How To Clean Your Golf Impact Screen, and Make It Last

Dirt, dust, grass, ball marks, and more. Everything you need to know on how to clean those dirty golf impact screens. Plus prevention tips and care information.

“Hey Carl, how do I clean my golf impact screen?! How can I make it last forever?” Ahhh, age old questions we get asked all the time.

Did you hit some dirty golf balls into your screen? Or maybe you dragged your screen on your garage floor as you were setting up your golf simulator space. Or, maybe your kids got a hold of some markers and thought your screen was a whiteboard.

Enough with the excuses.

Your golf impact screen should be treated like it’s your baby. Hold it tight and give it plenty of kisses. Just kidding, that’s taking it too far. However, if your golf simulator screen somehow gets dirty, and we know accidents happen, we recommend a few different cleaning options. 

NOTE: Burn marks on golf impact screens are common, especially after high-spin shots, and tend to become more prominent as golfers refine their skills. These marks are a natural result of a high spinning ball impacting the screen and should be viewed as a regular part of wear and tear associated with using a golf simulator. They are less visible when a projected image is on the screen.

BEST WAYS TO CLEAN YOUR GOLF IMPACT SCREEN

• Soap and water
• Tide To Go Stain Remover Pen
• LA’s Totally Awesome All-Purpose Cleaner
• Bissell Little Green ProHeat Portable Carpet Cleaner

Once you clean your screen, make sure to use a fan or hairdryer on a low- or no-heat setting to dry any damp areas. If you let it air dry, you might end up with a liquid stain.

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR IMPACT SCREEN

From dish soap to cleaners to carpet shampooers, to clean a dirty impact screen you want to start with the most mild cleaning method and work your way up. Most minor stains on your golf screen can be cleaned with a drop of dish soap on a damp rag, followed by a low or no heat dry.

That will remove any excess dirt or stain, and might even remove the entire dirty spot. 

If the soap and water combo doesn’t completely do the trick, then we recommend moving on to a more potent cleaner. A Tide To Go pen is great for smaller areas, while LA’s Totally Awesome and a carpet cleaner (or a combo of the two) are better for larger areas. 

These non-abrasive cleaning methods should be able to (at least) significantly reduce the stain, or completely remove it. No matter what the stain, one key piece of advice to note is that the earlier you detect and attempt to clean the dirty area, the better success you’ll have.

From dirt to dust, grass stains to ball marks, watch our demo on how to clean your golf impact screen.

We will never recommend using abrasive cleaners, high-heat steamers, dry cleaning, or placing your screen in a washing machine.

HOW TO PREVENT YOUR GOLF IMPACT SCREEN FROM GETTING DIRTY

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

The best way to keep your impact screen clean is just to not let it get dirty. What are the easiest ways to not let your golf simulator screen get dirty?

1. Use white balls without dirt, grass or marker on them.
2. Clean your clubs often - it will also benefit parts of your game like ball spin.
3. Store your screen in a safe, clean and dry environment - if you ever need to pack it away.
4. If possible, stay away from keeping it folded in a box for a long time to avoid longer-term creases and wrinkles. 

Preventing your screen from getting dirty will not only save you time from cleaning it, but also extend the life of your impact screen.

HOW TO EXTEND THE LIFE OF YOUR GOLF IMPACT SCREEN

Getting consistently drilled by golf balls is not an easy or fun job. Shoutout to our golf impact screens for their service.

That said, they take a beating and it is normal for some screens to show wear immediately after the first use. But all of our impact screens are tested to withstand several thousands of shots from some of the best golfers. 

CHOOSE THE RIGHT IMPACT MATERIAL

When researching golf impact screens, be sure to consider how much that specific hitting area and screen will be used. Some people might use their screen once per week, while higher traffic commercial locations will be used just about all day, every day.

No matter how you plan to use your golf impact screen or amount of usage, we will help you make the decision easier. A third party website even did some independent research and testing.

APPROPRIATE INSTALLATION

Make sure to follow the instructions provided for installing your screen in one of our enclosures. Our C-Series screens are designed to hang looser than most impact screens. This makes our C-Series screens have very little bounceback for an amazing golfing experience.

When ordering one of our enclosures, we highly recommend adding on foam inserts. They will not only help reduce bounce back, but also prevent balls from hitting the grommets, potentially damaging the finished edge. 

MANAGING WRINKLES ON A GOLF SCREEN

Ideally, you'll install your golf impact screen in a clean and dry environment, within days of it being sewn, boxed and delivered. In this scenario, cleaning and de-wrinkling would not be necessary.

But life isn't always ideal, right?

Storing Your Screen: If you have to store your screen, keep folding to a minimum. The more you fold your screen, the quicker it will wear in those folded spots. Fold it as loosely as possible - tight folds take longer to relax.

Screens That Were Left in the Box: Everything we tell you will say to get that screen out of the box ASAP. If that isn't possible, or if you ordered a Clearance screen that was pre-packed in a box, you'll need ways to manage the creases that develop.

1. Let Gravity Do the Work
   Get the screen unfolded and hanging up somewhere it won't get dirty.
2. Use A (VERY LOW HEAT) Iron or Steamer
   Disclaimer Time! Only use the lowest heat setting on the backside of the material. We're talking super low here to avoid any damage. 
3. Install and Tension the Screen
   For screens with grommets all the way around, add extra tension with zip ties to pull out the wrinkles. Be careful with the increased ball bounce back though. Loosen the screen back up once the wrinkles are better.
   If you have our C-Series screen which installs with a cable at the bottom, keep the tension in check - we're aiming for Goldilocks-level here, not too tight, not too loose.

BUFFER SPACE AROUND A GOLF SIMULATOR

Space to the back wall and golfer are key to extending the life of your impact screen. 

We recommend your impact screen be at least 12 inches off of the back wall to avoid the screen getting scrunched between the ball and the wall. This will not only help the life of your screen, but also save your wall and keep the ball from bouncing back too quickly.

That said, many who do not have 12 inches available to put between the screen and the wall will attempt to hang something like a foam bed topper or moving blanket behind the screen to help keep the ball from hitting the wall with the screen in between. While we have heard many success stories with this, we also have heard that it will accelerate wear on the screen.

Between the golfer and impact screen, we recommend at least 10 feet of space. This should be enough room for you to swing comfortably, avoid hard bounce back and also save your screen from absorbing the ball at its highest speed off the club. 

KEEP YOUR INDOOR AND OUTDOOR BALLS SEPARATE

New golf balls will not only help keep your screen clean, but can help extend its life. Imagine a scuffed ball with a lot of backspin running into your impact screen. Even the slightest scuffed ball, one where you might not even notice the scuff, can cause damage.

Easiest way to do this is to have separate golf simulator balls from your on-course balls. That way you know the balls in your simulator have not hit any trees or cart paths. Golf balls will stay “new” for longer in a golf sim than they will on the course. 

HOW LONG DO GOLF IMPACT SCREENS LAST?

When caring for your golf impact screen, be sure to think of preventative instead of reactive maintenance. You will get the most out of your screen with a proper install and by knowing how to clean your golf impact screen. 

Key factors that contribute to the wear of a screen include: 

• Style of screen
• Amount of use
• Ability and frequency of the user(s)

When it is finally time to replace your screen, Carl’s Place can easily make a replacement that will fit your existing setup perfectly!