How to pack a golf travel bag and more…

Packing for a golf tour is different from any other trip you may go on through the year. It’s the clubs, it’s the shoes, its the other gear that goes along with the golf and then all the other stuff to cover for the post round activities.

Then it’s insuring that all your golf stuff doesn’t get damaged or lost. Packing becomes a process in itself and an exercise in weighing up damage probabilites against weight and excess baggage charges. Here our top ten tips for packing for a golf tour:

1)Get a carry on size bag for your clothes

Airlines are only going to allow you to bring two bags before excess baggage charges come into play and one of those bags is going to be your golf bag. Get a carry on size bag that you can wheel onto the plane and this should contain your clothes and toiletries. Base your clothing choices on what you can fit in that bag.

Also another tip. Get in the line early when your flight is called so you can stow your baggage in the overhead above your seat. Otherwise the overhead can start looking like an Inca wall if you arrive later.

2)Weight down below

Pack your carry on bag with the heavy items towards the wheels of the bag. Everyone knows these bags are very tippy things and this tip will help you stabilize them a little bit better.

3)Roll your clothes up in your bag

This is recognised as the No. 1 space saving method of packing clothes into your bag. As most golf clothes are synthetics these day, hang them up when you arrive at the hotel and they will be wrinkle free to wear quickly.

If you do have an item that wrinkles easily ( and why are you bringing it anyway?) then fold it into a rectangle and roll it tightly. Your bag may look inside like a wardrobe drawer inspired by Marie Kondo but you will be able to fit more in.

4)Put as much into your golf bag as possible

Rationalise what is in your bag at the moment so you can put clothes like underwear and socks or an extra pair of shoes or thongs in your golf bag. You can use small zipper bags and put your socks in and pack those around your clubheads.

5) Your choice: are you going lightweight and manoeuvrable or heavy and protected?

Always that decision about the level of protection you give your golf bag and it’s contents. We have all heard or seen horror stories as result of baggage handlers at airports. My preference is to leave the staff bag at home for plane orientated trips and take a stand bag with some protections built in (more on that soon).

If you want the ultimate safety, then you can look at a golf bag cover (like the one in the first photo above) with additional inner measures of protection for your clubs.

 

6) The ultimate protection standard.

If you are going down the golf bag cover line, then you my as well do the other measures. Unscrew your woods from their shafts but remember to take a photo of the settings on your driver so you can put the head back on the right way when you arrive at your location.

Stick tape or put an elastic band around all your wood shafts together to make them stronger. Bring all your iron heads together and tape them together or put towells in between them to avoid damage. Put a Stiff Arm Rod or a wooden stick on one of the outside compartments of the bag to take the brunt if the the bag has a heavy landing.

7)Going lightweight (with a protection measure)

If you are just taking a golf bag and using the cover to give your clubs some form of protection, there is another form of protection you can put under the cover, especially if you don’t want to take your wood heads off.

You can cover your clubs with a strong bucket or in the photo below, a waste paper bin that I found at Bunnings. You just need to insure the bucket will fit under the bag cover. It maybe a matter as in my case of walking my golf bag into Bunnings!

 

8)ID your bags

Put a strong identification tag on your bags. We have all heard stories of similar bags going in the wrong direction from baggage carousels.  At a popular golf location, you may have a number of the same colour or type of golf bag coming off at the same time.

Have your name and contact details clearly showing on your bag so as soon as you see it, you know it is yours.

9)Air Tag your bags

Just as Test cricketer David Warner’s baggy green cap went missing recently in transit, the same may still happen to your golf bag.

Apple has and so will Google soon, air tags which you can put into your baggage and if it does go missing you will be able find it’s location through your phone. A great start for a search.

 

10) Have back up golf clothes with you.

You may have put all your clothes into your golf bag cover and if the cover and it’s contents go missing, you maybe stuck if the first game is soon as you arrive.

You can hire clubs but it might be an idea to have at least one set of golf clothes with you on your carry on. That includes socks, shoes and underwear . That will at least avoid the embarrassment of having to ask in the pro shop whether they have your size in  Y -front underpants!