Tips On How To Keep Your Golf Equipment Clean

Golf Monthly

Dan Parker demonstrates how to clean your golf clubs, shoes and grips to help maximise their lifespan and reinvigorate them.

Transcript

00:00Clean clubs, clean grips, clean shoes, clean golf. That's how I like to think

00:03about it. Anyway, in this video I'm going to talk you through just how to keep your

00:07golf clubs and your golf shoes as clean as possible. I'll give you some do's and

00:11don'ts and some tips and tricks of this undervalued post-round routine.

00:15Okay, so before we start getting into the main clean here, I think one tip I want you to go

00:26away with is how you can keep your clubs clean on the course. One thing I like to do is with a

00:30fairly big towel like this is wet one side of it with some water, only a little bit like a corner

00:36of it. You can see I've done it here. Keep one side dry and then after every shot, dab them off with

00:41the wet side, dry them with the dry side. It keeps them nice and clean, especially on a muddy day.

00:46But every now and again they're going to get horrible and muddy. You might have forgot to

00:48clean them during the round or it was just that horrible out there. They're going to need a full

00:53service. So let's go through that now. What do you need? Well, a bucket or a sink full of lukewarm

00:59soapy water, not hot, not cold, lukewarm. A scrubbing brush of some kind. I like to use a little sort of

01:05dish one here. Again, clean, brand new there. A slightly more coarse one for grips. We'll come

01:11on to that in a minute. And then some sort of groove clean. I've got a pretty useful tool here for that.

01:17So that's all you're going to really need. What I like to do is in that soapy, lukewarm water,

01:24is just soak the clubs for a little bit. About 10 minutes. Just your irons and wedges. I won't

01:28worry about soaking any rescues or fairway woods. That just helps loosen the dirt a little bit as

01:34they're in there. So I've only done four for this time. But once they're nice and wet, take your

01:41light scrubbing brush. Like I said, this is a bit more of a dish scourer, but it's not too coarse.

01:45And just work your way gently over the iron. These are pretty clean already actually to be

01:51fair, but you know, it's always good to give them once over. And just work over the side,

01:55the grooves, the back. Now what I want to do is because these grooves have got particularly dirty,

02:01is just work it over with the groove clean. You can see because it's damp, all that mud's already

02:07coming out. That's the benefit of soaking them for 10 minutes. It should make your life a heck of a lot

02:12easier. So that's out of there. One more brush down there because the mud's come out.

02:18And then most importantly, dry them. Never, ever, ever, ever leave a wet golf club. They'll start,

02:24little specks of rust will start to appear. And that is the last thing that you want.

02:29So dry them with your towel and then leave them to rest. They'll dry nicely at room temperature,

02:34really. Don't leave them anywhere cold and make sure they're dry.

02:37Grips. Now, again, these are pretty new and they're pretty clean, but it's the same process

02:42for the grips. I'm just going to use a slightly coarser brush for this one. So you can get it nice

02:46and wet. Get the coarser brush nice and wet. Again, this lukewarm soapy water does wonders. And

02:52just work your way up and down the grip. Don't have to be too aggressive with it. Keep it nice and gentle.

02:58And that should take any, you know, sweat, sun cream, mud, any of that stuff that kind of comes out of there

03:04really easily and give them a really good dry. This is what gives grips new life again,

03:09actually. It's giving them just a really good scrub. I'd recommend using a cleaner towel than I

03:13have. That's poor from me. Clean utensils equal clean golf clubs. So that's the grips done now.

03:20Now you've got pretty much a brand new shiny looking club head and grip. One last tip I've got for grips,

03:26if they're really toward the end of their lifespan, you want to try and drag another six months or a year

03:32out of them. It's a little bit of sandpaper. Now I'd keep this really light and make sure the

03:38sandpaper isn't too coarse. But if you rub this sandpaper really gently over the top of your grip,

03:46it'll just take away any really loose rubber or any shiny rubber and should give them a new lease

03:52of life, really. So given that thing with the sandpaper, make sure to give them a really good scrub

03:57as well. And it should bring them back to life. I just recommend being careful with this and not

04:03going too crazy with the sandpaper. But I think it's a really useful tip if the grips are right

04:07on the end of their life. And you don't fancy replacing them just yet. It's to give them a good

04:12bit of sandpaper, a good clean and a good scrub. It's easy as that. Work your way through the set.

