Equipment Care...How Anal are You?

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
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I was wondering just how other folks cleaned their golf equipment, how often, and to what degree? I prep my clubs before almost every round. The heads and grips get scrubbed down and the grooves completely cleared. About twice a year I wax the heads of all my woods clubs and the graphite shafts. If necessary I will polish out any scratches with rubbing compound before waxing. I use a Sharpie to color in any sky marks that I can see from address. I clean my shoes tops and bottoms almost every round, but I'll miss a few if they're not in too bad shape. Spikes usually last me one season. I regrip before each season and keep track of how I've experimented with the wrapping under the grips. I also completely empty my bag before each season, clean it as best as I can on the out side and blow out all the pockets with an air hose. I have a club brush on a bottle thing that I use after each shot, a quick wipe with the towel, and the neoprene cover goes back on. Generally, if I manage to keep a ball for an entire round, I retire it to my shag bag afterwards. I spin all my balls and place a line along the heavy side of the equator where the least amount of factory stamping is visible, about half the circumference of the ball. Part of all of this activity is likely due to my military upbringing from childhood through mid life. The other influence is likely due to me having to buy my own sports equipment. I wanted the "good stuff" that was more expensive than my dad was willing to go for. I never threw my rackets, clubs, ect. You tend to think differently when it takes a huge chunk of your teenage money to buy your own stuff. My clubs are entering their third season and for the most part they look as good as they did coming out of the box. More importantly they behave as such. No beaten or damged grooves, nicked or hammered heads. Probably not for everyone, but for me, it's kinda like my stats spreadsheets and graphs; it's just another part of golf that I've come to love and look forward to.
Golfer LowIndex
# 16 5/13/2011 11:28:27 AM
The heads get Just a rub down with soap&water, an old tooth brush after every round or range time. Grips once month with water and a clean towel.
greenjacket13 Legend
# 17 5/13/2011 12:36:22 PM
it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes.
Golfman1968 Professional Champion
# 18 5/13/2011 1:51:10 PM
Clean the grooves after each shot, weekly clean the clubs thoroughly. Now if it had rained during the round then the clubs get cleaned immediately after the round.
Robert Premeaux Jr. Professional Champion
# 19 5/13/2011 5:00:54 PM
Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too. Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers? I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation.
T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
# 20 5/13/2011 11:02:10 PM
it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes. I think you would enjoy regripping your clubs, especially when you start experimenting with different amounts of build up tape under your left and right hands. I put more wraps under my right hand which makes the grip feel more like a ball bat (exageration). It does take away some of the taper though and feels better to older hands I think. The brush has nylon bristles that are fairly stiff but it doesn't more than act agressively to get the oils and crap out of the grip. It may rough it up slightly, but it feels like a brand new grip. If you do begin to regrip your own clubs, I recommend keeping track of the layers of tape on each regripping. It's a heck of a lot easier to tune the feel of your grips if you know what the heck you did to them huh?
MikeNomgi Professional Champion
# 21 5/14/2011 4:50:25 AM
it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes. I think you would enjoy regripping your clubs, especially when you start experimenting with different amounts of build up tape under your left and right hands. I put more wraps under my right hand which makes the grip feel more like a ball bat (exageration). It does take away some of the taper though and feels better to older hands I think. The brush has nylon bristles that are fairly stiff but it doesn't more than act agressively to get the oils and crap out of the grip. It may rough it up slightly, but it feels like a brand new grip. If you do begin to regrip your own clubs, I recommend keeping track of the layers of tape on each regripping. It's a heck of a lot easier to tune the feel of your grips if you know what the heck you did to them huh? My wife bought me a club washer that you find mounted on carts at some higher-end courses a number of years ago. I have it mounted on my deck. Works great.
RICHARD BRIGHT Professional Champion
# 22 5/14/2011 6:50:41 AM
I clean and brush out the groves after every round . i wash the grips with soap and water once a week .i try to take very good care of my clubs .i try to re-grip all clubs at least every 4 to 6 months. My wife says i take better care of my golf equipment than i do her .Which is not true !!!! I guess I'm pretty anal about equipment care .
ParSeeker Legend
# 23 5/14/2011 10:13:05 AM
i don't change the oil in my lawmower like i should, i don't wash my truck like i should, i don't clean the shaving stubble off my sink like i should, i don't polish my shoes like i should, i don't clean my golf clubs like i should Lol! There's a song in there somewhere!
LukeTuzinski Professional Champion
# 24 5/14/2011 2:53:57 PM
Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too. Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers? I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation. I bought mine off Amazon, but you could check a pharmacy or med supply place
LukeTuzinski Professional Champion
# 25 5/14/2011 2:55:31 PM
Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too. Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers? I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation. Just saw these on ebay and they would work too http://cgi.ebay.com/20-ml-x-6-..
T LAVAN SHOEMAKER Professional Champion
# 26 5/14/2011 10:57:44 PM
I just don't understand how anyone can expect their clubs to remain anything close to looking new, grooves in decent shape, etc, while they slam against each other hour after hour on the back of a golf cart without covers. I started with the plastic ones and now use the neoprene and they have never slowed me down. I let someone use my clubs for one damn round when I was in tech school. I had a new Slotline Big Mo Inertial putter circa '86 Jack Nicklaus big head style putter. The alloy is very soft and all painted with a semi flat black. It was beat all to hell, shiny bits of the alloy peeking through, the face looked more like the surface of a golf ball. Guess what? My clubs are now like my tooth brush and my razor...I love you bro, but you gotta bring your own sticks.

