Washing your balls with bleach water?

[itching4scratch]

Has anyone had any performance issues washing their balls with bleach water? I have a bucket full of balls that I've used that I want to bring back to life by soaking them in bleach water for a few hours.

[NEOHMark]

I can't imagine a diluted solution would do any harm.  The polymers they use for golf balls these days are pretty robust.  Maybe a chemist can chime in, but I think the cover material itself is pretty much inert and not likely to react with a fairly weak aqueous chlorine solution.  Bleach itself starts off about 5%, so if you dilute it even just by half, you're down to 2-3 %.  I think it's a different story if you are planning to use pool chlorine - percentage wise.

Perhaps start small and try one or two balls and see how they do?

[boogielicious]

If you use bleach, make it very dilute and only soak for a short time.  Bleach can and will attack polymers and can leave a residual odor.  Urethanes can be susceptible to degradation from bleach and other aggressive chemicals.  Not sure what the cover is made of for your golf balls, but I would be careful.

You may be better off using hot soapy water or using Simple Green.  Contact the golf ball manufacturer for more information.