How to Clean Your Golf Grips

Any serious golfer will tell you their grips are as important as any other piece of equipment.  After all, the grip is the only connection a player has with the golf club. While Tour players pay particular attention to their grips it is too often overlooked and neglected by the casual golfer.

Grip maintenance is crucial to keeping a secure hold on your club and ensure you’re using an ideal light-pressure on the grip.  With grips being predominantly a darker color golfers hardly see the inevitable build-up of gunk deposited by a wide range of culprits such as grime, oils, leftover sunscreen and a host of environmental particulates. Hidden by the forgiving traditional black hue grips that haven’t been cleaned or cared for turn slick and make the golf club much harder to control. Much like the way tires wear on your car every time you drive, the grips on your clubs also wear out every time you take a swing. While you may not realize how much the quality of your grips will affect your performance on the course the principles and comparisons to tires is the same… slick tires won’t hold the car in a turn, a slick grip won’t hold the clubface square at impact.

So just as a golfer takes pride in his/her swing, score, or the driver/iron they play the quality of their grip is equally important. Conventional wisdom calls for grips to be replaced at least every year or after some 30+ to 50+ rounds and simple golf grip cleaning in between grip replacement will help restore surface tack and help prevent hand from slipping. In other words, cleaning keeps your grips feeling like new and why players on Tour wipe a towel over their grips almost before every shot.

For the everyday golfer a useful tip is to do like the pros and get into the habit of wiping your grips down, maybe not before every shot but at least as you near the end of each round. On the final few holes use a towel, with a little water, and just wipe them down clean. Doing so will keep too much unwanted buildup on your grips – be sure to remember to include your putter.

So, how can you effectively combat the negative effects of dirty grips? It’s simple: CLEAN YOUR GRIPS REGULARLY. And the next question, “What should I use to clean my golf grips?”

  1. Specialty Product like Lamkin GRIPES Grip Cleaning Wipes
GRIPES Grip Wipes-0

What you need: A pack of GRIPES (30 Gripes for just $10.99)

Process:

  1. Take a GRIPE pack  
  2. Take the wipe and wipe down your golf grips (for rubber, synthetic rubber, soft, and even cord grips) It is durable enough that 2 wipes can effectively clean your whole set of clubs.
Lamkin GRIPES Grip Wipes

*That’s all there is to it.  The wipes are specifically made for any and all types of golf grips and engineered to bring back the tack and feel so important to golf grips.  The fast-drying formula allows your grips to air-dry, quickly enough to wipe them down before a round.  The pack fits perfectly in any golf bag so it goes where your clubs go.  These wipes are the most user-friendly, inexpensive, and fast, way to clean your grips and make them look new.  Most important, GRIPES grip cleaning wipes restore the tack to make them FEEL like new too.

2. Warm Soap and Water

What you need: Bucket or sink of warm water, mild detergent, soft abrasive pad/brush (for cord/rubber grips), washcloth (for soft “squishy” grips), a sink or a hose, and a dry towel.

Process:

a. Inspect your grips for any major damage, i.e. rips or tears, bubbles, etc.  Grips that show this must be replaced as no amount of cleaning can fix those issues.

b. Fill the bucket or sink with warm water and mix in a couple of drops of the mild detergent.  Dip the brush or washcloth into the bucket and scrub your grips.

c. Rinse the brush or washcloth free of the detergent, as well as the grips that were just scrubbed.  Take the clean brush or washcloth and wipe the grip free of any residue.

d. Rinse the grips again with soap-free water to make sure all detergent is removed from the grip.

e. Use a dry towel and wipe all of the grips dry.  You can also air-dry the grips, although we recommend drying them with a towel as soon as possible.  This also gets rid of any trace of the detergent and residue.

Seasonal Differences

Depending upon where your home course is located, the weather will have an effect on your grips. In higher humidity climates or seasons, grips can get tacky and will need to be cleaned more often. On the other side, during the cooler months, when the air is dryer, older grips can get hard and will result in a loss of the ability to keep a solid, firm grip on your club. A good grip conditioner can keep grips from getting too dried out.

Is It Time for New Grips?

After you finish cleaning your grips they should return to get back some of their original tackiness. Removing that accumulation of oils, sunscreen, and dirt that gets stuck in the grooves should get them back to normal. If they remain hard and/or slippery, it is a good indication that it’s time to update your clubs with some new grips.

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