Most of us do the same thing every year. The clubs go in the garage some time in November, they sit there, and in April we pull them out, notice the grips feel like a banister rail, and play anyway.

Here is what actually matters about what you do with your clubs in the off-season, and what does not.

Cold is not the problem. Damp is.

You have probably been told never to leave your clubs in the cold. That is mostly wrong advice.

Frank Thomas, who was the USGA's technical director for twenty-odd years, has said that around 40 degrees will do your clubs no harm at all. Cold on its own is not what ruins them.

What ruins them is moisture. In an unheated space the temperature swings up and down every day, and every swing puts condensation on cold metal. That is what pits steel shafts and rusts forged heads. Damp, not cold.

So the question is not "is my garage cold", but rather "does my garage get damp".

  • Inside the house — ideal if you have the space.
  • An attached garage — fine in practice, as long as the clubs are clean, dry and covered.
  • A detached garage or a shed — this is the one that does damage. Unheated, unventilated, and the worst place for forged irons and steel shafts.

And wherever they end up, get the bag off the concrete floor. Concrete holds cold and wicks damp straight up into the bottom of your bag. A shelf, a chair, an old crate, anything to get it up off the floor and allow airflow.

The twenty-minute task before you store them.

Do this once, in one sitting, and they are all set for winter storage.

1. Empty every pocket

Every single one. There is a half bottle of water in there that will freeze, a wet towel, eleven tees, a glove gone hard, and something that used to be a banana. The towel is the one that matters — a damp towel sealed in a pocket all winter is how you rust a wedge, not to mention the mold that will grow (eeeeww!).

2. Wash the heads properly

Warm soapy water, a soft brush, and get into the grooves. Not because dirty clubs look bad, but because packed grooves are what stops a wedge gripping the ball, and that is the difference between a chip that checks and one that runs off the back.

3. Dry them completely

Properly dry, not towel-damp. This is the step people skip and it is the only one that really matters for storage.

4. Wipe the shafts and check the ferrules

Run a dry cloth down each shaft. Look at the little black collar where the shaft meets the head. If any of them have slid or there is a gap, that is a loose head and it is a five-minute fix now rather than a surprise in April.

5. Headcovers on, bag upright

Woods and hybrids covered, bag standing up rather than lying on its side, somewhere it will not get knocked over.

Grips: the one job worth paying for

A flag on a green in long afternoon shadows at the end of the season.

This is the highest-value thing you can do all winter and almost nobody does it this time of year.

The widely accepted guideline is to regrip once a year, or every 40 rounds, whichever comes first. If you play a dozen rounds a year you can stretch that. If you play every week, or your hands sweat, you are due more often than you think.

Forget the calendar for a second and just go and hold one. If the grip is shiny, slick, hard, or has lost its tack, it is finished. A worn grip makes you hold on tighter, and holding on tighter is the single most common cause of a bad swing that has nothing to do with your technique.

It is not expensive and winter is exactly when the shop has time to do it. Walking into the pro shop in April with thirteen clubs for regripping will get you 2 weeks of waiting to get them back. Do it now and be ahead of the game (your pro shop will appreciate it as well).

The club nobody replaces

Wedges.

Grooves wear out, and they wear out fastest on the clubs you use most around the green. Most amateurs will replace a driver they hit fourteen times a round and keep a sand wedge they hit forty times a round for a decade.

If your wedge grooves are visibly rounded off, or the ball stopped checking a while ago and you assumed it was you, it probably was not you.

Spend your money on a new wedge, not a new driver.

Get fitted now, not in April

Here is the part that matters most for us women specifically.

A lot of women are playing clubs that were never chosen for them. A hand-me-down set, a cheap starter set, or something cut down from a men's set years ago. If that is you, you have been fighting your equipment for every round you have played, and no amount of lessons fixes a club that is the wrong length or the wrong flex.

Winter is the time to sort it out. Fitters are quiet, you can take your time, and anything that needs ordering actually arrives before the season starts.

You do not have to buy a new set. A fitting that tells you your current clubs are a quarter-inch too long is information worth having for when you are ready to buy.

I started with a cheap starter set just to see if I even liked the game. Once I figured out that I love playing golf, I went to a nearby Golf Galaxy store to get my fitting, but you could also go to your local club and they would work with you to get the right clubs fitted to you.

What not to bother with

  • Polishing the heads. Looks lovely, does nothing.
  • Loosening the strap, airing the bag out weekly, any of that. Clean, dry, covered, off the floor. That is all they need for making it through the winter unharmed.
  • Buying a driver in January because it is on sale. You will hit it the same distance as the one you own.

The short version

Empty the pockets, clean the grooves, dry everything properly, headcovers on, keep it off the concrete floor and out of the shed.

Then regrip, look honestly at your wedges, and book the fitting you have been meaning to book for three years.

Cold will not hurt your clubs. Damp will.

Come with me!

Wendy

The 2027 GIR Club Classic at Hammock Beach runs April 11–15, and the Fingerlakes Open at Turning Stone follows on July 18–22. Fields are capped, so join the waitlist and you will hear the day registration opens.

Sources

  • Frank Thomas, former USGA technical director, on cold storage doing no harm at around 40 degrees
  • Golf club storage guides on condensation and humidity being the real risk, with detached unheated spaces the worst case for forged irons and steel shafts
  • PGA Tour Superstore and Golf Digest, both on the once a year or every 40 rounds regripping guideline, whichever comes first
  • Industry guidance on judging grips by condition rather than calendar — slick, shiny, hard or lost tack