Caught in a sudden downpour on the back nine? We’ve all been there. You get back to the clubhouse or your car with golf shoes that feel more like water balloons. The immediate, tempting thought is to toss them in the dryer for a quick fix before your next round. So, can you put golf shoes in the dryer? This article will tell you exactly why you shouldn't and walk you through the proper, coach-approved methods to safely dry them, protecting your investment and your game.
Let's get this out of the way immediately. Under no circumstances should you put your golf shoes in a clothes dryer. It might seem like a fast and easy solution, but the intense, direct heat and the tumbling action found in a standard dryer are the two worst enemies of a modern golf shoe. Doing so is the fastest way to ruin a perfectly good, and often expensive, pair.
Think of your golf shoes as a highly engineered piece of equipment, just like your driver or putter. They are constructed from multiple specialized materials glued and stitched together to provide comfort, stability, and waterproof performance. A dryer systematically attacks every single one of these components.
Think of it from a coaching perspective: you want every piece of your equipment to be consistent and reliable. Subjecting your shoes to a dryer introduces a level of damage and unpredictability that you simply don't want to bring to the course.
So, you’re standing over your soaked shoes and the dryer is off-limits. What’s the right way to bring them back to life? It’s all about patience and allowing air circulation to do the work, not heat. This process not only dries them safely but also helps them last longer and perform better.
You can't dry shoes properly if they're caked in muck. A good cleaning is always the first step after a wet, muddy round.
First, bang the shoes together outside to dislodge any large clumps of mud, grass, and dirt. Then, take a cloth or soft-bristled brush dipped in a mild solution of soap and water and gently scrub the outside of the shoes. Pay attention to the grooves and seams. For the soles, use a brush to clean out dirt from around the spikes.
Once they’re clean, the most important part of the prep work is this: remove the laces and the insoles. Laces can trap water, and insoles are like thick sponges. Removing them allows both the insoles and the inside of the shoe cavity to dry much more efficiently and completely. You can clean the insoles and laces separately with the same soap and water mix and set them aside to air dry flat.
With the shoes prepped, it's time to get the moisture out. Never place them near a radiator, fireplace, or space heater - direct heat is the enemy, remember? Instead, choose one of these safer, field-tested methods.
This is a classic for a reason. Newspaper is highly absorbent and works wonders at wicking moisture from the inside out.
If you want to speed things up a bit, leveraging a simple room fan is incredibly effective. It's not about heat, it's about constant air circulation.
For the committed golfer, a couple of gear upgrades can make drying shoes foolproof.
It's tempting to think that spikeless golf shoes, which often look and feel more like athletic sneakers, can handle the dryer. The answer is still no. The same rules apply.
Spikeless shoes are made with the same EVA foam midsoles, specialized upper materials, and heat-sensitive glues as their spiked counterparts. The only difference is the design of the outsole. Tossing them in the dryer will cause the same warping, glue-melting, and cushioning-destroying damage. Treat your spikeless shoes with the same care and use the air-drying methods described above.
In short, never use a clothes dryer for your golf shoes. The intense heat and tumbling action will break down the materials, ruin the fit, and shorten their lifespan drastically. Your best plan of attack is to always air-dry them after a proper cleaning, using simple but effective methods like stuffing them with newspaper or placing them in front of a fan.
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