Clubs, shoes and gloves: the best ways to clean golf equipment and make it last longer

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For whatever reason many of us have been unable to take better care of our golf equipment.

We spend hours tinkering with things, gunning for courses in the middle and expecting our kit to always be shiny and new.

To help us perform and play better, we can easily improve our opening habits on and off the course.

Clubs

– Use a wet towel during every round and wipe the clubface after the shot. You see the visiting players never miss a ball when most of us are poor in our behaviour.

– Use the groove cleaner and, again, use it for every shot.

– Clean clubs look more attractive and, most importantly, having new holes is essential to get the right amount of spin on the ball. When cleaning your clubs use warm water, mild soap and a soft brush. You will immediately notice the difference it will make for clean grooves in the shot.

– Not many of us pay attention to cleaning the things we hold. This is where dirt, sweat and oil can collect so cleaning with a damp cloth and mild soap will encourage grip and grip. By looking at your grip it will help in your scoring and the longevity of your grip.

– Do not store your clubs at very high temperatures or in damp conditions as this can damage the handles or weaken the glue that connects the clubhead and shaft. Store your clubs in a cool, dry place.

– Use head coverings and metal coverings. They are there to stop the scratching of your clubs.

– Use your local PGA Pro to test your clubs. They will be able to tell you about your lies and lies and make sure the club is doing what it should be doing.

Shoes

A quality golf shoe can cost £200 so it's well worth your attention. They will also look, feel and perform better, all of which will help you lower your score. The easy wins (these are the things we should but rarely do) are:

– Use a shoe tree to maintain the condition of the shoe and do not leave your shoes in the boot of the car where high temperatures can destroy the material of the shoes

– It is very important to get two pairs of shoes as two pairs will last longer than twice the length of one pair. Have one cheap pair of those holes after work or your practice and save a better pair for your regular golf.

– Check your braces between rounds to make sure they are secured properly and never tighten them.

– Use a shoe horn when putting on your shoes to protect the heel. Heel injuries can cause poor fit and lead to heel spurs.

– Use the shoe cleaners located near the 18th green. There's no real reason not to spend two minutes removing excess dirt from a £200 pair of shoes. Also use a wet wipe to remove any excess dirt from the surface.

– Use mild soap and warm water when cleaning shoes away from the course. Remove the laces when cleaning and remove the inner sole. To dry, never place in direct sunlight or use a hair dryer/radiator as excessive heat will damage both surfaces and exteriors.

– If they get wet, wrap a newspaper and dry the shoes overnight. Then, to help restore the shoes to their original condition, use a wooden shoe tree.

A glove

These days a quality glove will cost around £20, so, if you play a lot of golf, you want to look after it.

– Another misconception is that the glove cannot get wet but must be washed. Read the label to see how best to care for it but hand washing is probably the best way forward as this is a gentler process than the washing machine.

– Use mild soap and warm water and avoid detergents as this will damage the materials used. Look at where the glove meets the club and rub it with your hands. If the glove is full leather, as many are, it should never be completely submerged in water so use a damp cloth.

– Once clean, rinse the solution and dry with a towel and air dry. While it's still wet reshape your glove to prevent it from drying out. One important ingredient is to never use a machine or blow dryer as this will damage the leather and synthetics. Similarly do not leave it in direct sunlight.

– It is good to wipe the dirt and especially the sweat after each cycle with a wet cloth. And putting it back in its pocket to keep the shape and avoid just putting it back in your bag with a bunch of other old gloves where it will just lose shape. For whatever reason this simple practice is beyond most of us but it will save you a few quid.

– Another good idea is to rotate the two gloves to give them another chance to dry properly.

– It is time to change the gloves if there are torn or thin spots, they are slippery or loose or hard or cracked.

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