Every lost-property box in every pro shop tells the same story: full of putter covers, none of them broken.

The handling count

A putter cover comes off and goes back on at every green — eighteen cycles a round, usually one-handed while the other hand holds the pin.

Each cycle is a chance to set it down and walk. The covers that survive are the ones that go back on blind, in half a second, and stay put in between.

Why magnets lose covers

A magnetic flap is calibrated to open with one finger, which is delightful in the shop and fatal on the course: it opens just as willingly rubbing against a cart bag on a bumpy path.

The cover is not lost at the green; it is lost somewhere between the green and the next tee, and nobody sees it go.

What stays on

A deep elastic throat that grips behind the head and snaps back on your finger. On knits, the long sock — it holds the shaft along its whole length and has been keeping covers on bags since before magnets existed.

Both go back on one-handed. Neither opens by accident. That combination is the entire product.

The fleet audit

Push a finger into the cuff of every cover your shop or club currently owns. Sort into snaps-back and does-not.

The does-not pile is your next season’s losses, already scheduled. Replace them before the members do it one tee box at a time.