GRIPS - Cleaning and Maintainance...on and off the course

Grips –

Grips can be either those most ignored item on the club, or sometimes the item on the club some people obsess over too much.

In other words, we have taken in clubs where the grips were so bad and worn that they adversely affected the player’s game…and most likely the safety of those nearby! Conversely, we have repeat customers who bring in their clubs and want to be re-gripped…when in actuality; all they needed was a decent cleaning.

Let’s talk about those that simply need a cleaning and how to easily do it not only between rounds but DURING the round.

Between rounds, you can use the age old method or warm soapy water where you rinse, then use the soapy water solution with a soft brush to scrub them clean…followed with more rinsing, then dry off.

The other MUCH easier way of cleaning the grips is by using a wonderful tire cleaning solution called “Westley’s Bleche-Wite” (see image) that you can pick up at any auto parts dept.

You simply find a ventilated area, stand up wind and spray and wipe off. Not only does this clean the grips very fast, but it also rejuvenates and restores most if not all of the original tackiness.

(NOTE: Keep this stuff around as I will be referencing it periodically for other great uses for golf equipment).

So this is all cool and easy to do…but what do you do when the grips get dirty and lose their tackiness in a round of golf?

A wet towel might help….sometimes it will still leave the grip wet, whereas the glass cleaner evaporates fast and residual free.

I believe it was Tom Wishon who shared this hint…which was carry a small 2-4oz spritz bottle with everyday glass cleaner.

When the grips get dirty or slippery, spritz on the glass cleaner and the grip immediately is cleaned…and unlike other cleaners made for cleaning, this will not adversely affect the grip, as some some cleaners are not designed to work with various rubber compounds.

Incidentally, along with the small spritz bottle, I also keep a 2-4oz bottle of  Anti-Bacterial hand cleaner with me. This keeps your hands clean and tacky as well!

Helpful Golf Hints - Golf Shoe Maintenance (Spike removal)

Today’s blog will be the first of many from us that will address easy solutions to common problems or tasks that all of us golfers go through.

No, I am not talking about swing fixes or how to make your game better…..heck, after years, I have not figured those things out yet, so I should be the last one to attempt to teach it now.

However, along the way we have stumbled across some great tips to maintain and (in some cases) prolong the life of your equipment and accessories.

So let’s begin today starting from the bottom….. Golf shoes.

The biggest problem golfers have with shoes is replacing the spikes, specifically, getting the old ones out! By the time arrives that you need to pull out the old spikes they have been walked on exposed to dirt, mud and all sorts of crap that seems to develop a “cement like” affect making the removal of them like pulling teeth.

Fear no more my friends…. Good ol’ Rory has got a simple solution to this dilemma!

When your wife is not looking, sneak into the kitchen and pull out one of her cookie sheets/ baking pan. (hint, they look like this)

First, heat up some water and pour it into the baking pan to where the water level is just shy of the top.

Now place your golf shoes on the sheet, spikes down. Done correctly, the spikes will be under water and the water level is about even to the sole of your shoes…..wait about five minutes, remove the shoes and with a spike wrench, the spikes will come off very easy….it never fails!

Now with the spikes out, it’s a good time to take a soft brush and clean the bottoms of the shoes, including the spike holes….then might as well clean the entire shoes.

If yours are leather, I recommend using saddle soap. It’s a great cleaning agent that not only cleans, but it has lanolin that keeps your shoes soft and prevents aging

PS – Oh crap! I almost forgot…do yourself a favor and make sure you clean out that cookie sheet and put it back where ya found it!

Note my emphasis on “CLEAN OUT” the cookie pan…for some unknown reason, apparently some women get real sore when they pull out a pan to bake something and find it caked in dirt, grass shavings…etc.

Phil Mickelson's Stand against Cell Phones?

We all know the drill: When you're watching a tournament live, the golfers demand absolute silence when they tee off. Like, hold-your-breath-till-they-swing silence.

