Maintaining your clubs should be high up on your priority list if you take yourself serios as a Golfer. The saying “take care of your clubs and they will take care of you” could not be more true. We are all guilty of being lazy when it comes to cleaning our clubs.
I never cleaned my clubs in the early stages of my golfing career. I would still be confused why my ball wouldn’t stay on the green, or fly the way I wanted.
Importance Of Cleaning Your Golf Clubs
I cant stress enough how vital it is to clean your clubs after every round and to clean the grooves after every shot. Hitting a golf ball with dirty clubs and grooves is like trying to drive your car with worn tires, the ball will go but it wont handle the way you want it to.
The purpose of the grooves on a club is the grab the ball and get the ball spinning. Spin is crucial when it comes to controling the trajectory of your golf ball and getting your ball to hold the green.
Best Way To Clean Clubs
Like any good cleaning process you’re gonna need some supplies.
- Towels (2)
- Soft Bristle Brush/Nylon Brush
- Dish Soap
- Warm Water (Not Hot)
- Bucket
- Small Wire Brush
To start lay one of your towels down in your cleaning area. If possible clean your clubs in your garage or outside. Next get your bucket and pour in some of the dish soap, about a teaspoon. Then fill a bucket with warm water, and make sure to give a good stir to get nice warm soapy water.
The reason we want warm water and not hot water, is so we do not damage the integrity of the club head. The hot water may seep into the club head and melt the adhesive that is holding your club head on.
Now sit your irons into the bucket of warm foamy water and allow to soak for a few minutes, about 5 mins. Once soaked its time to start scrubbing. Get the Soft/Nylon brush with some suds on it and proceed to gently scrub your club head all around.
Take special care on the back of the club head as to not scratch the nice finish on the club or to damage the writing. But on the grooves you can get some elbow grease going. Make sure to brush with the grooves and against the grooves.
Once you have scrubbed with the soft/nylon brush, get the small wire brush and brush the grooves one final time(only the groove face). Its important to pay special attention to the grooves. Then rinse in the bucket and dry off with the other towel.
Make sure to dry as thoroughly as you can to avoid any rust from appearing.
Then leave on the towel on the ground to dry off completely.
This can be done for all your irons, wedges and putter. For your woods and driver we need to take a bit more care. Instead of soaking these clubs we’re just going to give them a quick dunk, and only use the soft/nylon brush on the face of these clubs.
For the back of the woods and driver just use the towel to wipe away and dirt, the brush will scratch the nice finish. Like the irons though, dry thoroughly and leave to air dry the rest of the way.
Now this is a habit you need to get into every time you finish golfing for the week. If you are trying to become more serios about your game, then do this after every round or before. but for a weekend worrier, once a week is fine.
Cleaning Clubs Before And After Every Shot
The best habit to start and drill into yourself, is to clean the grooves of your clubs before and after every shot. Trust me I know how annoying this sound, and your probably thinking its a waste of time. But i assure you its vital.
You need to give yourself the best chance of hitting the ball as clean as possible every time. Now while i cant account for your golf swing or lie which are factors for your striking capability. The one thing you can count on and keep consistent is having clean grooves.
The objective when trying to improve as a golfer is increase your consistency. No point in putting in all this work into your swing and striking, if your not cleaning your grooves. The ball is so much easier to control and spin if your club is clean. Controlling your trajectory and spin is a huge part of becoming a better golfer.
After you hit your shot each time always wipe with your towel, that’s what its there for. Then a quick swipe of your grooves with a tee or groove cleaning brush.
Just try it for a couple of rounds and i bet you will see a difference. Your ball will fly a little more consistently and it might actually start holding some greens.
Leave some comments and let me know if you have any great cleaning tips that I missed or new products. Also if you noticed a difference after a few rounds.
Stay classy San Diego!
