Cleaning golf clubs takes warm water, washing-up liquid, a soft nylon brush and a towel. The method changes from part to part: iron grooves need a brush, a painted driver crown needs a damp cloth, and grips need soap and a rinse. Rust is a separate job, and on a raw wedge it belongs there. Here is how to clean each part of a used or old set, what to use on rust and what never to use.
Quick summary
- Soak only iron and wedge heads in warm soapy water, kept below the ferrule; drivers, woods and putters get a damp cloth.
- Wash grips with soapy water and towel them dry, and replace any that are cracked, shiny or hard: Golf Pride recommends new grips at least once a year.
- Light surface rust on chrome comes off with chrome polish or a cloth soaked in white vinegar, but rust that has pitted the chrome leaves marks for good.
- Raw-finish wedges, such as the Callaway Jaws Raw and raw Titleist Vokeys, rust by design, so dry them after each round and leave the rust on the face.
- Never use a wire brush or steel wool on chrome, a groove sharpener on clubs you play in competitions, or WD-40 and solvents on grips.
What do you need to clean golf clubs?
You need a bucket, warm water, washing-up liquid, a soft nylon brush and 2 towels. The last 3 items on this list are only for rust:
- A bucket or washing-up bowl and washing-up liquid.
- A soft nylon brush or an old toothbrush for faces, grooves and grips.
- A wooden tee or a plastic groove tool to lift packed dirt out of the grooves.
- 2 towels: a damp one to wipe with and a dry one to finish. Microfibre is gentle on painted heads.
- Chrome polish for surface rust and dull chrome on irons and steel shafts.
- White vinegar for rust spots that polish won't shift.
- Light machine oil, only if you own raw wedges and want to slow the rust.
This is what to use on each part of a club, and what to keep away from it:
How to clean golf clubs at home, step by step
Wash the irons and wedges first, in the bucket, then wipe the clubs that never go in the water. In order:
- Fill the bucket. Use lukewarm water and a few drops of washing-up liquid. Lukewarm is enough to loosen dirt, and hot water is hard on the glued joint between head and shaft.
- Stand the iron and wedge heads in the water. Leave them for 3 to 5 minutes, with the water below the ferrule, the plastic collar where the head meets the shaft.
- Clean the grooves. Run a wooden tee or a plastic groove tool along each groove, then scrub the face, back and sole with the brush.
- Rinse and dry each head straight away. Look along the grooves for anything the brush missed.
- Wipe the driver, woods, hybrids and putter. Use a cloth dampened in the soapy water on the head, and a soft brush only on the face.
- Wipe each shaft from grip to hosel. Dry it as you go and look for rust spots on steel and chipped paint on graphite.
- Wash the grips last. Scrub them with the soapy brush, rinse the soap off with a clean damp cloth, and towel them dry.
- Let the set dry out of the bag. Leave the headcovers off overnight, so no damp is trapped against the heads.
How do you clean golf club irons?
Soak the heads in warm soapy water for a few minutes, clear each groove with a tee, scrub the face with a soft nylon brush, then rinse and dry. The grooves matter most: at impact they channel grass and water away from the ball, and a groove packed with dirt can't, so clean grooves give more consistent spin from the rough and in the wet.
Forged irons are usually carbon steel under chrome, so they rust where the plating wears through on the sole and the leading edge, and a wire brush wears it through faster. Cast cavity-back irons are mostly stainless steel and rarely rust; brown marks on them are usually dirt.
Leave groove sharpeners alone if you play in competitions or for a handicap. The R&A's equipment rules say any club whose face markings have been deliberately altered, for example by re-grooving, must meet the 2010 groove specifications (The R&A), and many irons and wedges made before 2010 were built to the looser earlier rules. Titleist advises checking Vokey wedge grooves for wear at about 75 rounds, and once the grooves are worn smooth, a cleaner face won't bring the spin back.
Our used Titleist iron sets include a Titleist 690CB set, 3-iron to pitching wedge, on True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 steel shafts in Stiff flex, for about £105. Titleist's own archive of previous models dates the Forged 690.CB to the early 2000s, so the set is more than 20 years old, and it measures half an inch shorter than standard.
The heads and grips are graded Fair and the shafts Good, so expect wear on the chrome and face marks that washing won't lift. The grips are a mix of Golf Pride Tour Velvet and Benross, and new grips would make them match.
How to clean a driver and fairway woods
Wipe a driver or fairway wood head with a cloth dampened in soapy water, use a soft brush only on the face lines, and dry it. Never stand a wood in the bucket. Modern heads are hollow, the shaft is glued in at the hosel, and water that gets inside has nowhere to drain.
Treat the crown like car paint. Mud and grass come off with a damp cloth, but sky marks, the scuffs left when the ball strikes the top of the head, are in the paint and won't wash out. Scouring pads, polish with grit in it and solvents dull or strip the paint, and a crown that has been rubbed back looks worse than one with a sky mark. Our condition grades count sky marks: a driver graded Fair may have 1 or 2 on the topline or crown, and one graded Good has no marks there.