04:17Fairway woods, drivers, hybrids. I wouldn't bother soaking them. They don't really need quite as much dirt

04:22coming out of the grooves as your irons and wedges do. Just dip it in the water and use the fine

04:28sponge to give it a once over. One thing to remember when you're doing your hybrids, fairway

04:33woods, drivers, is there's a lot more sort of cavities in them, you know, where the adjustability

04:37might lie or where some screws are. So if you get any mud like this, I've clearly had a right hack at

04:42this. Get a T-peg in there and it tends to fly out. Give it a little once over. So remember that with

04:48your fairway woods, hybrids and drivers. Always dry the head. Even more important on these and your

04:53putter so they don't go in that head cover wet and start to rust. Okay, let's talk about golf shoes.

04:58And much like golf clubs, it's always best to look after these just after you've finished. It's the

05:03easiest time to get all the mud off. So once I've finished playing, I'll use again a clean sponge

05:08or a sort of dish cloth that's been slightly dampened with warm water just to run over, especially with white

05:14shoes, synthetic or leather ones, just to run over the tops of them, get any excess mud off and then

05:20they should stay cleaner for longer then. The more persistent bits that tend to sit on this outsole,

05:26it's worth giving them a really good scrub, a little bit more focus maybe when you get back home. But

05:32the quicker you do it, the cleaner these are going to look for longer. Now mesh shoes are a little bit

05:37tricky. You can see an old pair we've got here where the white starts to fade and any sort of stains that

05:43get into them can often hang around for a while. Again, best to look after them as soon as you've

05:47finished. But a couple of tips and tricks for these is washing them for a start. You can wash mesh golf

05:53shoes on a very light gentle wash, remove the laces, remove any insoles if they can come out as well

05:59and put them through on a really light wash. Before you do that though, you can give them a focused scrub

06:04with a brush like this. You could give a little go with something like some pre-wash

06:10stain roof that I've got here, just dab it onto the areas that look like they'll be a little bit tougher

06:14to bring out. Or if you get an old toothbrush and some laundry detergent, you can very gently work

06:21on the slightly more stubborn areas. So work on that with your mesh shoes if you get some really

06:26persistent dirt in there. I've tried it before, as long as you keep a gentle wash, you're fine.

06:31Now whenever you're drying golf shoes, always avoid drying them by a very hot radiator.

06:36That can melt the glue that puts these outsoles together and the shoe can often get a bit sort

06:41of, I don't know, just a bit horrible there. Room temperature is absolutely fine. A little tip for

06:46drying them as well is to pop some, especially in these mesh shoes, is to pop a little bit of newspaper,

06:50scrunch up newspaper inside. That'll firstly absorb any loose water that's got into, you know,

06:55the sole of the shoe and it will help keep their shape as well as they dry. So never buy a radiator

07:01and use a little bit of newspaper. The outsoles, these are spikeless, but if you make sure to spray

07:07them off after every round with one of those air sprayer thingies you'll probably get by the locker

07:12room, that's always great. And with spike shoes, a great way to sort of rejuvenate their life and

07:17give them another couple of years is to replace the spikes. It's something not a lot of us, I think,

07:21take advantage of. 20 or 25 quid, spike remove them yourself. They'll give them a whole new lease of

07:26life and you'll really feel that grip. So some really easy and straightforward ways to keep these

07:31beautiful shoes nice and clean. So there you have it, my tips and tricks on how to keep your golf clubs,

07:37golf grips and shoes as clean as possible. Now it's really important we do this as much as we can,

07:43you know, performance from your golf club when they're clean, less flyers, more spin, especially

07:48with the grooves in your wedges and keeping your grips nice and tacky should improve that feel when

07:54you're swinging the club. And with your shoes, keeping those outsoles as clear of mud and dirt

07:59as possible should give you better grip. Now if you've got any tips and tricks about how you clean

08:05your golf clubs, you know, some things passed down from people, some old wives tales on how to keep

08:09these things looking shiny, let me know. I'd love to hear from you and try them out for myself. But for

08:14now from Northamptonshire County Golf Club, thank you for joining me. I'll see you next time.

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