Golf Club Cleaning Tips 101

Golf Club Cleaning Tips 101

If there’s a certain item that Mr. Monster cleans the most, it’s my golf clubs. You spend a lot of time pounding out golf balls in the driving range tearing up their cheap range ball covers as well as bombing shots from the grass, dirt, sand, mud and rain. All-in-all, your clubs take a beating.

Basic club head cleaning

If the stains are easily removed by using a soft bristle brush then it’s time for a soaking.

Get a large bucket, place a few small drops of dishwashing liquid in the bucket and fill it with some warm water. Try not to make too many large suds and only fill up the bucket enough to soak the heads and NOT up to the hosel since that may weaken the glue that holds the shaft to the club head.

I then place my iron set (5-GW) in the bucket and leaning the grips to a wall or something to keep them upright. I like leaving the clubs soaked for about 15 minutes. Once the clubs are soaked I then pull one out at a time and place on a plastic sheet or newspaper (to capture water) and use a soft bristle brush and clean out the sole and head of the clubs. Usually the toughest stain are the ones left from the artificial grass from hitting mats.

Once the heads are clean just wipe them dry with a soft towel, and wall-a, you’re done and got a nice sparkling set with only the cost of a few small drops of dishwashing liquid (I use Sun or Ajax myself) and water. No need for special “golf club” cleaning detergents or such. Keep in on the down-low and cheap!

Golf Grip Cleaning

After a while the grips get dirty or you get a used set and don’t know where it’s been so you want to clean that puppy up. The main thing I try to not do is over-hydrate the grips which cleaning with water (makes them brittle faster) or using too much liquid soap (makes them slippery).

Too keep the grips shiny and close to new, I get a nice clean white towel (White lets you see how much dirt and such is still left on the grip but you can use any color you want) and place a few drops of liquid dishwashing soap on it then water it down. Once the towel is wet, then I twist it enough so it’s not soaking wet that it will make the grips soggy as it tends to soak in water.

Proceed with wiping the grips down until the oil, dirt, yucky items are cleaned off then wipe them dry with another non-wet towel. Once they’re nice and dry I like to personally spray them with a couple shots of anti-bacterial/disinfectant spray to make sure they’re clean as can been. After it’s sprayed let it sit for another 10-15 minutes and then wipe down dry. Let the grips dry out for a few hours and you should be left with nice clean grips!

Golf Shaft Cleaning

Here’s another part of the club that once in a while needs some cleaning, you can pretty much use the towel & liquid soap wipe-down as noted in the golf grip cleaning section. Just be careful when cleaning graphite shafts with the towel since if you have one that is coarse it may scratch the shaft. Mainly the times I clean the shaft is when you get a club that still has the retail stick or price tag on it. When the sticker is stuck and won’t peel out completely I bust out the WD-40 spray and let it soak for 15-20 minutes and then use a soft flat-edged item (or fingernail) to slowly scrape the sticker off. Once all the remnants are gone I then proceed with wiping down the area with a wet towel and dry off.

Golf Club Rust Removal

Now here’s a tricky item to remove, rust, since by the time you have it on your golf club head its probably bonded to it pretty good.

On a set of clubs I have that had rust stains on the inside perimeter of the back of the club I initially tried just using soap, water and a bristle brush to use but that didn’t do anything. I then used a generic household cleaning/rust removal liquid and that also didn’t work. I knew I had to break out the big guns. I ended up buying CLR (calcium, lime, rust removal liquid) to try out .

The instructions do say to start off using a small sample of CLR and diluting it with water, but since I wanted the rust gone ASAP I used the full concentration. Since I was targeting rust stains on certain spots of the club I used a Q-Tip to dab the areas affected by rust.

Golf Review: Youth Nike Golf Clubs and Stand Bag- 6/23/08

Review: Nike Golf sells a line of off-the-rack golf clubs and equipment for kids. I just went to the Nike.com site and I couldn't find a set description so they may be tweaking it still, a British site though as some item features.

For the aspiring young golfer, Nike offers sets of equipment based on their height. You can choose between Par Red, Birdie Blue, and Eagle Silver- tagged equipment for little tykes up to tweens. I will be reviewing the Blue color equipment since based on the color range only certain clubs are offered. The taller you are the more clubs to choose from.

The Nike kids driver (blue) looks like the previous 2004 adult Ignite driver, comes with graphite Nike shaft and steel club face. The driver has a nice pop and I've seen it pop balls around 125 yards, I do believe that the club should have a larger face since the version here is very shallow. The shaft also is very stiff and I wish Nike offered a more flexible version, why do kids with low swing speeds get stiff flex?

The hybrid club is approx. a 3- iron club and along with the mid iron and pitching wedge come with graphite, regular flex shafts. The hybrid is nicely weighted and offers good distance. The two irons offered in the Blue set are decent, though distance is not as long or forgiving as the prior clubs. An offering of a sand or lob wedge would have been nice to help out kids launch into the air balls from a deep bunker.



The Nike putter is the one color length that did not match up with the user. The steel shaft and half-circle mallet design in the Blue color was very short so the putter length had to be moved up to the Silver color selection, while a bit longer than needed, it at least wasn't as extreme as the short length of the blue. Putter comes with a soft polymer-like insert. Nice feel, though some grass chips do sometimes get caught in the edges where the insert in the face and body of the club meet.

Last but not least the golf bag, this one was also chosen to be the Silver instead of blue tag since the Silver offered more room. The bag is very light, comes with dual shoulder Izzo strap system and four pockets and four club dividers.

These clubs were previously picked up over a year ago during the yearly golf clearance at Target stores so some items like the bag was purchased for $15 compared to the usual $40-$50. Sports Authority stores also sell this line along with Nike kids golf shoes, golf towels, kids golf balls and gloves. Some of the club appearance have been changed in the current product line, the putter sold now looks more like the adult Ignite line with the triangular shape.

For an off-the-rack kids golf equipment and decent price the Nike line is a fine choice. The selection is nice is that you can buy just a few items (putter and iron) just to see if you kids likes the sport instead of have to plunk down a lot more buying a full array of equipment like the Callaway, Ping, Cobra, or La Jolla packages.

Score: 3.25 out of 5