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

Go to Last Reply

253 Views 32 Replies 2 Likes

I was wondering just how other folks cleaned their golf equipment, how often, and to what degree?

I prep my clubs before almost every round. The heads and grips get scrubbed down and the grooves completely cleared.

About twice a year I wax the heads of all my woods clubs and the graphite shafts. If necessary I will polish out any scratches with rubbing compound before waxing. I use a Sharpie to color in any sky marks that I can see from address.

I clean my shoes tops and bottoms almost every round, but I'll miss a few if they're not in too bad shape. Spikes usually last me one season.

I regrip before each season and keep track of how I've experimented with the wrapping under the grips. I also completely empty my bag before each season, clean it as best as I can on the out side and blow out all the pockets with an air hose.

I have a club brush on a bottle thing that I use after each shot, a quick wipe with the towel, and the neoprene cover goes back on. Generally, if I manage to keep a ball for an entire round, I retire it to my shag bag afterwards. I spin all my balls and place a line along the heavy side of the equator where the least amount of factory stamping is visible, about half the circumference of the ball.

Part of all of this activity is likely due to my military upbringing from childhood through mid life. The other influence is likely due to me having to buy my own sports equipment. I wanted the "good stuff" that was more expensive than my dad was willing to go for. I never threw my rackets, clubs, ect. You tend to think differently when it takes a huge chunk of your teenage money to buy your own stuff.

My clubs are entering their third season and for the most part they look as good as they did coming out of the box. More importantly they behave as such. No beaten or damged grooves, nicked or hammered heads.

Probably not for everyone, but for me, it's kinda like my stats spreadsheets and graphs; it's just another part of golf that I've come to love and look forward to.

Golfer

LowIndex

# 16 5/13/2011 11:28:27 AM

The heads get Just a rub down with soap&water, an old tooth brush after every round or range time. Grips once month with water and a clean towel.

greenjacket13

Legend

# 17 5/13/2011 12:36:22 PM

it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes.

Golfman1968

Professional Champion

# 18 5/13/2011 1:51:10 PM

Clean the grooves after each shot, weekly clean the clubs thoroughly. Now if it had rained during the round then the clubs get cleaned immediately after the round.

Robert Premeaux Jr.

Professional Champion

# 19 5/13/2011 5:00:54 PM

Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too.

Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers?

I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation.

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

# 20 5/13/2011 11:02:10 PM

it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes.

I think you would enjoy regripping your clubs, especially when you start experimenting with different amounts of build up tape under your left and right hands. I put more wraps under my right hand which makes the grip feel more like a ball bat (exageration). It does take away some of the taper though and feels better to older hands I think. The brush has nylon bristles that are fairly stiff but it doesn't more than act agressively to get the oils and crap out of the grip. It may rough it up slightly, but it feels like a brand new grip.

