Flying with your clubs

[I_HATE_SNOW]

Two words: Club Glove.

 

There's a reason why virtually all pros and collegiate players use them...both the Last Bag and Burstproof II. Not that they worry about dollar replacement cost of their clubs, but I'm sure they will NOT be happy if any of their clubs sustains any kind of damage while flying commercial. And I'm pretty sure they're free to choose whichever travel cover they wish...and Club Glove just seems to dominate, even over hard shell cases.

 

Another thing to consider is the size of your rental car at your destination. If you're renting a compact, intermediate or even a standard size rental car, and if you have more than one set of clubs, the Last Bag and Last Bag XL will not fit in the trunk. With the Burstproof II, you can fit two comfortably. Also, with the larger bags, it's very easy to go over the 50lb weight limit for airlines, so if you have a big bag, make sure you check the weight (or use curbside check-in and tip the skycaps very generously...and you won't ever get charged for being over the limit).

 

And I would spend the extra $20 or so for the Stiff Arm.

 

Use coupon code "MG011312" for 30% off all Club Glove products on their website, bringing the Stiff Arm to $18.87, the Burstproof II to $153.30, the Last Bag to $209.30 and the Last Bag XL to $230.30. Still a little pricey but definitely worth it, in my opinion, especially given you're protecting over $2000 worth of equipment...

 

Thanks for the code, just ordered a rolling duffel, last bag and stiff arm.

 

Cool, which color did you end up getting? I have the fire engine red...

 

Oh man, forgot to mention one thing...I would also highly recommend the J-Hook (not sure if the rolling duffle comes with one?). I wrote about it in another thread but it basically allows you to attach your golf bag to another piece of rolling luggage to make it much easier to carry around in the airport:

 

http://www.clubglove...p?ProductID=610

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I've never tried it but the Train Reaction device looks pretty interesting too:

 

http://www.clubglove...p?ProductID=600

 

https://www.trainreaction.com/

 

 

Went with the mocha with black webbing, Our burst proof is red, shows lots of black grime from flights. Our checked suitcase blew out a zipper after 5 years, replaced it for $100 at Walmart, replacement broke a zipper on the first trip, returned it. Decided $200 for the big duffel was a good plan and the Last bag was a no brainer.

[XFelon]

[size="3"][/size][size="3"]I had the soft case with the adjuster to go above the driver.Well, my 7 wood broke upon arrival in CO once.. That was the last time I ever did that. I thenwent and bought a hard case ASAP. As stated before, don’t see the point in having thatmuch money put into my bag and have a cheap cover for it. Doesn’t make anysense… [/size]

[size="3"][/size][size="3"]Guess it comes down to how much your total bag costs, or howmuch you like the things in it – [/size]

[size="3"][/size][size="3"]$1500+ for your clubs and protect it with a 15 dollar bag…? Really!What do you think is gonna happen!?[/size]

[size="3"][/size]

[asong77]

Went with the mocha with black webbing, Our burst proof is red, shows lots of black grime from flights. Our checked suitcase blew out a zipper after 5 years, replaced it for $100 at Walmart, replacement broke a zipper on the first trip, returned it. Decided $200 for the big duffel was a good plan and the Last bag was a no brainer.

 

Cool. My Burstproof is over 3 years old and has gone on 7-8 trips and still looks great, outside of some scratching of the black plastic base:

 

 

[asong77]

Oh, and check out this picture taken by Rickie Fowler of a Tour event locker room:

 

 

 

 

For those who don't recognize it, they're the bottom plastic base of the Club Glove Last Bag (or maybe XL)...if that's not enough validation for Club Glove, I don't know what is...

[dcmidnight]

I've never really bought the reasoning "well the PGA players use them, they must be good". I dont know a lot of PGA players that are flying bargain airlines to go on golf vacations - do you think Ricky flies Southwest a lot? For those that fly private - which a lot do or share one with other players - I'm sure they dont need the same level of protection the rest of us slobs do. Even those that "only" fly First Class, their bags are tagged with FC tags and (I'm speculating) handled a little better and more quickly. They also dont need to worry about fitting a giant XL bag into their compact rental car.

I'm on the record as being an advocate of hard cases but I still am sure that CG makes a fantastic product. Its a great bag, no doubt. I just dont think that a majority of Tour players need the same level of protection for their clubs that we do - meaning their luggage is handled better not that their clubs arent more important.

As always, thats just IMHO.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

Not to mention when they get there a Tour Van will replace/repair/duplicate/work magic on any club that does get damaged during the trip.

[tesuquegolfer]

I have an SKB hard case. Kind of a pain but no broken clubs. I have heard horror stories.

[I_HATE_SNOW]

One time I was watching them load the baggage, the handler threw my SKB bag on the conveyer, being slick, it slid across it and landed on the tarmac, clubs were OK but the case has some road rash. I'm going to all club gloves, but I can remove my driver, hybrid and 3 wood heads for travel, usually just do the driver. Convenience and 5 pounds less weight than the small SKB.

