Cleaning your golf clubs with toothpaste may seem like a crazy idea but it works! Surprisingly, toothpaste can be a very effective tool for removing scratches, dirt, and debris from your golf clubs.
Toothpastes contains tiny abrasive materials that are coarse enough to clean your clubs while still being gentle enough to not scratch them.
Given that cleaning your golf clubs with toothpaste is uncommon, you may not know the correct way to go about it. It’s important to get it right to make sure your clubs get cleaned and polished properly.
In the article below, we are going to cover all you need to know about cleaning and polishing your clubs with toothpaste. We have a lot to cover so let’s get started.
Cleaning Your Clubs With Toothpaste
Toothpaste is a great cleaning solution if you are trying to remove scratches or light stains from the club head or the shaft. However, it does have its limitations.
For those looking to remove rust from clubs, we recommend not using toothpaste and instead trying other methods such as WD-40, Coca-Cola, or CLR.
Additionally, never use toothpaste on a graphite shaft or on your club grips. Abrasive toothpaste could potentially scratch graphite and toothpaste and grips do not mix.
What You Will Need
- Low Abrasion Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- Access To Water
- Old Cloth or Rag
Instructions
The best way to go about using toothpaste to remove scratches from your clubs is to treat your club head or shaft like your teeth. Grab an old toothbrush that you no longer use or go to your local store and pick up a cheap one.
1.) Apply a small dab of toothpaste onto the club face like you would if you were about to brush your teeth.
2.) From here, scrub over the scratches with the toothbrush and toothpaste until you see that the scratches are wearing away. Ensure that you have a bucket of warm water handy to rinse the clubs and the toothbrush every so often.
3.) After you have finished scrubbing, hose down the club shaft and club head and dry it thoroughly.
Alternatively, you might just want to use toothpaste as a finishing touch after washing your clubs with soap and water. To do this, apply toothpaste to a cloth and rub down your shafts and heads with it after you’ve finished cleaning them with soap.
For those looking to go above in beyond in the golf club cleaning, try an electric toothbrush. An electric toothbrush will apply consistent pressure and motion over the club face for perfect cleaning and polishing.
Looking for other ways to clean and polish your golf clubs? Check out our articles on cleaning your clubs with soap and water, polishing them with a Dremel, power washing golf clubs, Clorox wipes and so much more on the rest of the site!
Why Golfers Use Toothpaste To Clean Their Golf Clubs?
Cleaning your golf clubs with toothpaste is going to raise a few eyebrows at your local club. With that in mind, it’s important to have some basic information in your back pocket when the inevitable questions are asked.
The two main reasons why you’d use toothpaste to clean your clubs are it’s ingredients and accessibility.
1.) Toothpaste Contains Fantastic Ingredients For Cleaning
The main reason why you might consider using toothpaste to clean your golf clubs is because it contains ingredients that work as abrasives. This basically means that toothpaste is built for cleaning and polishing hard surfaces.
The most important ingredients are acids. Yes, that’s right, we clean our teeth every day with a formula made out of acids.
These acids are vital in removing dirt and scratches from hard surfaces, such as your teeth and also your golf clubs.
As toothpaste is primarily used for teeth cleaning purposes, the acids aren’t particularly strong. If they were, then you’d be doing more harm to your teeth than good.
The fact the acids aren’t strong is also good news for your golf clubs because it means that there is little chance of them becoming damaged during the cleaning process.
That is, of course, providing you don’t go overboard on the application of the toothpaste.
2.) Toothpaste Is A Common Household Item
Secondly, toothpaste is an item that you are already going to have in your house. You won’t need to go through the hassle of ordering a specific golf club cleaning kit from the internet or heading to a supermarket to pick up some dish soap.
Simply head upstairs to your bathroom and your cleaning tool will be right there waiting for you.
On top of that, toothpaste is typically cheaper than dish soap and other cleaning products. So, if you’re looking for a convenient and cheap cleaning option then it’s worth testing out the toothpaste method.
When Not To Use Toothpaste On Your Golf Clubs
Toothpaste is a great cleaning solution if you are trying to remove scratches or light stains from the club head or the shaft. However, it does have its limitations.
For those looking to remove rust from clubs, we recommend not using toothpaste and instead trying other methods such as WD-40, Coca-Cola, or CLR.
Additionally, never use toothpaste on a graphite shaft or on your club grips. Abrasive toothpaste could potentially scratch graphite and toothpaste and grips do not mix.
Can Toothpaste Damage Your Golf Clubs When Cleaning
There are two ways in which your golf clubs can get damaged when cleaning them with toothpaste. The first way is if you decide to use a toothpaste that has an abrasiveness ranking of over 150.
Ideally, you will use a toothpaste that ranks around 70-80 on this scale but you can go up to 150 if necessary. Anything over that, and you run the risk of damage.
The second way is if you decide, for whatever reason, that you want to clean your grips with toothpaste. This will cause the grips to become sticky and make your next few rounds of golf uncomfortable.
Additionally, don’t use toothpaste to clean graphite clubs as it could potentially scratch.
What Brand Of Toothpaste Should I Use?
When it comes to picking a toothpaste for cleaning golf clubs, there are only two things that you need to consider. Firstly, you need to consider the abrasiveness rating of the toothpaste.
Abrasion is ranked from 0-250 with 250 being highly acidic. The higher you go, the more likely you are to cause damage to your clubs.
However, you also don’t want to go too low because then you run the risk of no cleaning effects taking place. Therefore, aim for somewhere around 70.
The second thing you should consider is the type of the toothpaste. To prevent any discoloration on your clubs, it is best to avoid any whitening toothpaste brands.
Final Thoughts
Toothpaste can be an effective way to remove minor scratches and blemishes from your golf clubs.
The abrasive material in toothpastes makes it coarse enough to clean your clubs while gentle enough to not scratch them.
While using toothpaste to clean your clubs is not necessary for normal cleanings, it can be an effective tool in your cleaning tool belt. Use the tips above to maximize cleaning your clubs with toothpaste.
Hopefully you liked this article and found it informative. Check out our other blog posts if you liked this one!
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