How to choose a curling broom

NOTE: This is an older version of our curling broom buyer’s guide.

Thank you for visiting our curling broom buyer’s guide! Please be aware that the information here was published several years ago and some elements are now out of date. We recommend checking out our latest guide for the most up-to-date and comprehensive information on the latest curling broom models.

New guide: The Ultimate Curling Broom Guide (2023)

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Begin 2021 guide:

If you’ve ever found yourself clicking between different broom descriptions trying to understand the differences between one model and the next, and never quite sure which to choose, then this article is for you. For the uninitiated, choosing a curling broom can be a daunting task! Carbon Fiber or Fiberglass? 1″ or 1 1/8″? Why do some people use “WCF Approved” pads?

Once you know, it’s really not all that complicated! Let’s break it all down for you and make it easier for you to choose your next curling broom.

There are three parts of a curling broom that you need to consider:

1. Handle
2. Head
3. Pad

Too much information for you? Skip to the end for our summary.

Handle

The curling broom handle is probably going to guide your broom decision the most, and is the biggest factor in the price. There are three things to consider when choosing the right kind of handle, material, diameter, and graphic design.

Material

It makes a lot of sense to start with the material of the handle, as your choice here will help guide a lot of your other decisions. Ultimately there are two different types of material used in making curling broom handles. Fiberglass, and carbon fiber.

Carbon Fiber has two really important things going for it! First, it is incredibly lightweight. Second, it is a stiffer material.

Weight is extremely important for curling brooms. One of the most athletic parts of curling is sweeping the rocks, and if you’re a front-end player (e.g. you throw first or second rocks), you will spend a lot of time sweeping during the game. If you’re really sweeping hard, that can be very tiring indeed! In fact, one of the top comments people make when they try curling for the first time is how sweeping is so much harder than it looks on TV!

With all of that hard work, as you get later into a game you will become more fatigued. Even the top high-performance curlers in the world are going to be less effective in later ends than they were at the beginning of a game as fatigue sets in. Having a lightweight broom helps to combat fatigue and will help you be more effective right through to the last rock of the game.

The other advantage of carbon fiber is that it is stiffer than fiberglass. Stiffness is important because you want to get the most out of all that effort you’re putting into sweeping! With a stiffer handle, more of your force is directed down the broom and into the ice. Simply put, a stiffer handle will make you more effective.

Since carbon fiber handles are both the most lightweight and the stiffest handles available, they are the first choice of the most competitive curlers.

Why doesn’t everyone just use carbon fiber then? This answer is pretty straightforward, carbon fiber is more expensive than fiberglass. Now don’t get me wrong, modern fiberglass curling brooms are far lighter than older curling brooms ever were. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there when a seasoned curler has picked up a modern broom for the first time, and the first thing they always say is “oh wow! I can’t believe how light this is!” Usually followed by calling over a friend and having them lift it up too, “hey man, check out how light this broom is!”

So, if you’re watching your equipment budget, you can definitely get away with using a fiberglass handle. What the vast majority of recreational curlers choose to do though is split the difference and go with a Fiberlite broom. Fiberlite handles are a composite of fiberglass and carbon fiber. They’re light and stiff enough for most recreational curlers, and the price is much easier on your pocketbook than going all the way up to the top-of-the-line carbon fiber.

Diameter

Most curling brooms come in your choice of either a 1″ diameter, or 1 1/8″, and which size is right for you is very subjective.

There really isn’t a lot of difference between the two, just an eighth of an inch! In fact, without having a side-by-side comparison most people would be hard-pressed to tell which is which!

Broadly speaking, most women choose to go with a 1″ handle, and most men tend to select a 1 1/8″. Don’t get sucked into this being a gender-based decision though, as we’ve definitely seen men go with the smaller 1″ and women go with the larger 1 1/8″. It may be more accurate to think of it as people with larger hands will probably find a 1 1/8″ handle more comfortable, and people with smaller hands will likely prefer a 1″.

If I take myself as an example (6′ tall man of average build), a 1 1/8″ handle is far more comfortable for me. In fact, using a 1″ handle for an entire game (especially as a front-end player) will give me hand cramps! It’s hard to be an effective sweeper with sore hands.