But since this is 2012, and not 1952, times are changing on the golf course. Specifically, many tournaments now permit cell phones. (They did in 1952, but you had to install your own telephone poles and string your own wire, so most fans didn't bother.) And most cell phones now have cameras. You see where this is going: Even though people silence their cell phones, they somehow forget to silence the "shutter click" of their cameras.

Around Phil Mickelson's pairing on Thursday at the Memprial, the cell-camera-clickers made a noise with every swing like a thousand crickets being stepped on at once.

"It took Phil out of his game," playing partner Bubba Watson told the AP. "Phil's a great player and a great champion and it just took him out of his game. It's sad. It's sad that cell phones can make or break a championship."

"There were a few phones out there," Rickie Fowler, the third member of the group, said. "There were a few times when we had to back off and reset. You could see Phil was a little fatigued and was having trouble blocking it out a bit."

Mickelson didn't point to shutterbugs as the reason for his withdrawal; instead, he cited exhaustion. While it may be true, it's a rather weak defense, and one that likely doesn't sit well with tournament host Jack Nicklaus. Let's be honest, friends: The worst day playing golf is better than the best day doing pretty much anything else. After shooting a 79, Mickelson would have needed to bring out a 62 or so on Friday to make the cut; why not play one more day?

So it's likely not the cell phones' fault that Phil is out; Mickelson generally doesn't have much of a problem saying what's on his mind, and he's aware enough of his place in golf history, and his responsibility relative to Jack, not to make a stand on such an issue.

Still, it's not going away. Watson, who despite his newfound green jacket fame still has a bit of a prickly personality at times, was pointed in his critique of cell phones. "It's been pretty bad ever since they made that rule [allowing cell phones on the course]," he said. "When they make these marquee pairings, more people are going to follow them and more people want to take pictures. So it makes it very difficult. Ever since they made that rule that cell phones are allowed, it's just not fun playing."

That's going a bit far, perhaps, but Watson has a point. You could say golfers are too nitpicky, and perhaps they are, but the issue isn't the sound itself, it's the suddenness. And when you need to keep your body working within millimeters, disruption can be costly indeed.  As with everything else, there's a sweet spot here; getting people to figure out how to silence their camera shutters is now a necessity on the golf course.

Then again, maybe this is for the best. Ten years from now, golfers will have adapted to screen out the noise of cell cameras. They'll have something else to gripe about then, surely, but it won't be this.

Rory's #1 Ranking is new...as is his Body

Rory McIlroy has the swing and the temperament of a champion.

Now he has the body to go with it.

As McIlroy rose in the past 4 years from skinny teenager (below) to U.S. Open champ to the world No. 1 ranking -- thanks to Sunday’s heart-pounding victory over Tiger Woods at the Honda Classic -- his body and bearing changed as well (right).

His secret: bringing modern science to bear on the ancient game, and working on his legs and core muscles so he wouldn’t mess too much with a classical swing that Jack Nicklaus calls “the most natural motion in the game today.”

That, plus some inspiration from his girlfriend, No. 2 ranked tennis star Caroline Wozniacki. McIlroy found the way professional tennis players practice almost humbling.

“They work so hard,” says McIlroy, who good-naturedly joined Caroline and Maria Sharapova on the court at Madison Square Garden during an exhibition match Monday night. “That sort of made me realize that I could probably work harder, and gave me a little bit more motivation to go in the gym and hit more balls. It’s definitely paid off.”

After more than 15 years of domination by the hard-sculpted, hard-swinging Woods, the golf world is accustomed to fit golfers. McIlroy, by comparison, presents a slightly more approachable image: 5-foot-10, 160 pounds -- but with muscles that only began appearing in early 2011.

His posture and physique changed under the direction of Steve McGregor, Ph.D., a British trainer who previously worked with the burly-yet-trim Lee Westwood, no. 3 in the world. 

McIlroy made it clear in an interview with Men’s Healththat his new body is the foundation for his success.