How to Restore Stickiness to Golf Grips

A slippery golf grip feels like trying to drive on ice - you lose all connection and control over your shot. It forces you to squeeze the life out of the club, creating tension that ruins your swing before you even start it. This article is your complete guide to restoring that fresh-out-of-the-box stickiness to your grips, using simple items you already have at home. We’ll cover why your grips get slick, the exact steps to bring them back to life, and how to know when it’s time to say goodbye and re-grip.

Why Do Grips Lose Their Tackiness?

Think of your golf grips like the pores on your skin. Brand new grips are full of microscopic textures and pores that create friction against your hands or glove, giving you that secure, tacky feel. Over time, these pores become clogged with a nasty cocktail of elements from a day on the course.

The main culprits are:

• Oils from Your Hands: Your hands naturally produce oils that transfer to the grip with every swing.
• Sweat and Dirt: Sweat combines with microscopic dirt, dust, and pollen from the air and the ground, creating a grimy film.
• Sunscreen and Lotions: These are especially good at breaking down rubber compounds and leaving behind a slick residue that’s stubbornly difficult to remove without a good scrub.
• UV Rays and Heat: Over time, exposure to the sun and the heat from being in a car trunk bakes this gunk into the grip. The heat also slowly hardens the rubber, a process called oxidation, which causes the material itself to lose its natural tackiness.

So, when your grip feels slick, it’s not always because the rubber is "worn out." More often than not, it’s simply because an invisible layer of grime is covering up the texture you need for a confident hold. By cleaning this layer off, you can expose the fresh, tacky surface underneath and restore a surprising amount of the original feel.

Your Grip Cleaning Toolkit: Simple and Effective

You don't need fancy, expensive grip cleaning solutions. The best tools for the job are probably already under your kitchen sink. Here’s a quick list of what you’ll need to assemble your grip-reviving station:

• A bucket or sink: Just enough to submerge a grip if you wanted to, but mainly to hold your cleaning solution.
• Warm water: Not scalding hot, as extreme heat can damage some softer grip materials and the epoxy holding your club head on if you’re not careful.
• Mild dish soap: A degreasing dish soap, like Dawn, works wonders. It's specifically formulated to break down grease and oil, which is exactly what’s mucking up your grips.
• A soft-bristled brush: A plastic dish brush, a vegetable brush, or an old soft-bristled toothbrush is perfect. Do not use a wire brush. Wire bristles are too aggressive and will shave off the surface of your grips, destroying them permanently.
• Two towels: One old towel to place underneath your work area to catch drips, and one clean, dry towel (microfiber is excellent) to dry the grips after you’re done.

The Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Grips

With your toolkit ready, it’s time to get to work. This process takes less than 15 minutes for a full set of clubs and makes a world of difference on the course. For best results, clean one grip at a time.

Step 1: Prepare Your Cleaning Station

Find a spot where you can comfortably work, like a utility sink in your garage or laundry room, or even outside with a bucket on a stable surface. Fill your sink or bucket with a few inches of warm water.

Step 2: Mix the Cleaning Solution

Add a few generous squirts of your dish soap into the warm water and swish it around to create some suds. You’re not looking for a mountain of bubbles, just a good, soapy solution that will cut through oil and grime effectively.

Step 3: Wet and Scrub Each Grip

Take your first club. You can dip the grip itself into the water, but be careful not to submerge the area where the grip meets the shaft (the ferrule), as you don’t want water running down inside the shaft. Alternatively, just dip your scrub brush into the soapy water.

Now, scrub the grip firmly. Use a rotational motion, scrubbing around the grip, as well as up and down the length of it. The goal is to get the bristles into every little line and texture pattern. You should see some dirty, brownish foam coming off the grip - that’s a good sign! It means you’re lifting out all the gunk that has been packed in there. Pay extra attention to the areas where your thumbs and the pads of your hands rest, as these are typically the dirtiest spots.

