Cov-ver Hat: Back in the day, when men like Hogan and Sneed teed it up, they did so in wool hats and straw fedoras rather than caps made by Titleist or Ping. Now I admit that I am one of the 95% of golfers who only wears baseball caps, but recently I’ve been thinking about delving into other types of head wear.

Unfortunately, most golf stores only sell traditional hats, and being a person who rarely ventures into clothing stores, I struck out to the web to see what I could find. After a bit of research, I stumbled upon Cov-ver. While hats by Cov-ver are not exclusively made for golf, their “newsboy”, “fedora” and “Aussie” styles harken back to the golden age of golf. You will note that although the Cov-ver site does not directly sell any of their hats, you can find links to a bunch of re-sellers. To save you some time, Adventure Hats seems to carry nearly all of the hats that are most golf appropriate.

The two hats that we are going to review today are the Aussie Mesh hat and the Morris Corduroy Newsboy cap.

Morris Corduroy Newsboy Cap

Cov-ver Newsboy Hat Review by Adam: As my wife can attest to, I have been hunting for a non-baseball cap for the past year but have been stymied when I inevitably look like a dope in any one that I try on. I was therefore doubtful that the Cov-ver hat would be any different. To my delight, I instantly loved this hat and was relieved that it even got two thumbs up from my wife. As you can see, this hat is pretty low profile so it fits much like a baseball cap making it a nice baby step toward some of their more original styles. While very well made, the hat looks pre-warn without being worn out.  This way you avoid the whole “nice brand new hat” jokes. In short, this hat has instantly made it to my starting line-up.

Cov-ver Aussie Mesh Hat Review by Wade: This Aussie Soakable Golf Hat by Cov-ver has been a good find for me, and the chance to review it has been an honest pleasure. I’m of the fair-skinned variety of folks living the southeastern part of the US, and my doctor has kindly informed me that for people with my amount of freckles, it’s a matter of when, not if  I’ll be getting skin cancer removed. To that end, I’ve been experimenting with different sunblocks and hats over the past several years.

The Aussie Mesh Hat provided a great opportunity to try out a wider-brimmed hat that also had some really excellent cooling features.  As you can see in the photo, it has the look of the Australian cowboy hat that we’ve come to know from all of Greg Norman’s days on tour. This one is made of a mesh around your head, to allow breezes to cool your dome but with a solid top to block the sun directly overhead.  While, I have only worn the hat in moderate and cool weather, I did soak it to see if the “air-conditioning” function worked.  When wet, the hat clearly would help cool you off but also dried out well and back to its original shape.

Additionally, I was also interested in how it would stay on in the wind, because we all know that wind blows on the golf course, except on the hottest freaking days of summer when you need it most. For me, it stayed on my head great, and if I needed it, there is a small Velcro strap in the back that can be adjusted to make for a great fit, and added stability. Big thanks to Cov-ver Hat as this hat is absolutely a keeper.

You can see more photos in our Facebook Gallery.

Tattoo Golf Review: In 1981 a little band called the Rolling Stones released Tattoo You which included over-played hits like “Start Me Up” and “Hang Fire”. Fortunately, it also included two of my favorite Stones tunes, “Heaven” and “Waiting on a Friend”, which by the way, may be the best low rent video ever. Beyond the music, Tattoo You remains one of the most recognizable album covers of all time.

While tattoos are no longer just for bikers and punks, they still are reserved for those who prefer to draw outside the lines.

Until recently, golf fashion rarely ventured outside of the lines. Yes, guys like Ian Poulter and Ricky Fowler are bringing a sense of color to the course, but where is the swagger? Where is the bad-ass? I am here to tell you Tattoo Golf has got your swagger and more. 

Three Guys Take: Wow! That is the first thing that came to mind when I opened the box.  These are not your fathers golf shirts. Now if you are thinking “whoa, that stuff is too crazy for me” then you should probably stick to Khakis, blue shirt and Footjoys. But if you like your wings hot, music loud and cars fast then Tattoo Golf may be right for you!

The shirt is made from dry-fit material and is super light. Two things to note:  1) because of the style, many of the shirts are not meant to be tucked in since the artwork goes all the way to the bottom (just more attitude in case no one noticed the huge skulls),  2) Compared to the current industry sizes, I would say they run just a bit small. Typically I buy medium shirts, but I found the medium Tattoo Golf shirt just a touch small.

The hats are flex-fit which helps with sizing. I have what I would call a medium head but I would go with the large rather than medium.  Quality wise, the Tartan plaid hat almost feels like wool even though it is made from polyester and rayon. For me, this is a great looking winter hat and is a nice change from the typical big brand hat.

The headcover is just like you would expect from Tattoo Golf- bold and brash. There will be no hunting for the driver with this headcover. It is big, black and solid. My only issue is that it is a bit harder to get on and off due to the length of the cover but you can rest assured no harm will come to your club when it is in the holster.

Summary:  I was definitely a bit nervous about wearing the Tattoo Golf shirt as it demands attention.  I mean, you kinda feel like you need to back up the shirt with some game. Now I am not making promises but the 1st round I played in the Bones shirt was one of my better rounds quite a while. Coincidence?

More photos of Tattoo Golf are in our Facebook Gallery.

