought him a set of Titleist 690 MBs, which he said cost about 800-1,000 pounds for a child’s set.
Titleist 690 MBs
Rai said he cherished those clubs, and the way his father handled them shaped the routine that followed. After practice, his father cleaned every groove with a pin and baby oil, then put iron covers on the clubs to protect them.
“To protect the golf clubs, he thought it would be good to put iron covers on it,” Rai said. That habit stuck. “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.”
What Rai carries forward
Most golfers treat iron covers as unnecessary, even laughable. Rai’s explanation turns them into something simpler: a reminder of how his game started, what his father sacrificed, and why he still protects the tools he uses now.
The detail is small, but the story behind it is not. Rai’s equipment choice comes from the same place as his early golf life, and he has kept it into the week when he was chasing a first PGA Tour win.
