Aaron Rai has a heartwarming cause for utilizing iron covers.
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Aaron Rai is clearly distinctive on the subject of his gear setup.
Eagle-eyed gearheads can pick his 2019 TaylorMade M6 driver he’s utilizing round Detroit Golf Membership, however most followers see the 54-hole co-leader at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Basic because the “man who wears two gloves” it doesn’t matter what the climate.
However Rai’s most adorable a part of his gear setup can be the headcovers that adorn his irons. Sure, we’re speaking about iron covers, maybe essentially the most taboo of foolish golf-style selections. Ironcovers are mainly a rarity on the PGA Tour. Rai is probably going the one full-time Tour member who makes use of them week in and week out.
However the Englishman doesn’t donn the key golf fake pas as a result of he doesn’t care about the way it appears — which he doesn’t however that’s irrelevant. Rai really has fairly an endearing cause for retaining them on his sticks.
Certain, the covers maintain his six TaylorMade P7TW irons from getting nicks as they bounce round, however in addition they saved his sticks from his junior golf days clear too.
He defined in a 2021 interview with SiriusXM PGA Tour radio that he nonetheless makes use of them to remind himself of the place he got here from.
“I grew up in very a lot a working-class household, and golf has at all times been a really costly sport,” Rai mentioned. “I began from the age of 4 years outdated, and my dad used to pay for the gear, pay for my memberships, my entry charges. And it wasn’t cash that we actually had, to be sincere, however he’d at all times purchase me one of the best golf equipment.
“After I was about seven or eight years outdated, [my dad] purchased me a set of Titleist 690 MBs, they usually had been like 800-1,000 kilos again then, only for a set of golf equipment for a child. I cherished them. Once we used to exit and observe, he used to wash each single groove afterward with a pin and with child oil.”
Not lengthy after, Rai’s father went out and bought the iron covers to guard the funding.
“To guard the golf golf equipment, he thought it will be good to place iron covers on it,” Rai mentioned. “I’ve just about had iron covers on all of my units ever since simply to understand the worth of what I’ve, and it began with that first set.
“Though on the PGA Tour, we get given gear, and we get given the whole lot that we’d like, it’s extra out of precept. The worth of not dropping perspective of what I’ve and the place I’m.
“The covers are going to remain, I’m sorry.”
If Rai is ready to separate himself from Akshay Bhatia Sunday and win his maiden PGA Tour victory so as to add to his two PGA Tour titles, he could very but change into the primary participant ever to win on the PGA Tour with iron covers.
That’s extra wins than any of the so-called “golf purists” at residence who may decide him for them have.
