Golf Pride

Founded 1949 · Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA

Bags & Accessories

#36

Global Rank

View Index →

Golf Pride has dominated the golf grip category since 1949, holding an estimated 80% share of grips used on the PGA Tour and maintaining market leadership in retail and OEM channels worldwide. Headquartered in Pinehurst, North Carolina, and owned by Eaton Corporation, a diversified industrial conglomerate, Golf Pride benefits from deep materials science expertise and manufacturing scale that competitors struggle to match. The brand's history traces through iconic models: the Victory grip in the 1950s, the Tour Velvet introduced in 1983 and still among the most popular grips ever made, and the multi-compound MCC (Multi-Compound Cord) series that blends rubber and cord for all-weather performance. Golf Pride's innovation focus centers on texture patterns, rubber compounds, and surface treatments that influence traction, feel, and durability, critical variables in the only point of physical contact between golfer and club. The Tour Velvet Align, featuring a raised ridge to assist with hand placement consistency, exemplifies how Golf Pride incrementally advances grip technology through small, evidence-based design changes. The brand's tour presence is unmatched; nearly every professional uses Golf Pride, providing continuous feedback loops that inform product development and serve as implicit endorsement. Golf Pride positions different lines for distinct golfer needs: Tour Velvet for traditionalists, MCC for players wanting security in varied conditions, Z-Grip for value, and CP2 for maximum comfort. Pricing ranges from $6 to $15 per grip, a modest individual cost but significant at scale given golfers typically regrip annually. In recent years, Golf Pride introduced higher-end models like the Tour SNSR series, featuring advanced materials and construction aimed at serious players willing to pay premiums for marginal gains in feedback and control. The brand's competitive moat is formidable, decades of tour validation, extensive distribution, manufacturing expertise, and the inertia of being the default choice. For most golfers and club builders, using anything other than Golf Pride requires active justification, a remarkable position in a category where the product itself is largely invisible until it fails.