Wrapped grips are made by wrapping a strap of leather around the shaft of the club.   With the older hickory shafts (which were thicker) this was done directly on the shaft.  With modern steel and graphite shafts (which are noticeably thinner) and under-listing is necessary for correct grip size.

The edge of the strap is skived to a blunt edge (not as tapered) and an overlap edge (more taper with the tip being noticeably thinner).  The blunt edge is wrapped over the overlap edge creating a smooth seam.

It is this overlap of the strap which creates the problem.  For quick or high speed swings this edge can peel under the off hand thumb (for right handed players that would be the left thumb).  A short off hand thumb grip as opposed to a long thumb grip can really aggravate this problem.

Obviously, the direction of wrap and the tension of the strap are critical for the prevention of peeling.

Historically:

The direction of wrap was from the butt (the end closest to the player) to the top (the end closest to the club head) and each grip was individually wrapped.  By wrapping from the butt to the top the blunt edge of the seam points to the butt and peeling is minimized.  And with each grip being individually wrapped tension is optimized for grip size.  This approach minimizes the tension and peeling issues but they are still a problem.  A side note for all the old guys.  If you ever wondered why palmer carried spray adhesive and electricians tape in his bag.   It was for re-wrapping and re-tensioning his grips, i.e. peeling!

The modern slip-on under-listing:

The direction of the wrap is from the top to the butt and the blunt edge of the seam is pointed to the top and peeling is enhanced.  The modern slip-on under-listing allows for the pre-tensioning of the wrapped grip and slip-on installation but each grip is not individually tension.   If incorrectly installed tension can be all over the place and peeling is enhanced.

The modern slip-on under-listing does however greatly simplify the installation of genuine leather wrapped grips.

What is Protac?

Protac is a BestGrips.com proprietary terpene based rosin tack formula.  If you have used genuine leather grips in the past or are familiar with pine tar rosin bags used in other sports, the most common being baseball, then you are familiar with the concept of rosin based tack.

The famous Neuman Leather golf grip which set the standard for genuine leather golf grips used a pine tar rosin base as did everyone else that have made leather golf grips.  This pine tar rosin based system made from natural materials (pine tar) did not age well.  They "chaulk" with age.  Chaulk is the decomposition (oxidation) of the naturally occurring impurities.  It leaves an off white residue on the surface of the leather.

BestGrips.com has reworked this formula using synthetic and not natural products (pine tar).  We retained the "pico" base of the old rosin formula but replaced the natural rosin (pine tar) with pure synthetic chemicals which will not chaulk.