[gunslinger2803]

[quote name='poppyhillsguy' timestamp='1329524945' post='4312079']
Has anybody used Fed Ex? What is your experience?
[/quote]

I used FedEx to ship my clubs from Kansas to South Carolina and it worked well, although a little pricey. I just dropped of my regular bag at a FedEx/Kinkos location and helped box them up and they were waiting for me in my hotel room when I arrrived. I waited a little too long to ship, so I had to use their express service and spent just over $60 to get there with $2500 insurance. For some reason it was more expensive at about $75 to ship them home even with their slower ground service.

No issues at all and it ended up being very convenient even though I spent a small fortune, about $230, to play one round.

[asong77]

I've never really bought the reasoning "well the PGA players use them, they must be good". I dont know a lot of PGA players that are flying bargain airlines to go on golf vacations - do you think Ricky flies Southwest a lot? For those that fly private - which a lot do or share one with other players - I'm sure they dont need the same level of protection the rest of us slobs do. Even those that "only" fly First Class, their bags are tagged with FC tags and (I'm speculating) handled a little better and more quickly. They also dont need to worry about fitting a giant XL bag into their compact rental car.

 

I'm on the record as being an advocate of hard cases but I still am sure that CG makes a fantastic product. Its a great bag, no doubt. I just dont think that a majority of Tour players need the same level of protection for their clubs that we do - meaning their luggage is handled better not that their clubs arent more important.

 

As always, thats just IMHO.

 

 

Not to mention when they get there a Tour Van will replace/repair/duplicate/work magic on any club that does get damaged during the trip.

 

I hear what you guys are saying. I certainly didn't buy my Burstproof because of the fact that most of the pros use it...and that goes for all my equipment and accessories. I bought my bag after extensive research, reading numerous reviews and overall reputation of Club Glove as a company and their products. It also seems to be the number one brand for NCAA collegiate players/programs as well...not that it significantly sways someone who's on the fence about a soft bag vs. a hard case...

 

And yes, the pros have access to the Tour vans and whatnot, but still, I think they would be highly ticked off if any of their equipment ended up damaged, especially a club that they've been using for awhile. While most probably fly first class when flying commercial, I don't know if their bags get preferential treatment...after all, most lost bags are scanning errors of luggage tags while in baggage hold/sorting, and not usually human error. I saw an airport documentary where they showed very high-speed luggage conveyors with a million different lasers pointed at the bags from all various angles, and if the luggage tag is obstructed in any way and doesn't scan properly, say bye bye.

 

You also hear or read about Tour pros who's bags get lost or damaged every so often. Rory's clubs was lost just after last year's Masters while en route to Malaysia, and he was even flying PRIVATE:

http://sports.yahoo....urn=golf,wp1026

 

Brittany Lincicome's bag was also lost last year on her way to France for the Evian:

http://www.waggleroo...ith-rented-golf

 

 

And do you guys remember Lee Janzen's completely DESTROYED clubs from last summer in Vegas?

 

http://tourreport.pg...route-to-vegas/

 

 

Here's the picture of one his wedges:

 

 

 

 

I'm sure there are other cases with Tour pros, and probably countless unmentioned incidents of lost or damaged clubs at the Nationwide, Champions, and mini-tours. I guess I don't really know what point I'm trying to make, haha. In any case, when it comes to damage and/or lost bags and clubs, no matter who you are, I think it's just a matter of luck of the draw, imho.

[Drak76]

+1

If you fly on a private jet, you can take the golf bag in the cabin, same way as packed for a golf course.

I am no advocate to hard case either, although I have one. It traveled with me around the world several times. It has some serious gush marks (although marked FC, the airport employees do not care, they do not work for the airline, but for the airports), so I wonder what would have happened if I had a soft case. Also, if I remember correctly Lee Janzen had his clubs deserted last year for fall season event, right? I bet he was not traveling with a hard case.

Having said that, I think I will go for a soft case from now on. Traveling with a family is difficult as it is, and dealing with the hard case is a pain in the rear end. I hope that the CG Last Bag with Stiff arm will give me enough protection.

[quote name='dcmidnight' timestamp='1329929698' post='4350275']
I've never really bought the reasoning "well the PGA players use them, they must be good". I dont know a lot of PGA players that are flying bargain airlines to go on golf vacations - do you think Ricky flies Southwest a lot? For those that fly private - which a lot do or share one with other players - I'm sure they dont need the same level of protection the rest of us slobs do. Even those that "only" fly First Class, their bags are tagged with FC tags and (I'm speculating) handled a little better and more quickly. They also dont need to worry about fitting a giant XL bag into their compact rental car.

I'm on the record as being an advocate of hard cases but I still am sure that CG makes a fantastic product. Its a great bag, no doubt. I just dont think that a majority of Tour players need the same level of protection for their clubs that we do - meaning their luggage is handled better not that their clubs arent more important.

As always, thats just IMHO.
[/quote]

[MichiganMike]

I have a soft bag and use two PVC pipes in lieu of the stiff arm. One goes in the travel bag by itself and is longer than my bag loaded with clubs. The other piece of PVC goes in the golf bag itself and is still longer than my driver. Then I throw the rain cover on the top of the golf bag and stuff it with towels and shoes. Overall it's pretty well padded and protected.