Carbon faces need the same care. TaylorMade's Stealth drivers, launched in January 2022, have a face made of 60 layers of carbon under a thin polyurethane cover, and a wire brush or a metal groove tool would scratch that cover, so clean it with a damp cloth and a soft toothbrush on the face lines.
The Stealth HD is the draw-biased, highest-MOI head of the first TaylorMade Stealth family, built for golfers who slice. Our used TaylorMade Stealth range includes a 9° Stealth HD on a Regular flex Fujikura Ventus 5-R shaft with a Winn DriTac Jumbo grip, graded Good on head, shaft and grip, for about £208.
Persimmon heads on very old sets are real wood under varnish. They get a barely damp cloth and an immediate dry, and they never go near the bucket, because wood swells and the varnish lifts.
How to clean a putter
Wipe a putter with a damp cloth, use a soft toothbrush on a milled face, and dry it before the headcover goes back on. A putter rarely gets muddy, so most of the job is keeping it dry. A headcover put back on a wet head holds the damp against the steel, which is how carbon-steel putters pick up rust spots.
Check what the face is made of first. Face inserts, the softer panels set into the faces of many Odyssey and TaylorMade putters, get a damp cloth and no stiff brush, and so do black and satin finishes, which wear through with scrubbing.
How to clean golf club shafts and ferrules
Wipe each shaft from the grip down to the hosel with a damp cloth, then dry it. Steel shafts are chrome-plated, and the plating can chip or wear near the hosel and just below the grip, where small rust spots start; chrome polish on a soft cloth takes those off. Graphite shafts are painted, so they get the cloth only, because polish and solvents dull the paint and can lift the graphics.
The ferrule is mostly cosmetic, but a cracked or loose ferrule looks poor on a used club and lets water into the hosel. Keep nail-polish remover and other solvents off it, keep it out of the bucket, and if one has slid up the shaft, a club fitter can reseat or replace it.
How to clean golf club grips
Scrub grips with warm soapy water and a soft brush, rinse the soap off with a damp cloth, and dry them with a towel. Golf Pride says thoroughly cleaning grips between rounds with a soft brush, soap and water helps them stay fresh for longer (Golf Pride).
Dry them properly. Water, sweat and the oils from your hands are what wear a grip down, and a grip left wet in the bag turns slick.
Should you clean or replace a golf grip?
Clean a grip that is dirty but still soft and tacky, and replace one that has gone hard, shiny or cracked. A rubber grip lasts about a year of regular play, and Golf Pride recommends new grips at least once a year.
| What the grip looks or feels like | Clean or replace |
|---|---|
| Dirty, but soft and tacky once dry | Clean |
| Slick after a wet round | Clean and dry |
| Shiny where your hands sit | Replace |
| Hard or smooth to the touch | Replace |
| Cracked, or worn bald under the thumbs | Replace |
| Torn, bubbled or turning on the shaft | Replace |
How to get rust off golf clubs
Surface rust on chrome comes off with chrome polish, or with white vinegar and a soft brush. The fix depends on the finish under the rust:
| Finish | What the rust looks like | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome irons and wedges | Orange spots where the plating has chipped or worn | Chrome polish, or vinegar on a cloth, then dry |
| Chrome with pitting | Spots that stay dark and rough after cleaning | Clean, dry and oil to stop it spreading; the pits stay |
| Steel shafts | Spots near the hosel or just below the grip | Chrome polish, then dry |
| Raw-finish wedges | An even brown patina over the face and sole | Leave it: the rust is the finish |
| Cast stainless heads | Rarely rust; brown marks are usually dirt | Soapy water and a nylon brush |
How to remove surface rust from chrome
- Wash and dry the club first, so you can see how much is rust and how much is dirt.
- Rub the spots with chrome polish on a soft cloth, in small circles.
- Use vinegar on rust that polish won't shift. Hold a cloth soaked in white vinegar on the spot for a few minutes, then scrub with a nylon brush.
- Rinse, dry and polish. Rinse the vinegar off with clean water, dry the club at once and finish with a light wipe of polish. Vinegar is an acid, and left on for hours it eats into bare steel as well as the rust.
Steel wool and scouring pads shift rust faster, but they scratch the chrome around it, and new rust starts in the scratches.
What if the rust has pitted the chrome?
Rust that has eaten through the plating leaves small pits in the steel. Cleaning stops it spreading but can't fill the pits, and the only cure is having the head stripped and re-plated by a specialist, which rarely makes sense on an older iron. Pitting on the face is one of the checks on second-hand golf clubs worth making from close-up photos, along with the grooves and the grips.
Should you remove rust from a raw wedge?
