At aaron rai age 4, Aaron Rai was already starting a habit that has followed him into the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic: iron covers on his clubs. The Englishman said the choice began with his father, who wanted to protect equipment that was expensive for a working-class family.
Rai and the Titleist 690 MBs
Rai said he grew up in very much a working-class family, and golf has always been a very expensive game. He said his father paid for his equipment, memberships and entry fees, even though, as Rai put it, “it wasn’t money that we really had, to be honest, but he’d always buy me the best clubs.”
That started early. “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,” Rai said in an interview with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio.
When he was about seven or eight years old, his father bought him a set of Titleist 690 MBs that Rai said cost about 800-1,000 pounds at the time. “I cherished them,” he said.
Baby Oil and Iron Covers
The routine around those clubs became part of the reason the covers stuck. After practice, Rai said his father cleaned every groove with a pin and baby oil, then put iron covers on the clubs to keep them protected. “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,” he said. That explanation separates the covers from the joke many golfers make of them and ties the habit to the price of the first set and the family sacrifice behind it.
Rocket Mortgage Classic Pressure
The story landed with Rai in position to win for the first time on the PGA Tour at the 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic. He also plays with two golf gloves, another visible quirk that has made him stand out while he chases that first Tour victory.
For a player trying to turn a contender's week into a breakthrough, the backstory turns a small piece of gear into a record of where it started: a child at age 4, a father buying expensive clubs, and a habit that has stayed with him ever since.
