Many of us have come back from a particularly tiring golf round, spotted with chunks of mud and our socks soaked from tramping through the wet rough for hours. After a round like that, you probably aren’t the only one who looks weathered — your clubs are likely covered in chunks of the course that you took back home with you.
It’s important you clean your clubs before your next round — clean, shining clubs are a great advantage. Follow some easy steps to thoroughly clean your golf clubs. Here are six steps for how to clean your golf clubs at home.
1. Gather Your Materials
The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure you have all the right materials. Here’s a list of what you’ll need:
- Bucket
- Warm Water
- Mild Soap
- Old Toothbrush
- Cloth
You’ll likely already have most of these materials on hand. Dishwashing soap will work fine for your cleaning solution — you just want something that won’t corrode the steel on your clubs.
2. Soak Clubs in Warm Water
Once you’ve got all of your materials together, fill the bucket with lukewarm water and add a few drops of dish soap to get it sudsy. Then, add all of your dirty clubs to the water and let them soak for around fifteen minutes. This will help loosen up any dirt from the grooves or that has caked onto your club. Make sure the heads of your clubs are fully submerged.
3. Scrub Thoroughly
Grab an old toothbrush and start removing your clubs one by one. Scrub your clubhead thoroughly, getting into each groove and removing dirt and anything that’s gotten wedged in between those narrow ridges. Any imperfections in those grooves could potentially affect your ball flight.
4. Rinse
After you scrub all the dirt away, dip your clubs back into a new bucket of warm water to wash away any of the excess dirt. If you want, you can soak these clubs for an extra fifteen minutes and then repeat the scrubbing process. This is a great strategy if your clubs have a lot of mud cakes into the grooves.
5. Dry Clubs Completely
When you’re done scrubbing and soaking, get a towel or a cloth and dry your clubs thoroughly. This is an important step to defend against rust. If you want, you can also add a bit of polish during this step to make your clubs shine.
How to Clean Golf Clubs On the Course
Sometimes you won’t have the luxury of having a bucket of soapy water and an hour or two to methodically clean your clubs. Sometimes all you have is the time from one shot to another. If you find yourself whacking out of a mud pit on the first hole, you’ll need to find some innovative ways to get those grooves shining again.
Use a Tee
If you didn’t happen to bring an old toothbrush to your round (you may want to consider packing this somewhere in your bag), you’ll probably have a few extra tees lying around. These can be great for removing those chunks of much on your irons. Though it won’t give your clubs a very aesthetically-pleasing appearance, it will probably be enough to avoid any real damage to your golf swing.
Utilize a Water Hazard
Substitute a bucket of water for the local water hazard on the course. Those creeks and ponds are good for more than just eating golf balls — they can help you get rid of dirt, too.
Bring a Towel
All golfers should have a towel during their rounds. You can use this to dry off your club and wipe off any dirt that you captured in your grooves on the previous swing. When you watch pro tournaments, you’ll likely see caddies wiping off clubs after every shot — this is to ensure every shot is pure off the face of that club.
How to Clean Shafts and Grips
The process of cleaning golf shafts and grips is a bit different. For shafts, you can get a towel and dip it into some soapy water, then run it the length of the club several times. After, you can dry thoroughly with a dry towel.
It’s easy to forget about cleaning grips, but this is just as an essential part of your golf game. Sweat and dirt can often combine and affect your grip, so cleaning regularly will help alleviate any issues. To clean grips, just get a wet towel and gently rub the grips. It’s better to use warm water and a gentle hand so as not to damage the grips.
Tips for Cleaning Golf Clubs
Cleaning your golf clubs is an important part of the game. Here are some tips to keep in mind to make the cleaning process go smoothly.
Clean Regularly
Regularly cleaning your golf clubs will ensure that you won’t have any ingrained dirt in those grooves. An easy fifteen-minute clean could save you hours of time digging through those grooves to get our months of dirt.
Even wiping off your clubs after each shot will help stop dirt buildup and also help you control your ball flight better.
Avoid Harsh Chemicals
Be careful with what chemicals you use. Mild detergent is probably all you’ll need to remove dirt. Anything stronger could have potential ill effects on the metal of your clubs.
Be Gentle
Use soft materials like a towel or cotton cloth to clean your golf clubs. A gentle hand with some elbow grease will be all you need to remove that dirt from your club’s groove. Though you want to make sure you’re keeping your clubs clean, you also don’t want to damage them in the process.
Buy Polish
For an extra shine, invest in some quality golf club polish. This will help give your clubs an extra-clean look that you can show off to your friends.
The Benefits of Cleaning Your Golf Clubs
As the old proverb goes, a person should never blame their tools for a bad performance. But, bad tools certainly don’t help, and having some mud covering your grooves will definitely have some ill effects on your game. Here are the advantages of regularly cleaning your golf clubs.
Improve Your Golf Game
Make better contact with the ball and have more faith in where it’s going with a clean club. It’s one of the easiest ways to help your golf swing — before you even line up to hit. With golf, we all need as much help as we can get, and having a clean club is one of the simplest and most effective ways to help.
Look Professional
Clean clubs also just look better — glimmering under a hot summer sun on the first tee, you’ll look good and feel good as you line up that first shot of the day.
Save on Repairs
The more you clean your grips, shafts and club heads, the less you’ll have to worry about making repairs or finding replacements. It’s easy preventative maintenance that can save you a lot of money.
Gain Confidence in Your Game
Golf is all about confidence. Finding ways to believe in yourself and in your swing is part of the game — whether that’s with your outfit, a swing technique or cleaning your clubs. Some may see club cleaning as insignificant, but it could have far-reaching effects that may help improve your game.