No. Titleist states on its Vokey SM10 page that raw finish wedges will oxidise or rust over time (Vokey), and Callaway gives the Jaws Raw a raw face for maximum spin (Callaway), so on that wedge the hitting area rusts while the rest of the head keeps its finish.
Dry a raw wedge after each round so the rust stays an even patina, and if you want to slow it, wipe a thin film of light oil over the head, then wipe the face clean before you play. Scrubbing a raw wedge back to bright steel only lasts until it next gets wet.
The face on this Jaws Raw has rusted the way Callaway intended. Our used Callaway wedges include this 58° lob wedge in the black finish, on a Stiff flex N.S. Pro Modus 3 Tour 105 steel shaft with a Golf Pride Multi Compound grip, for about £60. The head and grip are graded Fair and the shaft Good. On a used raw wedge, the grooves and the leading edge are the parts to check.
What should you never use on golf clubs?
Each of these does more harm than the dirt it removes:
- Wire brushes and steel wool on chrome. They scratch the plating, and the scratches are where rust starts.
- Groove sharpeners. A re-grooved club must meet The R&A's 2010 groove rules, which many older irons and wedges don't.
- Soaking woods, putters and ferrules. Water gets into the hosel and the head, and persimmon swells.
- The dishwasher. Its heat and long cycle are hard on grips, ferrules and the glue that holds the head on.
- Harsh chemicals. Bleach, oven cleaner and solvents such as acetone strip paint and cloud plastic ferrules.
- WD-40, oils and solvents on grips. They leave the rubber slippery, and a slippery grip makes you squeeze harder.
- Heat to dry clubs. A radiator or a hairdryer hardens rubber grips.
- A pressure washer. It drives water into the hosel and can lift the paint fill from the lettering.
How often should you clean golf clubs?
Wipe the faces and grooves after every round, and give the set a full wash every few rounds or after any round in the wet. TaylorMade suggests spending 5 to 10 minutes on your clubs after each round, which is about what a wipe-down and dry takes.
| When | What to do |
|---|---|
| During the round | Wipe the face with a damp towel and clear the grooves with a tee |
| After every round | Wipe the heads and grooves, dry the clubs and take them out of a wet bag |
| Every few rounds | Full wash of heads, shafts and grips |
| After a wet round | Full wash, then dry everything that evening with the headcovers off |
| End of the season | Full wash, rust check and grip check, then store indoors |
A wet bag left in a car boot or a damp garage over winter gives chrome and steel shafts time to rust, so store the set in a dry room indoors.
How to clean old or second-hand golf clubs
A set that has sat in a loft or a garage for years needs the full process, slowly. Wash and dry every club before you judge the rust, then decide club by club which rust will polish off and which grips need replacing. On most old sets, new grips change how the clubs feel more than any amount of cleaning.
Clean a set before you sell it or trade it in. Mud in the grooves hides the state of the face, and a dirty grip looks worse than it is. What your golf clubs are worth depends on the brand, the model's age and the grades we give the head, shaft and grip.
We take trade-ins and part exchange on all the top brands, with an instant online quote and payment by bank transfer or as store credit worth an extra 10%. The quote rests on the condition you describe, and if our inspection finds something different, we send a revised offer before going ahead. A clean set is easier to describe accurately, so the quote you accept is more likely to stand.
Frequently asked questions
What cleaner should you use on golf clubs?
Warm water with a few drops of washing-up liquid. It lifts mud and grip grime without harming the paint or the chrome, and TaylorMade advises a mild detergent too. Keep specialist products for specific jobs, such as chrome polish for rust spots.
Is Dawn dish soap OK for golf clubs?
Yes. Dawn is a mild washing-up liquid, and any mild washing-up liquid sold in the UK does the same job. Use a few drops in a bucket of warm water, and rinse it off the grips, because soap left on a grip makes it slippery.
Can you use WD-40 on golf clubs?
On the heads, sparingly. A light wipe protects chrome or a raw wedge from rust between rounds, as long as you wipe the face clean before you play. Keep it off grips, where it leaves the rubber slippery, and use soap and water for the cleaning itself.
How do you clean golf clubs with vinegar?
Hold a cloth soaked in white vinegar on a rust spot for a few minutes, scrub with a nylon brush, then rinse and dry. Keep it to a few minutes, because vinegar is an acid and eats into bare steel too.
Should you polish golf clubs?
Chrome heads and steel shafts take chrome polish well, and it lifts light rust and dullness. Keep polish off painted crowns if it has any grit in it, off black and satin finishes, and off raw wedges, where the rust is the finish.
Are 30 year old golf clubs still good?
Often, for irons, wedges and putters, once the grooves are sound, the shafts are straight and free of pitting, and the grips are new. A 30-year-old driver is a different case: its head is far smaller than the 460cc maximum modern drivers are built to, and old golf clubs give up the most ground to new ones off the tee.
