Cleaning An Old Scotty Cameron Putter

I rarely buy used putters that have visible rust present.  Well....I recently couldn't turn down an opportunity to pick up a Santa Fe Tei3.  As you can see from the pictures below, there were many spots of rust all over the head of the putter.  I really didn't want to send it back to the custom shop to be restored so I figured I'd try to clean it up a bit.  I remembered hearing a few friends say that they had used a product called Flitz to remove rust from putters so off to the hardware store I went to pick it up.   I removed the rust easily but you can still see where the finish is bare in these spots.   Of course, now maintenance and protection of these spots will be very important because they are very susceptible to rust again.  For those of you that may be interested in cleaning up a rusty putter, here were my steps in case you'd like to try it.

Step 1:
Apply Flitz with a soft towel.  Don't let the paste dry onto the putter during application.  Work Flitz into small areas and buff off with a clean part of the towel.   This step may need to be repeated several times on to ensure complete removal of rust.

Step 2:
Apply Brasso to the copper insert with soft towel and then buff off.  You can also use tooth paste to clean the insert but for me it just takes too long compared to using brasso.   It has the right amount of abrasiveness to do a great job.

Step 3:
Use a tooth brush and warm soapy water (any liquid detergent) and clean the putter head and grip.   Scrub into the engraved areas to make sure and the paint fill is clean.  Since the Tei3 has white paint fill, I used a cleaning product called Bleach White.  It worked great especially when I cleaned the lettering  in the old cord grip.

Step 4:
Rinse the putter off and dry thoroughly with a soft towel.  Make sure ALL moisture is removed.  No matter what, do not place the putter back into the headcover for storage right after this step.  Just give it a bit so that the moisture in the tiny crevices can dry.

Step 5:
Application of baby oil.   The putter needs some serious protection now that the rust free (and finish free) areas are exposed.  The baby oil will do this job but it tends to attract sand and dirt quite easily if you play with the putter right after application.  So when the putter is going to be in storage, I'll use baby oil.  When I'm going to game the putter, see step 6.

Step 6:
Application of silicone spray.  CRC silicone spray is a great product for our putters.  The old rule of thumb is to use an "odorless" silicone spray.  On putters with gun blue, brushed black, oil can and flamed finishes (chromatics) I enjoy using silicone because it does a good job protecting the putter but isn't sticky to attract sand and dirt.