Aaron Rai proudly violates one of golf’s oldest faux pas.
It’s a problem that can be heard before it can be spotted. Not in the noise it produces, but in the noise it silences: The glorious clacking of metal clubs against one another as footsteps charge forward through the fairway.
Rai’s violation? An issue serious enough to send a shiver down the spine of every caddie on the eastern seaboard on PGA Championship Sunday.
Iron Covers.
But here’s the craziest part of all: He might be the lone golfer on earth with a good reason for using them.
As he sat in the glow of his maiden major championship victory on Sunday evening, Rai addressed the tradition of his golf bag that has come to define him as a golfer — and the story behind it that you really ought to hear.
According to Rai, the decision began at home in England, where Aaron spent his childhood as the son of a community worker and a mental health nurse in the city of Wolverhampton. The Rais lived by modest means, and when it came time to buy Aaron his first set of clubs, the budding junior golfer received one of the great gifts of his childhood: a brand-new set of top-of-the-line irons.
“When I was about seven or eight years old, [my dad] bought me a set of Titleist 690 MBs, and they were like 800-1,000 pounds back then, just for a set of clubs for a kid,” he said. “I cherished them. When we used to go out and practice, he used to clean every single groove afterward with a pin and with baby oil.”
Rai’s adoration for his clubs was so sincere, and his upkeep of them was so intense, that his father suggested he should ensure they never suffer the indignity of a chip.
“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.”
The many years of care and gratitude came to fruition in vivid color on Sunday afternoon, when Rai mowed down a crowded leaderboard of certified studs to get his first major at the PGA Championship at Aronimink. As he talked about the moments that led to his career’s crowning achievement thus far, Rai couldn’t help but look to the iron covers that started it all.
“I think my dad played a really big role in that,” he said. “I didn’t really mix with a lot of other junior golfers, which didn’t give me a perspective of what was normal. So I think he kind of sheltered me to be able to develop in a way that made sense for me, in a way that I guess was a little bit unique with two gloves, with iron covers, et cetera.”
Rai unquestionably did it his way on PGA Sunday, and now he belongs in the rarefied air of some of the best players in the sport. As for any speculation that the iron covers might lose their luster now that Aaron Rai is a major champion?
Well, you can safely put a lid on it.
“Although on the PGA Tour, we get given equipment, and we get given everything that we need, it’s more out of principle,” Rai said. “The value of not losing perspective of what I have and where I am.”
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