If you do begin to regrip your own clubs, I recommend keeping track of the layers of tape on each regripping. It's a heck of a lot easier to tune the feel of your grips if you know what the heck you did to them huh?

MikeNomgi

Professional Champion

# 21 5/14/2011 4:50:25 AM

it sounds like the Army in you, Shoe. i bet you have some pretty damn clean guns too. it is fun and is part of the process. it is another aspect of the game that you can take pride in. i'm not near as anal as you but i'll either clean them after the round or range in the club cleaning buckets at the range or at home in the kitchen sink (my wife loves that). i just got new clubs so i haven't hit the grips on the new ones yet but i used to clean those down every so often with a little soap and water. i've also touched up a club with a Sharpie. you use that orange cleaner and brush on your grips. that doesn't tear them up too bad does it? i'd like to learn to regrip my clubs myself when the time comes.

I think you would enjoy regripping your clubs, especially when you start experimenting with different amounts of build up tape under your left and right hands. I put more wraps under my right hand which makes the grip feel more like a ball bat (exageration). It does take away some of the taper though and feels better to older hands I think. The brush has nylon bristles that are fairly stiff but it doesn't more than act agressively to get the oils and crap out of the grip. It may rough it up slightly, but it feels like a brand new grip.

If you do begin to regrip your own clubs, I recommend keeping track of the layers of tape on each regripping. It's a heck of a lot easier to tune the feel of your grips if you know what the heck you did to them huh?

My wife bought me a club washer that you find mounted on carts at some higher-end courses a number of years ago. I have it mounted on my deck. Works great.

RICHARD BRIGHT

Professional Champion

# 22 5/14/2011 6:50:41 AM

I clean and brush out the groves after every round . i wash the grips with soap and water once a week .i try to take very good care of my clubs .i try to re-grip all clubs at least every 4 to 6 months. My wife says i take better care of my golf equipment than i do her .Which is not true !!!! I guess I'm pretty anal about equipment care .

ParSeeker

Legend

# 23 5/14/2011 10:13:05 AM

i don't change the oil in my lawmower like i should,
i don't wash my truck like i should,
i don't clean the shaving stubble off my sink like i should,
i don't polish my shoes like i should,
i don't clean my golf clubs like i should

Lol! There's a song in there somewhere!

LukeTuzinski

Professional Champion

# 24 5/14/2011 2:53:57 PM

Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too.

Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers?

I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation.

I bought mine off Amazon, but you could check a pharmacy or med supply place

LukeTuzinski

Professional Champion

# 25 5/14/2011 2:55:31 PM

Both acrylic and enamel come in dozens of colors and can be found at craft stores like Michael's. You can also get some pretty small brushes there too.

Short of going to your local drug dealer, where does one find syringes and needles? Will a medical supply store sell them over the counter to walk-in customers?

I hate the cover-everything process of filling in letters and numbers where I spend all my time and energy cleaning up the excess outside the indentation. Especially with enamel. I always worry that I'll waste the time because I'll end up cleaning away everything, including the paint in the indentation.

Just saw these on ebay and they would work too

http://cgi.ebay.com/20-ml-x-6-..

T LAVAN SHOEMAKER

Professional Champion

# 26 5/14/2011 10:57:44 PM

I just don't understand how anyone can expect their clubs to remain anything close to looking new, grooves in decent shape, etc, while they slam against each other hour after hour on the back of a golf cart without covers. I started with the plastic ones and now use the neoprene and they have never slowed me down.

I let someone use my clubs for one damn round when I was in tech school. I had a new Slotline Big Mo Inertial putter circa '86 Jack Nicklaus big head style putter. The alloy is very soft and all painted with a semi flat black. It was beat all to hell, shiny bits of the alloy peeking through, the face looked more like the surface of a golf ball. Guess what? My clubs are now like my tooth brush and my razor...I love you bro, but you gotta bring your own sticks.

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