How to clean golf balls?
Using dirty golf balls can have negative effects on your golf game.
In fact, having extra dirt or mud attached to part of your golf ball will offset its balance, thus modifying its flight path and distance carried. Effectively, dirt and mud attached to a golf ball are adding weight, and generally not doing so uniformly.
Furthermore, having dirt or other gunk on your golf balls will change how they will be hit by your golf clubs, as well as how much they spin.
There is a reason why you see so many PGA professionals cleaning their balls with a cloth after many of their shots.
In order to avoid negative effects on your golf game, you do want to clean your golf balls well if they get too dirty.
How to clean golf balls?
Method 1: Manually scrub the golf balls with a cleaning agent
Materials needed:
-Bucket or container
-Cleaning agent (dishwasher soap, vinegar, or hydrogen peroxide)
-Gloves (if you use hydrogen peroxide)
-A piece of cloth or a soft brush
1) Fill the bucket with hot water
Use warm water, but not so warm that it is boiling.
2) Add your cleaning agent to the water
You can use various cleaning agents, such as vinegar, dishwashing soap, and hydrogen peroxide. However, you should not attempt mixing various chemicals because that has a chance of creating toxic gas.
Remember: put on gloves if you are using hydrogen peroxide.
3) Soak the golf balls in the water
Pour your dirty balls straight into the container filled with warm water and the cleaning agent.
After that, let your dirty balls soak in the water for 10 to 25 minutes is you are using dishwashing soap or hydrogen peroxide as a cleaning agent; let your dirty balls soak for 20 to 30 minutes if you are using vinegar.
4) Scrub each ball with the cloth or soft brush
Use a piece of cloth or a soft brush to individually pick up each ball in the water and clean it by rubbing it. Moreover, do not use a wire brush or a brush with metal bristles. Use a non-abrasive brush. Spin the ball around in your hands to scrub every nook and cranny of the ball.
In the end, make sure you remove all dirt and debris from the ball to ensure its optimal performance.
5) Remove the balls from the container and rinse them
After all the balls are completely clean, you have two choices.
Either you can take all the golf balls out and put them in a second container filled with clean water, or you can rinse each individual ball under the sink or a hose.
Make sure you clean off the remaining cleaning agent from all the golf balls.
6) Dry the golf balls
Finally, after rinsing the golf balls, use a clean cloth to dry the golf balls.
Alternatively, you can dry the golf balls out in the sun, a method that requires less work on your part.
Method 2: Scrub the golf balls with a cleaning agent with a drill
Materials needed:
-Bucket
-Bucket lid with small hole in it
-Cleaning agent (dishwasher soap, vinegar, or hydrogen peroxide)
-Gloves (if you use hydrogen peroxide)
-Pieces of cloth
-Drill
-Painter Mixer Drill Bit (Metal Rod)
-Strainer
1) Attach the piece of cloth to the painter’s drill bit
Secure pieces of cloth to the painter’s drill bit until the metal parts are no longer exposed. Two pieces of cloth are usually enough. These cloths will rotate and scrub the balls without any effort on your end.
2) Fill the bucket with hot water
Fill the bucket with warm water, but not so warm that it is boiling.
3) Add cleaning agent to the water
You can use various cleaning agents, such as vinegar, dishwashing soap, and hydrogen peroxide. However, you should not attempt mixing various chemicals because that has a chance of creating toxic gas.
Remember: put on gloves if you are using hydrogen peroxide.
4) Soak the golf balls in the water
Pour your dirty balls straight into the container filled with warm water and the cleaning agent.
After that, let your dirty balls soak in the water for 10 to 25 minutes is you are using dishwashing soap or hydrogen peroxide as a cleaning agent; let your dirty balls soak for 20 to 30 minutes if you are using vinegar.
5) Put the paint mixer drill bit in the bucket
Place the paint mixer drill bit, with cloths secured to it, into the bucket.
Do not let the top of the paint mixer drill bit touch the water because the drill bit will go into the drill later. You do not want water to touch your drill. Letting water touch your drill could potentially be dangerous. Exercise caution.
6) Put the lid on the bucket, sliding the paint mixer drill bit through the hole
Put the lid on top of the bucket, making sure it clicks onto the bucket, nice and secure. Make sure you slide the paint mixer drill bit through the bucket before closing the bucket lid.
7) Attach the paint mixer drill bit to your drill
Attach the painter’s drill bit to your drill, securing the drill bit as firmly as possible.
8) Turn on the drill for 2 to 3 minutes
Power your drill for 2 to 3 minutes, making sure no water comes out of the bucket. Furthermore, you should try out lower power settings for your drill first to find the optimal one that won’t splash water out of the bucket.
Stop the drill if you feel it heating up too much. Let the drill cool down and power it again once it is cooler.
After 2 to 3 total minutes of drill use, power off the drill.
9) Detach the paint mixer drill bit and remove the bucket lid
Loosen up the paint mixer drill bit and pull your drill off the paint mixer drill bit. Next, put the drill aside in a secure place away from water. Finally, unplug the drill.
After that, remove the bucket lid from the bucket.
10) Pour the golf balls into the strainer
Pick up the bucket of water, cleaning agent and golf balls and pour them into the strainer.
Let the water and the cleaning agent pour out from the strainer’s holes, leaving only the golf balls in the strainer.
11) Rinse the golf balls
Your golf balls are now clean, but have some residual cleaning agent. Rinse the cleaning agent off the clean golf balls.
One way you can do this is by shooting water into the strainer. An alternate method is to remove the golf balls from the strainer and put them in a tank of clean water.
12) Dry the golf balls
Finally, after rinsing the golf balls, use a clean cloth to dry the golf balls.
Alternatively, you can dry the golf balls out in the sun, a method that requires less work on your part.
Method 3: Use an on-course golf ball cleaner
If dedicating time outside of playtime to clean your balls is bothersome to you, you could clean your balls while on the golf course.
There are many on-course golf ball cleaners you can use, and these can improve your performance by always allowing you to have clean balls. For instance, one good golf ball cleaner is the 10L0L Golf Ball Washer.
Method 4: Use a dishwasher
A great method to clean your golf balls that is mostly hands free is to use your dishwasher.
All you need to do is put the golf balls in the racks of your dishwasher. Do not place any golf balls in areas where they will hit the dishwasher’s moving parts. Therefore, it is usually best to keep your golf balls in the top tray on most dishwashers.
In addition, use a normal heat setting to wash your golf balls in the dishwasher.
Finally, you should obviously not wash your silverware, glasses and plates at the same time as your golf balls.
This method will not always get the balls sparkling clean, but it will do the heavy lifting for you, bringing your balls to an acceptable level of cleanliness. Cleaning your balls with a dishwasher will not waterlog them.
Method 5: Buy new golf balls
Finally, if you really do not want to clean your golf balls yourself, you can always simply buy new ones, and donate your dirty ones to children, charities, the Salvation Army, etc.
This is absolutely not the most cost effective solution, but it will leave you with perfectly clean balls with no time spent cleaning at all.
If you would like to use this method, do not need the best performance possible, and you are on a budget, you could always buy lake balls. Basically, lake balls are used balls recovered from lakes and other hazards; they are cheaper and usually cleaned for you.
Conclusion
With these methods, you will always have clean balls, and thus, get the highest performance you can out of your balls. Your balls will now be white, practically looking new, and not dragging your game down and your handicap up.
Do you know other ball cleaning methods? Would you consider choosing method 5? Let us know down below in the comments!