Step 4: Rinse Thoroughly

This might be the most important step. Once you’ve scrubbed the entire grip, rinse it completely under a stream of clean, cool water. Make sure you get all of the soap residue off. Any leftover soap will feel slick when it dries or gets wet on the course, completely defeating the purpose of cleaning your grips in the first place. You’ll know it’s fully rinsed when the water runs clear and the grip no longer feels soapy to the touch.

Step 5: Dry Completely

Use your clean, dry towel to pat the grip down and remove the excess water. You’ll be surprised at how much tackier it already feels. To finish, either stand the clubs up grips-first in your bag (not letting the grips touch) or lean them against a wall to air dry completely. Don’t put your headcovers on just yet. I recommend letting them dry overnight to make absolutely sure they are 100% dry before you head out to play.

Special Considerations for Different Grip Materials

While the basic soap-and-water method works for nearly all grips, some materials benefit from a slightly different approach.

Common Rubber Grips (e.g., Golf Pride Tour Velvet)

These are the workhorses of the golf world. They are incredibly durable and respond perfectly to the standard cleaning method described above. You can be fairly firm with your scrubbing on these, it takes a lot to damage them.

Cord Grips (e.g., Golf Pride Z-Grip, MultiCompound)

Cord grips have cotton fibers woven into the rubber for extra traction, especially in wet conditions. The cleaning process is the same, but don't be alarmed if the cord feels a bit fuzzy or abrasive after cleaning and drying. That's a good thing! It means the fibers are protruding and ready to provide that amazing friction you bought them for.

Softer Polymer Grips (e.g., Winn Dri-Tac, SuperStroke Putter Grips)

Grips made from softer polymers require a gentler touch. These materials are much tackier to begin with but are less durable than standard rubber. When cleaning them, use less pressure with your brush. A firm but gentle wipe-down is better than an aggressive scrubbing, which can cause the soft material to breakdown or wear away prematurely.

How Often Should You Clean Your Grips?

Consistency is everything in golf, and that applies to your equipment maintenance, too. The ideal cleaning frequency depends on a few factors:

• How much you play: The more you play, the faster grime builds up.
• Your hands: Do you have sweaty hands? You’ll need to clean your grips more often.
• Course conditions: Playing in humid, dusty, or wet weather will soil your grips faster.

A good rule of thumb is to give your grips a deep clean every 4-6 rounds or at least once a month during the golf season. Treating it like checking the oil in your car - a quick piece of preventative maintenance - will keep your grips feeling great and will dramatically extend their usable life, saving you money on re-gripping.

When It’s Time to Replace, Not Restore

Cleaning can perform miracles, but it can’t turn back time forever. At some point, the rubber itself will degrade from use and exposure to the elements, and no amount of scrubbing will help. It’s time to head to the golf shop for a re-grip when you see these signs:

• Shiny, smooth spots: Look for glossy areas where the grip’s texture has been physically worn away, especially where your thumbs rest. This means the friction-providing surface is gone for good.
• Cracks or splits: Any visible cracks, big or small, are a death sentence for a grip. The rubber has become dry and brittle.
• Hardening: If the grip feels hard and slick like plastic, even right after a thorough cleaning, the rubber has lost its elasticity and will never feel tacky again.
• Loss of color: If that black grip now looks more like a faded grey, it's a good sign that the material has oxidized and is past its prime.

Final Thoughts

Keeping your golf grips sticky and responsive is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to improve your connection to the club and your confidence over the ball. A simple routine of scrubbing them with soap and water every few rounds makes a world of difference, saving you money and helping you play better golf.

Just as simple off-course maintenance can remove doubt from your equipment, the right information can remove doubt from your on-course decisions. To help with this, I built Caddie AI to act as a 24/7 golf coach in your pocket. It’s there to provide smart course strategy when you’re unsure on the tee or instant, expert advice when you're facing a tough shot, helping you commit to every swing with total confidence.