Synthetic vs Cabretta Golf Gloves in Summer: Which Handles Heat?
The glove debate changes the moment the temperature passes 20 degrees.
Year-round, synthetic vs cabretta is a trade between lifespan and feel, and we've scored that match in full in leather vs synthetic golf gloves. In summer the criteria reshuffle: breathability jumps to the top of the list, sweat becomes the opponent, and cabretta wins the season more clearly than it wins the year.
Breathability decides summer
Cabretta is porous sheepskin: air moves through it, sweat evaporates out of it, and your hand stays close to the temperature of the day. Synthetic fibres are solid, so the glove holds heat and damp against your skin, and by the 14th you're wearing a small greenhouse. In April that's a quirk. In July it's the difference between gripping the club and negotiating with it.
What sweat does to each material
Cabretta absorbs sweat and releases it if you let it dry, though the salt stiffens leather that never gets the chance; slow flat drying is the fix, and the best ways to dry golf gloves has the method. Synthetic sheds sweat rather than absorbing it, which sounds like a win until the palm goes slick mid-round and stays slick until you towel it.
Where synthetic still earns a summer spot
The range. Mats and 60-ball buckets are wear without reward, and a £12 synthetic eats that mileage happily. Same for the freak summer downpour: purpose-made wet-weather synthetics grip better soaked than anything else. Course in the sun, cabretta; abuse and rain, synthetic.
The summer verdict
Cabretta on the course, rotated so no glove plays two rounds damp, synthetic for the range bag. The full hot-weather routine, including the swap-at-the-turn habit, is in our summer golf gloves guide.
Summer glove material FAQs
Do synthetic golf gloves make your hands sweat more?
They trap more of what's already happening. Solid fibres don't breathe, so sweat sits between hand and glove instead of evaporating through it.
Does sweat ruin cabretta leather?
Only when the glove never dries. Salt stiffens leather that stays damp, so the routine is off between shots, aired on the bag, dried flat overnight.
Is a thinner glove cooler in summer?
Slightly, but breathability does most of the work, and that comes from the material. Thin synthetic still runs hotter than thin cabretta.
What do tour players wear in the heat?
Cabretta, almost universally, swapped frequently. Watch a televised event in August and count the fresh gloves; the material stays, the glove rotates.
Summer picks a winner the rest of the year won't: breathable leather, rotated properly. The cabretta leather golf gloves collection has the rotation covered.