| The off season is a great time for cleaning your | | | | Once you've finished this step, you'll need to rinse |
| clubs and doing other repairs and maintenance on | | | | the heads with clean water. A garden hose works |
| your equipment. It's also a great time to take | | | | well for this. |
| inventory of what you have, what you don't have | | | | Use your clean cloth to wipe and dry the club |
| and what you'll probably need to replace for next | | | | heads. Make sure they are dry. You can also run |
| season. | | | | your cloth up the shaft to wipe it down to. Do |
| When it comes to cleaning your clubs, you have | | | | not put your clubs back into the bag wet. |
| two basic choices. Have someone else do it for | | | | For your Woods: |
| you, say, the pro shop--or, do it yourself. While | | | | Never submerge persimmon woods into water! |
| there are a lot of things I recommend that the | | | | Many people suggest that you never submerge |
| pro shop do, cleaning my clubs is something I like | | | | metal woods into water either. Doing this tends to |
| to do myself. Not only does make me feel good | | | | fade their shine, or so I've been told. |
| afterwards--newly cleaned clubs look great--but it | | | | My advice, and what I do, is simply use a wet |
| also gives me some quiet time to inspect my | | | | cloth on my persimmon woods to wipe them |
| clubs slowly and closely, which is something I | | | | down and then I immediately dry them off. I use |
| totally overlook during playing season. | | | | the same old toothbrush I used on the irons to |
| If you want to clean your clubs yourself, grab a | | | | clean out the grooves on my woods (and, again, |
| few things and get to work. You'll need a bucket, | | | | this is the real reason you're cleaning in the first |
| some clean clothes, a tooth brush or something | | | | place) and then I wipe them down again. |
| similiar, some mild dishwater soap and some | | | | Cleaning your grips: |
| elbow grease. | | | | Unless you have a unique set of grips, the |
| For your irons: | | | | following works pretty well. If you have special |
| Important Tip: Do NOT submerge your club heads | | | | grips, do what the vendor suggests for cleaning |
| into the bucket of water above the ferrules!!! | | | | them. For the rest of us-- |
| For newer golfers, the ferrules are those black | | | | Put some warm water in sink and add some |
| rings where the club meets the shaft. | | | | dishsoap. You're going to need suds (and lots of |
| Okay, here we go. Put some warm water into | | | | 'em) so give the soap bottle a good squeeze. |
| the bucket, along with a dab of soap. Don't use | | | | When you have a small mountain of suds, turn |
| very hot water. Hot water can loosen your | | | | off the water. Dampen a cloth and wringe it out. |
| ferrules. Also, you only need enough water to | | | | Then get some suds on the cloth. Use the cloth |
| cover the heads of your irons...not the ferrules! | | | | and suds to wipe away any dirt, oil, etc from the |
| Put your irons, club face down, into the bucket | | | | grip. Turn the water on, hold the grip under the |
| and let them sit for a bit. When you're ready, | | | | water to rinse, then dry the grip off. Do your |
| take one out and using the old toothbrush, give | | | | clubs one at a time and make sure they are dry |
| the grooves a nice washing. Technically, cleaning | | | | before putting them back into the bag. |
| the grooves is the most important part of the | | | | If you find a really hard place to clean, try some |
| whole cleaning process. You need and want those | | | | Windex on it. Wipe and rinse as before. |
| grooves to be clean so they can do what they | | | | This is also a great time to check the worthiness |
| need to do when they impact the ball. | | | | of your grips. If you have some (or all) that have |
| After you get the grooves cleaned out, run your | | | | seen better days, think about replacing them |
| brush over the sole of the club and get rid of any | | | | before the season opens. |
| dirt or debris that might be hanging on there. | | | | |