Even After 30 Years This Grip Is Still Winning Majors

This past week, Aaron Rai won his first major at the PGA Championship, and his golf bag featured a unique collection of clubs that included a TaylorMade M6 driver (a model from 2019), older Vokey SM9 wedges (plus an SM11), Qi10 fairway woods, a Titleist GT hybrid, and P7TW irons. Now, even though his set included clubs from many product years, there is one constant with all of them - Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips.

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30-Plus Years Going Strong

Beyond subtle refinements made to the rubber compound over the years to improve performance, the Golf Pride Tour Velvet grip has remained unchanged from a design and feel perspective since 1995.

The recessed plus patterns has become an iconic staple in the bags of golfers all over the world, from recent major champions to regular golfers headed out for their weekend game. This makes in one product in the golf world which has stood up to the test of time and show no sign of slowing down.

How Was The Tour Velvet Developed?

The recessed plus pattern was developed by Golf Pride based on player feedback that the current premier grip at the time; the Green Victory became too slick too quickly. The new plus pattern was deeper than the shallower chevron texture that was featured on the Victory and generated extra texture and grip that players loved. In fact it was so well loved that it became the golf industry's go-to grip and is currently used on around 50% of all stock manufacturer club builds.

And, since 1995, Golf Pride has continues to evolve the Tour Velvet into a full line of grips that includes variations like the BCT cord, Tour Velvet Align, Tour Velvet Align Plus4, and most recently the Tour Velvet Tour Tack which was a limited edition offering in 2023.

Goes to show that when something works, it's good to keep a grip on it.