To be completely honest, I’m lucky if I give my golf clubs a decent clean more than 5 times a year. For me, a deep clean of my clubs is usually reserved for the opening round of the new golf season or the evening before playing a really, really good golf course (you know, those outings where you get everything looked out and packed the night before). Don’t get me wrong, cleaning golf clubs with hot soapy water isn’t a difficult task by any stretch of the imagination but with 14 golf clubs to clean, it can be a bit of a chore and it’s definitely one I’ve always tried to avoid unless my clubs are embarrassingly dirty.
However, Impact Detect recently sent me some bottles of their Club Clean golf club cleaning solution to review and I was honestly blown away with the results – so much so that I have now found myself cleaning my clubs after each and every round.
Impact Detect Club Clean - Overview
Impact Detect claims that “Club Clean is the ultimate solution for golf club cleaning” with one 148ml bottle (retailing on Amazon at £9.99) capable of cleaning over 150 clubs. Its design is incredibly simple, compact and convenient, allowing it to be used to clean clubs at home, on the range or on the golf course. The bottle contains the cleaning solution and the brush cap is made up of many semi-flexible plastic bristles used to loosen dirt on the club face and get in between those grooves.
Ease of use
Generally speaking, Club Clean really couldn’t be any more straightforward to use. All you need to do is shake the bottle, squirt the solution on the club face, loosen dirt on the face/groves with the brush cap, and wipe clean with a cloth or towel.
In fact, Club Clean is so easy to use that my 7-year-old daughter usually grabs her own bottle to clean her golf clubs whilst I’m cleaning mine. After several uses, I’ve found that it’s easier to remove and use the brush cap separately from the bottle, rather than trying to clean the clubs whilst it’s still attached. Removing the cap from the bottle allows you to apply a little more downward pressure on the club face and angle the cap, making it easier to get into the grooves and remove the dirt.
What I find especially great about this product is that everything you need is in one handy bottle, so there’s no need for any buckets, bowls, sponges, water or soap to get those clubs looking great.
cleaning time
At £9.99, I know some of you reading this review will be of the opinion that this product doesn’t really provide value for money, and I get that. Sticking with the traditional method of hot soapy water and a little elbow grease doesn’t cost anything, so you’re saving yourself over £9, however, in my opinion, the time saved with Club Clean is worth every penny and then some. In truth, I can now probably clean all of my irons (5-PW) and 4 wedges using Club Clean in the same time it used take to fill up my bucket of soapy water and clean around 2-3 clubs, not forgetting that I’d then have to rinse the bucket out and put it away again.
With Club Clean, I just pop the bottle back in the garage or in my golf bag and it’s job done, giving me more time to watch or play golf. Less time cleaning and more time golfing – who doesn’t want that?
Cleaning results
Of course, saving time cleaning golf clubs is great but only if it’s not at the expense of the actual cleaning quality, and for the most part, Club Clean excels in this department. Personally, I find that the cleaning solution and brush cap work well enough together to remove pretty much all of the dirt from both the face and the grooves.
What I have noticed is that due to the bristles on the cap being quite firm, it can occasionally be difficult to remove small stubborn pieces of dirt from the outer edges of the grooves. Depending on where the dirt is and how long it has been there, you do have to sometimes work the brush into the grooves at an angle with pressure to get the club face absolutely spotless. Granted, tiny specs of dirt at the ends of the grooves are unlikely to have any real impact on your ball flight but I do think a slightly more flexible or softer brush cap would perhaps be a little more effective. The other slight issue is that because the bristles are plastic and you sometimes need to apply force, they do tend to wear down slightly over time.
Personally, after removing the bulk of the dirt from the club face and grooves using the bottle’s brush cap, I tend to give the grooves a quick once-over with the brass bristles of my small pocket club cleaning brush to remove any excess dirt and ensure the face/grooves are spotless. Pedantic and a little unnecessary, I know, but if a job’s worth doing…and all that…
In terms of how effectively Club Clean and the brush cap alone clean the club face and grooves, well, try moving the image slider below to see for yourself just how impressive the results are.
Pros and cons
As you can see above, I’ve gone into quite a lot of detail about how Impact Detect’s Club Clean performs. Below, you’ll find a quick summary of Club Clean’s main good points and the ares where I think there’s room for improvement.
The good
- Easy to use
- Cleans golf clubs really well
- Can be used to clean grips, balls and shoes
- Relatively inexpensive
- Compact enough to be carried in golf bag and used on golf course or range
- Convenient – everything you need in one handy small bottle
- Doesn’t damage or scratch the golf club face
- Lasts for a long time
Room for improvement
- The brush cap design could be improved as it has to be used at an angle
- Brush cap bristles will wear over time
Final Thoughts
It’s often said that some of the best inventions are the simplest, and I think that sums Impact Detect Club Clean up perfectly. It’s easy to use, does what it says on the tin (or bottle) and can save you an awful lot of time and effort, especially if you play golf regularly. Even if you are someone who enjoys cleaning your golf clubs using more traditional methods, you’ll definitely not go wrong by keeping a bottle of Club Clean in your garage, golf bag or locker for those wet and dirty winter months.
In my opinion, for £9.99, Club Clean is worth every single penny, especially for the amount of time and effort it will save you cleaning you golf clubs. It really is a product that every golfer ought to have in their bag.
I’d love to know how you normally clean your golf clubs and whether or not you’ll be adding a bottle of Club Clean to your golf bag after reading this equipment review. Feel free to drop a comment below about Club Clean, cleaning your golf clubs, looking after your golf gear or this article.
Thanks again for reading and be sure to check out some of my other golf equipment reviews or blog posts.
