You can knock strokes off your scorecard every week by scrubbing and looking after your clubs with no additional changes to your golf game.
Whatever your goals are in golf, if it’s trying to break 100, break 90, or 80, it’s necessary to have clean golf clubs.
Don’t believe me? Keep reading and find out for yourself.
When you have dirty golf clubs, you put a barrier between the ball and the golf club’s head-on impact. This dirt changes how the ball takes off, spins, and lands. If your grooves are full of dirt or sand, the golf ball won’t spin as much, which affects your ball’s flight.
With less spin and a lower ball flight caused by your dirty club when it hits the green, your shot won’t be as sticky as when you hit them with a clean golf club. Keeping the ball on the green more often will mean better approach shots, leading to more birdies, pars, and even bogeys.
A dirty club could be why your approach shots always seem to run off the back of the green.
Quick Menu
What You Will Need To Clean Your Golf Clubs
You will need a few items to get started cleaning your golf clubs and lowering your scores. These items will be around your home; if you can’t find them at home, you can definitely find them on Amazon. The things you need are:
- Bucket/ Container
- Old Toothbrush/ Golf Brush
- Liquid Soap/ Dishwashing Soap
- Towel
- Warm Water
All these items are easy enough to get the only one you might not have is a golf-cleaning soft bristle brush. These are very cheap; you can pick one up on Amazon for less than $10.
Now you know what you need. All that’s left is to find out how to clean your beloved clubs.
How You Should Clean Your Irons
The first thing that you need to do is fill up your bucket with some warm water and add a little bit of soap.
Don’t go overboard with the soap. Your cleaning clubs are not kicking off a foam party. The soapy water must be warm and not piping hot; if the water is too hot, it could compromise your clubs.
Next up is placing your irons into the bucket and leaving them there to soak them up for 5-20 minutes.
The dirtier the golf clubs, the longer you’ll want to leave them soaking. While your golf clubs are soaking, the dirt stuck to the club head will soften and make removing it easier in the next step.
Once they have soaked, remove your first iron, give it a good scrub with your soft bristle brush, and remove the remaining dirt. Ensure you’re using an old toothbrush that doesn’t belong to anyone else. It could result in a shorter golf career…
Now that you’ve removed most of the dirt from your golf club head, you can focus on cleaning your grooves. Some golf brushes come with a groove cleaner, but you can use a small needle or pin if you don’t have one.
Your grooves help put spin on the golf ball and help get the ball to stick to the green, so this step is essential.
Now that your irons are clean rinse them with water, and dry them off with a towel.
Just like that, you have some sparkling clean golf irons.
Remember, though, that not drying your golf clubs can result in them developing rust, so take advantage of this step.
However, if your clubs have a small amount of rust, keep reading because I’ll share how you can easily remove rust later in this post.
How You Should Clean Your Driver, Hybrids, Woods And Putter
You can’t clean the rest of the clubs in your bag the same way as your irons. They can, but they will end up damaged if you give them the same treatment.
Your golf irons pick up more dirt because of their deeper grooves and because you use them on fairways, in the rough, and, regrettably, bunkers. The other clubs are usually hit from a tee box or on the green, so they will only require a little deep clean. Fairway woods or hybrids are more likely to need regular cleaning.
Your driver or putter doesn’t need a clean as much unless you’re chunking up tee boxes regularly.
Let’s get into it!
You’ll still need your bucket with warm soapy water, but you won’t leave them to soak this time. Instead, you will dunk your soft bristle brush into the warm water and gently brush your club face to remove dirt.
Take your time, and don’t be too rough, or you could end up scratching your golf clubs.
Next, you will dry it off like before, and you can then put your headcover back on and pop them back in the bag, ready for your next trip to the golf course.
How You Should Clean Your Shafts
If you’re like me, then you probably hate a dirty shaft. Most people neglect this part of the golf club and focus on the club heads themselves.
Will a cleaner shaft improve your golf club’s performance on the golf course? The short answer is no. But they can still pick up dirt, so it’s still worth cleaning them.
Just use a damp cloth to clean your shafts and clean up and down the shaft to remove any dirt. Once clean, you can then dry it off with a towel. Job done and dusted!
How You Should Clean Your Golf Club Grips
No surprise here, but your golf club grips can get filthy quickly, and if you want to keep them in good condition for longer, then a quick clean is needed.
You will use the same method for cleaning your shafts to get clean golf club grips. Get a damp cloth to remove any dirt, preferably with warm water and not hot water.
Dry them with a towel once you’re happy they are clean, and they’re good to go.
How You Can Remove Rust From Your Golf Clubs
Rust buildup on your golf clubs can mean you must clean them properly or they are old. Either way, you might feel like you should chuck them in the trash and get a new set, but you can easily save your old reliables.
To remove rust from a club, apply vinegar to your clubs using a cloth and keep rubbing until the rust comes clean off. Once you’re happy with the results, dry them off and enjoy them for a little longer.
How Often Should You Clean Your Golf Clubs?
Cleaning your golf clubs should be done more often than not, but it all depends on how frequently you play, your conditions, and your skill level.
For example, a pro player won’t hit a shot if it’s not a clean club, so their caddies will scrub the clubs after every use. If you only play once a month, you won’t need to clean your golf clubs as much as a golfer who plays weekly.
Likewise, if you play in some wet conditions, your clubs will get muddier and require a clean after every round.
After every 2-3 rounds of golf, you should clean your clubs to ensure they perform well.
If you’re not a fan of scrubbing all your golf clubs, then you can take a couple of steps to delay the big clean.
Clean Your Golf Clubs During The Round
Cleaning while you play will ensure you’re getting the most from your golf clubs on every shot, and it will mean you won’t need to do a deep cleaning of golf clubs as much.
But what do you need, and how do you do it?
You can do this after your shots or while waiting for your golf buddy to hit their shot. You only need a small towel to clean the dirt off the club face when required or a golf tee to scrape out dirt caught in the grooves.
If that sounds like too much effort, I suggest investing in a cheap golf brush. Golf brushes can speed up your on and off-course cleaning; you can find them on Amazon, or else most clubhouses have them for sale, so they are easy to get.
Find A Good Place To Store Your Golf Equipment
Where you leave your golf gear in between rounds is more critical than many golfers know… myself included!
First, you’ll want to keep your golf clubs in top condition, so you’ll want to store your clubs somewhere dry. Damp places can cause your clubs to rust faster than usual.
Secondly, you want them to be somewhere that is clean and doesn’t have a ton of dust floating around. Dust will get into your club grooves or even your golf bag, making them filthy.
Thirdly you want them to be someplace where the temperature stays just right. Clubs must be stored somewhere where the temperature doesn’t go from hot to cold and back again.
This change in temperature over time can affect the performance of your golf clubs. So places like your tool shed or garage are out of the question.
Lastly, they need to be somewhere they won’t get thrown around and damaged. If you’re anything like most golfers, you might leave your clubs in the back of your car.
I mean, who can blame you? It saves you the hassle of carrying them in and out.
But when you drive around, your golf clubs can move around and pick up scratches or even dint on a club head which is not what you want.
Checkout these posts on why iron covers are actually bad for your clubs & why are irons different lengths?