Just4Golf Headcovers: Until recently, there were few options when it came to headcovers. There was your standard “came with the club” cover or the “oversized animal” cover but not much more. Fortunately, there are a number of new companies coming out with other styles to choose from. One of the more popular styles that is popping up is the knit sock throwbacks. Derived from a day when wool and cotton were the material of choice and argyle and stripes were in vogue , these new headcovers add a splash of color to your bag.

At the high end of this market, you have companies like Rocket Tour who make a pretty sweet headcover, but at $35 a pop it can be tough to justify for my used 4 wood. Fortunately, there are some more affordable alternatives with similar styling and quality.

Just 4 Golf headcovers is one of the companies making this style of headcover and they were nice enough to send us a few samples to check out. While the Just 4 Golf headcovers may not have quite the cache of Rocket Tour, they are up to 50%  less per cover so they are definitely worth considering especially if you want to get 3-5 of them.

Background: Just4Golf Accessories headcovers come in ten styles and include putter covers for both mallet and blade putters.  From a style standpoint, they have a nice selection of argyle, stripes and old school looks.  Moreover, I would say 1/3 of their selections skew to women so it is a great shop for the ladies as well as the guys.

Three Guys Take:  Overall, I was quite pleased with all of the Just4Golf headcovers. I thought the styles were unique and the construction solid.  As a test, I tugged on all of the pom poms and each one showed to be securely fastened. In terms of functionality, all of the covers we tried easily fit on my clubs including a Ping G10 driver.  NOTE: These head covers are NOT one size fits all which is really a good feature because it means the covers  fit better and are more snug.  Therefore, make sure you check the description to note if it is sized for a driver, fairway wood or hybrid.  I did find that the fairway woods and hybrids are pretty close in size but you will definitely need the driver size for your drivers.

The other unique feature is the plastic toggle on some of the models that you can spin around to indicate what club it is (see photo gallery below). I actually preferred the models without this feature, but you can easily cut the tag off if you like.

Overall, I like the Just4Golf headcovers and they have a number styles which I would put in my bag.  I also found that you could mix and match the styles (you will note that I have a black headcover mixed with the argyle in the below photos).  Lastly, Just4Golf headcovers are incredibly affordable. Many of the covers are just $16.00 which is 1/2 the price of the big boys.

You can see more photos in our Facebook Gallery.

Three Guys Golf Blog talk Taylormade Penta Golf balls: I don’t profess to be an expert on golf balls, but the way I see it, they fall into three categories:  rocks, average and professional.  Typical rocks are your Top Flight XL, Raw or anything you get at Walmart. While they may be cheap, I see no reason to ever play this type of ball unless you are planning on losing at least six per round.

The mid-range balls are anything in the $18 to $24 style.  One of my favorite mid-range balls is the Callaway Diablo.  While it is a two piece ball, I find it to be fairly soft with better than average distance. In fact, I believe it is very comparable to the Titlist NXT Tour which runs about $10 more per dozen.  This is my winter ball.

The top end obviously includes Titlist Pro V1.  Clearly a great ball but at $50 per dozen you don’t want to honk more than one per round into the woods or lake.  Plus, I find that playing a Pro V1 can add stress to any shot that includes water or other hazard.  Really, who needs that on top of the regular stress.  Recently, I found a great alternative to the Pro V1.  The Taylormade Penta.  A really nice ball and with the current buy 2 dozen get 1 free promotion, they are a steal.  Unless you are a scratch golfer I would dare you to tell the difference between the Penta and a Pro V.

Whatever your choice, I would recommend avoiding the rocks and play with a ball that says “I have game”.  Every little bit of extra confidence is worth a partial stroke so playing a ball that you are comfortable with is a must.  Also, try to find a ball you like and stick with it.  You would never switch out drivers every hole so why switch out a ball?

Three Guys Golf Blog: I was going through my closet recently, and ran across “Golf is Not a Game of Perfect” by Bob Rotella, and have been re-reading it over the past week or so.  I’ve had a busy summer of work and time with my wife, who’s been home from teaching school, and haven’t had as much time to be out on the links.  So, it was a really great time to remind myself of some of the changes that have occurred in my game since I read the book for the first time, and some of the things that I want to remember to take back to the course with me.

My father learned a good deal from Dick Butkus, and some other pros in the NFL who were somewhat ahead of their time with their mental preparation for the game.  They spent a lot of time visualizing what they were going to do on the field, and letting their mental preparation help them play better than their opponents.  So, I’ve had an idea as to the benefits of mental work on the golf game too, but something about the way that Bob Rotella writes is a breath of fresh air to me.

Here’s an example of a quote from page 119 that really resonated with me:

“Expectations are great if you confine them to long-range considerations… But expectations can hurt you if they are narrowly based on the results of a particular stoke, hole or round.

Golfers in American society, though, tend to be people who are used to getting what they want… They expect to master golf just as they’ve mastered everything else in life.  If they are competing, they expect to win.  If they swing at a golf ball, they expect to hit it well every time…

On the first tee, you should have two immediate goals.  One is to have fun.  The other involves the process of playing, not the results.  The goal is to get your mind where it’s supposed to be on every shot.  If you do that, you’ll shoot the best score you’re capable of shooting that day, whether it’s 67 or 107.”

Dr. Rotella has worked with some of the best in the game, and he has consulted with a huge list.  He has really practical advise, and a lot of tips that as I’ve looked back, helped me take 10 or more strokes off my game over the past several years.  I highly recommend it, and it’s a cheap training aid : )