Design

There’s not a whole lot to say here, other than pick something that you like! At Goldline Curling, we’ve had a lot of fun developing new designs for our various handles, and we hope you find something you like!

The only “technical” point to consider with the handle design comes into play if you are a skip or vice. When you are at the far end of the ice, brightly coloured handles are much easier for your teammates to see. In particular, we’ve found that our Carbon Fiber Earth and Fiberlite Limelight have been extremely popular for this exact reason!

Head

Goldline Curling brooms offer three types of heads to choose from. There is our Air Head, our Stationary Air Head and our newest model, the Air Head X.

Air Head

The Air Head is the basis for all modern Goldline Curling brooms, and it features a number of key advantages. As we mentioned when discussing handles, weight is a key factor in choosing a curling brush, and the Air really shines in this area. It is an extremely lightweight head!

It’s also very easy and convenient to use. Replacing the pad is as simple as popping the old one out and snapping a new one in. There are no screws or moving parts to worry about, it’s literally just snap and pop!

If you ever want to switch the head, this has also been simplified compared to other heads on the market. Where most heads are secured with screws (either a single screw or, often, multiple screws), the Air Head is secured with a simple push-button quick release. So if you ever want to go from an Air Head to an Air Head X, for example, you can just push the button and slide the Air Head off and replace it. It will only take a few seconds!

The Air Head also performs great, whether you’re a recreational player, or highly competitive. You can find Air Heads used at all levels of play, including club brooms used by people stepping onto the ice for the first time, all the way up to high-performance teams winning the gold at the Olympics!

Air Head X

The Air Head X shares all of the same features as the Air Head, with one noticeable difference. The Air Head X is both longer and wider, resulting in a 16% increase in overall surface area.

The larger version of the Air Head was originally requested by some of the high-performance teams that use Goldline brooms. These teams felt that they weren’t able to compress the Air Pro Pads enough to maximize the surface area in contact with the ice, and wanted to see what we could do. The results have been extremely interesting. We now find a clear divide in our teams, some of whom swear that the Air Head is the most effective, while others think the Air Head X is the best thing for their game.

One trend we have noticed is that the increased surface area of the Air Head X tends to be better when sweeping for weight, whereas the smaller Air Head is better when sweeping for line.

Since both feature the push-button quick release, you can always keep one of each in your curling bag, and swap them out based on your preference. Just remember that WCF rules specify that you can’t switch during a game!

Stationary Air Head

The stationary Air Head is almost self-explanatory based on the name alone! Where the Air Head and Air Head X both feature a full 360° rotation the Stationary Air Head, found on the FG Air, does not. It is a “fixed” head with no rotation in any direction. They are designed this way to be more cost-effective and are primarily used as club brooms, for rentals or learn-to-curl programs.

Our general recommendation is that if you can afford it, you should select a broom model with either an Air Head or Air Head X. Fortunately if you do get a broom with a stationary Air Head it also features the push-button quick release, so upgrading will be easy when you’re ready.

Pad

If you’ve made it this far, I have good news for you! The hardest part is now behind us, pads are really very easy.

Essentially you have two options. Airway and Airway X pads are for recreational play, and Air Pro and Air Pro X pads are for competitive play. Essentially, if you are required to use a WCF-approved pad, you should use an Air Pro or Air Pro X. Otherwise, you should use an Airway or Airway X.

Ok, before I get further into the details I want to make sure I haven’t lost anyone. There are four pad options, even though I said there are two! That’s because you have two options, recreational or WCF-Approved, and you just choose which you need that fits the head you’re using. Here’s a simple chart to clarify, for each head type:

This may already be enough information for most people, but ever since the WCF got involved in regulating pads this topic has become complex. If you would like more background information on pads, then keep reading!

Airway & Airway X

The Airway and Airway X pad designs are derived from Goldline’s most popular pad ever, the Norway pad. The Norway is a fantastic pad too, if you still have an older “oval” style head. These heads were much larger and heavier. They were also screwed into the broom handle and the pad was screwed into the head with two thumbscrews.

We took the best parts of the Norway pad – the fabric and the foam – and we made the whole thing a lot lighter when we made the Airway and Airway X.

