How to Make Golf Grips Tacky | Cleaning Golf Club Grips

Last Updated on May 27, 2023 by Kristen Ellis

Have you ever wondered why the professional golfer’s grips are so smooth and tacky? They don’t change their golf grips regularly but clean them. Cleaning your golf grip is as important as any other task in sports. It makes them feel new. Moreover, a cleaned golf grip allows you to grip correctly and make it easy for golfers throughout the game.

Changing the grip whenever it feels sticky or untidy is unnecessary because the new one will not stay long. Cleaning your golf club grips will advantage you in getting rid of sweat, dirt, and body oil and revive them into a new ones. So it’s better to make them tacky by following these easy steps that we will mention below.

How to make golf grips tacky

Steps to Clean a Golf Grip & Make it Tacky

  • The first step for cleaning a golf grip is cleaning the entire club. It’s best to fill up a plastic bucket with water, but you can use a kitchen or bathroom sink if unavailable. 
  • In the next step, you need any washing liquid or golf grip cleaner, a brush with plastic bristles, slightly warm water, and a clean cloth or towel. 

If you are looking to buy a new tacky grip, check out our guide about the best tacky golf grips before buying.

How to Clean Golf Grip

Step 1:

Firstly, you need to fill the bucket with lukewarm water. It would be best to fill the bucket to an extent for dripping the heads. Also, the water should not be reaching over the ferrules.  

Step 2

Now add some washing liquid to the bucket full of water. Ensure the water is slightly warm and not too hot, as it will harm your ferrules. 

Step 3

Put the bucket down along with the golf clubs sunk in the warm water.

Step 4

Please keep them in the water until all the dirt and grease soften and loosen up from the grooves. 

Step 5

After letting them soak for a few moments, clean the grooves with a brush with plastic bristles like a toothbrush. This step is the most important as you will remove all the dirt from the grooves.  

Step 6

Once you have cleaned the grooves, move towards the back of the club head and sole of the golf grip to remove any dirt, sand, or grass from there.

 Step 7

Once you have removed dirt from all over the golf club, rinse it off with clean water. 

Step 8

Patch dry the clubhead using a clean cloth or towel and move the towel down the shaft to ensure it is entirely dried before reusing it.  

Step 9

You can also dry the golf grip using an air dryer, but we suggest a towel as it is a better option. 

Other Ways of Cleaning a Golf Club

You can also use the following ways to clean a golf club that keeps your golf grips tacky.

Wipes Cleaning

Golf grips can also be cleaned using cleaning wipes readily available. Follow the steps if you clean your golf grips using cleaning wipes. 

  1. The initial step is to remove the wipes from the packet and reseal them for future usage.  
  2. Now take the wipe and clean the golf club nicely. Don’t forget the edges. 

Two cleaning wipes are enough to clean a whole golf grip. The advantage of using a cleaning wipe is that it will eliminate the need for soaking or drying golf clubs. Wipes cleaning is one of the easiest and faster ways of cleaning golf clubs and making a grip tacky. 

Microfiber Towel

You can also use a microfiber towel specifically designed to clean golf clubs. Once you have cleaned your golf club with water or a microfiber towel, you can use metal or any other polish to give your golf clubs an excellent finish. 

Sandpaper

Sandpaper can be the best way to clean your golf grips, especially if they are worn out, as it will temporarily repair them.

  • First, wash the untidy or dirty golf grips with lukewarm and soapy water to remove all the dirt and grease.
  • Once they have cleaned, dry them with a clean cloth, any old towel, or a microfiber towel. 
  • Now take a piece of sandpaper and gently rub it all over the golf grip. You can use any readily available sandpaper for you but make sure you are not rubbing it too hard as it will wear them out more, and they will look old. 

When to Clean Golf Grips?

A golfer must clean their golf grips once or twice a year. But if you are a regular golfer, you should clean your golf club once a month. The sweat, dirt, or other particles stuck on the golf club can result in a low-quality grip. The more your golf club is dirty, the more difficult it will be to get the correct wrist release. To increase the life of a golf club, cleaning it regularly to remove dirt or oil deposited in it is obligatory. 

It is also necessary to clean the golf clubheads after every round to give them a fresh new look. Cleaning golf grips are essential, especially in summer, as the body oil and sweat on hands automatically get on them, making them untidy and taking away the tacky and soft feel.

You should not often clean golf grips with soapy water, as it will make them slippery and cause you to lose your grip. It is better to clean them with sandpaper instead. 

Why is it Necessary to Clean Golf Grips?

Since you haven’t cleaned your golf grips, without any doubt, your golf grips will become dirty, or you will lose your grip over them. When golf grips are not cleaned, they become slippery due to sweat or oil on our hands, increasing grip pressure. Increasing grip pressure may cause terrible difficulties for golfers. It will release tension in the forearms and shoulders for a novice golfer, making it more challenging to focus on the game.