How to Clean Golf Balls? – Proper Cleaning Ways That Golfers Must Know

When you strike a golf ball, you know what a path it flies and meets with mud, sand, rough surfaces, and even trees around the course. So getting specks of dirt on the golf ball surface is not a surprising factor. We all know that dimples implant at the golf ball’s outer shell to get more speed with proper spinning. But when the dirt, mud, and debris covered the body, it severely affects the aerodynamics which ruins your overall score. That’s why every golfer must know how to clean golf balls without damaging the dimples on their surface area.

Besides, the ball lost its colors and freshness after getting touched by the clubs repeatedly. But if you want to maintain your performance, you have to use a fresh and clean ball every time to get the right speed, mandatory for the perfect distance. The more exciting thing is that you will get lots of golf balls at the pond near the course every year. These hunting balls are also reusable if you clean them properly. Surprisingly, all golf balls are dishwasher-safe. So it is not so tough to clean it and use it for the second time. Before knowing about all the processes of cleaning the golf ball, you should realize whether it is necessary or not.

Related: How to clean a golf bag?

Is It Necessary to Clean a Golf Ball?

If you do not understand the necessity of cleaning your stained golf balls, you will not get interested in making your range balls spotless. Most of the time, we found that golfers do not take it seriously. Perhaps the golfer who is not interested in wondering the lost ball or occasionally finds out after hitting a perfect shot does not seriously consider the cleaning issue. They wipe the dirty surface just with the golf towel or rub it on their pants and think it is good enough to fly in the fairway. They will never achieve the proper performance even if they use the best golf ball for the session.

Generally, the golf ball surface needs to endure all the pressure of iron, wedge, driver, or putter to hit it towards the target. At the time of flying, it absorbs the hazards of the course. All this time of happening, the surface gets spikes of dirt. Besides, dimples are constructed over the range ball to pass the air without blocking the speed. If there have any obstacles over the dimples, it naturally lowers its facilities to spin. On the other hand, those balls undergo water hazards for a long time and get heavy slime and mud. You can collect them by using the golf ball retriever. These wet balls require cleaning for re-use. There are lots of benefits to using the cleaned ball to get a perfect trajectory. These are-

• Increase the spin rate and perform as well as a new one.
• Provide better flight and distance.
• Lower the chance of camouflage with the grass of the course.
• Can quickly mark again on the faded ball marks.

As you know, the cleaned ball’s necessary to get the correct score; let’s go to the primary target, and clean the dirty ball.

How to clean a golf ball?

According to the rules of USGA, you can not clean your ball while the session goes on. You have to continue with the ball with which you started. Conceivably, rubbing or wiping out is also enough to clean the outer surface of the ball. But after completing the day, you should clean every club, including the balls. If it is a rubber ball, you have to clean it with the cleaner used for your other daily chore, not too harsh a cleanser. There are some light cleaners and cleaning equipment to remove all specks of dirt from your golf balls quickly.

Related: How to clean your golf clubs at home?

Materials required for cleansing the dirty golf balls

1. Mild detergent

The mild detergent that you use to clean your utensils can use to cleanse your practice balls. As these balls are soft, any harsh dish soap damages its dimples’ smoothness, the specialized golfing area. You may also use white vinegar to wash the unclean balls. A strong detergent may make the ball bright, but it lowers its quality. The damaged dimples hinder the perfect speed and balance of the shots which ultimately lowers your correct score. And it is much better to play with a fuzzy ball than a sparkling, low-quality ball.

2. Lukewarm water

Another source of washing agents is lukewarm clean water. You can pass lots of balls at a time, and you need a bucket. The size of the bucket may vary for the number of balls. To clean the dirt from the ball’s dimples, you must put them in lukewarm water for 30 minutes. At this time, you may also add some mild detergent to the bucket of water if there have any hardened debris. When it stays for a long in the bucket with water, all waste becomes loosened, and you can easily remove it only by scrubbing with your hands.

3. A dishwasher or sponge

If you play on a muddy golf course or in rainy weather, your ball will get more mud. This mud will stick hard on the surface and become difficult to wash out. At this moment, you can use a sponge for rubbing that mud after put in the soapy water for a few minutes.

4. Soft Bristle brush

Except for a sponge, you can use a soft-bristled brush to clean the sticky substances from the dimples of the ball. However, it will be time-consuming but can remove all the dirt smoothly without any damage.

Related: How to clean golf cart seats, batteries, windshield?

Cleaning Procedure of Light Dirt

• Put all soft dirty balls into a utensil chamber.
• Add mild dishwashing liquid into the water.
• Remove the dirt softly with a sponge.
• Wash the balls a second time if they have any debris on the surface.
• Keep the wet balls on a dry clean towel and soak the water gently.

Cleaning Procedure of Moderate Dirt

• Take a bucket and fill it with mild-warm water. Fill up to 75% of the bucket with the water and put the balls into it.
• Add a few drops of cleaning agents like detergent, white vinegar. Keep in mind that do not add multiple cleansers at a time.
• Keep the ball for an hour or more into the solution.
• Rinse the ball with clear water.
• Dry the water with a towel.
• Keep the ball in a sunny place for a while to dry it thoroughly.

Cleaning The Ball Retrieve From A Pond

• When the ball is floating on pond water for a long time, it gets a slimy growth and sticky substance on the surface. It would be helpful if you had something special to clean these sticky things.
• At first, make a paste of baking soda with water. Then take a little with a toothbrush or a nylon brush and rub the stubborn dirt at the surface of the muddy ball.
• Then add a ball cleaning solution into the warm water and put the discolored balls into it.
• Rinse the ball repeatedly with fresh cold water.
• Soak the extra water with a dry towel.

Some special tricks that Gear up the entire cleaning process

• It will be best if you use a ball cleaning solvent instead of a soapy mixture.
• Do not keep the dirty ball in the cleaning solution for more than 6 hours.
• Try to put the ball first into the bucket and then add distilled water with a water hose.
• Clean the ball as early as possible after it gets dirty.
• While drying the ball with the towel, check if it has any permanent damage or not. If you see any, then discard it from the lot for further use.

Precautions that you should follow

• Never use any harsh chemicals like bleach mixture to remove the dirt.
• Do not clean and keep the ball in the direct sunlight.
• Never use any stiff wire brush to remove dirt from the surface.
• Use deep cleaning methods only when needed.
• Use hand gloves while washing with detergent.

How to wash golf balls quickly and easily

Final Words

In the Coronavirus pandemic situation of 2021, you should try to re-use and recycle the materials you can. So clean dirty golf balls properly for the next session will also help us regulate our daily lives effectively in this adverse period. Not only this but use the effective method at the proper time also improves its life span. Besides, starting the golf game with a clean and fresh ball is also a prerequisite for a successful session. And the cleaning process step that we discussed above enough to continue the round efficiently.