The fabric is very durable and is coated with a waterproof coating, the ridges help by providing additional surface area and help to pick up frost, and the foam provides a good level of rigidity without being too hard. All of this makes for a very effective pad that will last for a good 25 games or so. Another way to look at this is that if you curl once a week, a single pad should last you for a full season.

These pads also come in a wide variety of colours! Will you pick a high visibility fluorescent orange? Or maybe pick something that matches your broom design? The choice is yours!

Air Pro & Air Pro X

Goldline’s Air Pro and Air Pro X pads are both WCF (World Curling Federation) approved designs. In order to be approved by the WCF they had to be designed and manufactured to very defined specifications. Every element of both pads has been reviewed and tested, and pads are regularly recovered from major competitions and spot-checked to ensure that they conform with the specifications.

This includes a visual inspection, physical measurements, hardness and compression testing of the foam and a review of the fabric. Goldline also maintains our official status as an “effective manufacturer” with the WCF so our products will continue to be considered WCF approved.

All of this means that if you are curling in an event that requires equipment that conforms with WCF specifications, you can be assured that Goldline’s Air Pro and Air Pro X pads are certified.

There are several things to keep in mind. First, the fabric that is used is out of our control. The WCF has specified the fabric type, the colour and even the specific supplier that the fabric must come from. This all makes sense as it levels the playing field for high-performance players, but it also means that some aspects of the final product are outside of our control, with durability being of particular note. Rather than getting about 25 games out of a pad, as you would with the Airway or Airway X pads, WCF approved pads are going to be changed much more frequently. Your personal experience may vary, but our top sponsored teams go into every game with fresh pads.

In terms of performance, you can be confident that Goldline Air products will let you perform at your best.

Don’t take our word for it though, I was discussing this with Darren Moulding of Team Bottcher recently, who had this to say “when we started using the Air in the fall of 2017 we were a still rising team looking for the right equipment for our team. As we continued testing all the products we could find on the market we were satisfied that the Goldline product was the most effective brushing tool on the market. Every season since we’ve continually tested products against ours in order to know what our competitors are using against us. To this day after continual testing and use in competition we are still satisfied that the Air and Air x products are still top notch. These products give us the ability to compete against the best competition in the world with confidence!”

It’s hard to argue with their results! Having played in three straight Brier finals, we look forward to the day we see them representing Canada on the national stage.

Of course, this note about performance is only if you have to use WCF approved equipment. For recreational play, any WCF approved product is not recommended since it is simply not as effective as recreational equipment. Think of it like aluminum bats in baseball. They’re great for your recreational league, but there are good reason why you’ll never see one in an MLB game!

Summary

Carbon Fiber Air

Choose carbon fiber brooms if you’re looking for the best broom you can get! Choose a Carbon Fiber Air X Broom if you want the best tool when sweeping for weight, or the Carbon Fiber Air Broom if you’re more concerned about sweeping for line. Use an Airway pad for recreational play, and Air Pro when WCF Approved equipment is required. Sweep with confidence knowing that top teams around the world are using these high-performance brooms.

Fiberlite Air

Fiberlite Air brooms are the best-selling brooms in the world, and with good reason. Most people find the price very affordable, and most recreational players won’t notice the difference in performance. Remember to swap out your Airway pad every 25 games or so, otherwise you’ll pick up debris and hear about it from your ice-maker. If you ever find yourself in a bonspiel or league that requires WCF approved equipment, just switch the pad out for an Air Pro pad and you’re good to go!

Choose a Fiberlite Air X Broom for best performance when sweeping for weight, or a Fiberlite Air Broom if sweeping for line.

Fiberglass

The FG 360 Air is a great option if you’re more budget-conscious or if you’re just getting started. In a pinch it will also satisfy WCF specifications if you use it with an Air Pro pad. The FG Air, with its fixed head, is mainly considered a club broom and is good for loaner or rental equipment. The FG Air does not meet WCF specifications due to the non-rotating head.

Any questions?

Did we answer all your questions about curling brooms? If not, let us know in the comments or contact us at store@goldlinecurling.com. We’re always happy to help!