Hi all,
Am traveling with my clubs for the first time next week. I ordered the travel bag in the attached picture from Amazon. Reviews on there seem good, but i have a few concerns as only the top part which covers the heads is hard plastic. The rest is soft fabric.
My concerns grew as I just read that if clubs get damaged, the airlines will only pay out if it’s in a hard sided case. Does this mean hard sided all the way across the case? Or just on the head?
Maybe I am just being pedantic but the last thing I want to do is not take the correct measures and my clubs get damaged.
Thanks in advance for any help/advice.
by RegionJolly7251
29 Comments
Better to get hard sided 360 cases or maybe they mean flat pack suitcase style cases for your clubs custom fit. Best to call and ask airline directly.
It’s likely a policy that only covers full hard sided cases
I’ve flown with clubs in a bag like this one like 30 times and never had an issue, you’ll be fine. Get a stiff arm to throw in
When I got to the airport, the airline actually told me they don’t “cover” golf clubs at all. You will want to make sure this is your airlines specific rule.
I would also invest in a stiff arm. They are about 30-40 bucks, and it goes on your bag to protect against shafts breaking
I have a similar travel case where only the top is a hard shell, and I have not had any issues traveling with my clubs.
If you can, remove the heads of your driver, woods, hybrids, etc. and store them in their head covers within your golf bag itself, then take the shafts and insert them tips down in your bag. Wrap a towel or two around your irons, and if you’re still worried, grab a Home Depot bucket or something similar and place it over top of your golf bag within the travel case.
I’ve flown with a full soft bag 30-40 times, knock on wood never had an issue.
Full hard bags are a PITA basically everywhere but the flight itself. The offer maximum security but also are impossible to get in a car, take up loads of space in a hotel room, and generally are unweildy to deal with.
I’ve traveled with a similar bag domestically and internationally and never had issues. I take the head off my driver and also put my golf shoes and towels in the top to fill the dead space. No problem.
I’m not sure the state of play in the states, but as part of my travel insurance I have cover for golf equipment up to about £5k.
Also, I’ve always only ever travelled with full soft shell and a stiff arm and never had any issues (other than the first time I travelled I put the arm in the golf bag and it burst through my travel bag lol
I’ve been using a soft sided bag for years. Never had a problem. I’d wager that 99.9% of golf bags get from A to B without incident. And lost luggage is a bigger problem than damaged luggage. The type of bag you use is irrelevant there.
If whether the airline pays for damage, or not, is keeping you up at night……then just rent clubs at your destination.
It’s pretty low risk. You’ll be fine.
Just flew BWI to Ft Meyers with a hard top soft bottom bag like this. No issue at all
The benefit of a bag like this is dealing with it at the other end of your trip. Dealing with a hard case is a bitch when you’ve got 3 other guys in a rental car and Airbnb or whatever, not sure what your trip situation is. I think the bigger factor than the hard shell top is the quality of the fabric. Find a bag with a higher “denier”, this measures the thickness and durability of the fabric. Higher denier = more durable and more resistant to tearing.
Highly highly recommend getting a stiff arm to put in the bag. Remove club heads. Pack towels around your iron heads. Put an AirTag in there somewhere. Should be good to go. This is how most people travel with bags and majority of them do fine.
Like others here, I’ve got a similar case. I’ve flown multiple times with the clubs without issue. I take off the driver head and put it in my luggage, then wrap my golf jacket and towels around the heads of everything else to keep them from moving around too much.
I have a soft case but only use ship sticks
I flew with a soft sided case all around, but with the clubglove/stiff arm in there, worked great, left the heads on my woods and everything, had a connecting flight and all was good. 2nd time I flew all good again, then I stuffed my clubs into our drive home from the airport and bent my 4i shaft pretty good. So I think the guys on the runway cared more about my bad than me
I fly with a soft bag and a stiff arm, never had a problem.
I just travelled with bag like that but I purchased a “Bag Boy” backbone which is basically like a giant metal rod that protects your clubs. Not very expensive and worth it I think.
I rented a hard case once and they’re honestly not worth it. You pay for the piece of mind knowing they’re covered with the inconvenience of a large case that takes up so much space and doesn’t pack down, travelling, and in storage.
I have a soft case all around from Ogio and you really just want something with good wheels that you can roll smoothly and is firm enough. I take off the heads, wrap some pants around the tops of the clubs, keep my alignment sticks in, wrap my belt around it to keep it secure and I’ve never had an issue. I wrap an identifier on it somewhere, I’ve done Christmas wrap, a doggy bag, anything. I recommend an AirTag. I put my range finder in my carry on and just check my one golf bag. Most airlines classify it as regular luggage but if you’re flying budget they’ll find a way to get you.
Golf Canada offers incident protection for loss, damage, or theft so it’s a bonus if you care to track your handicap depending where you live. Covers damage to windows and cars so you can let it rip.
I came back from a trip last month and when picking up my bag I seen a regular Taylormade lite bag with the weather cap on, one band of duct tape, and the airline tag, no case at all. That guy didn’t give a hoot. You’ll be fine
I went back and forth on this dilemma in December and decided to get a soft bag and use a 3gal Home Depot bucket (thanks Reddit) over the heads of my clubs. I was able to securely fasten the bucket to my bag, that combined with the cover I had no issues.
I use a soft case and stuff it full of clothes. Use my orange whip as a support arm but you can use a broomstick. Never had an issue.
I have soft it’s always fine just take your driver head off…
My wife and I used to use a case like this with added stiff arm support. We flew many times without issues. Then on an international flight (US to Ireland) my wife’s clubs were destroyed. It looked like someone drove over them or something. Most of the shafts snapped. The airline wouldn’t pay a dime.
Since then we’ve only used hard cases. Are they a pain to deal with at the airport and annoying in rental cars? Yes. Do we feel more confident that they will arrive intact and not send us scrambling to find rental clubs and ruin a planned golf trip? Also yes.
Not case related, but definitely get an AirTag to put in the bag. I’ve never had damage to my clubs, but have had airlines misplace them
Pretty sure I have that same case, used it probably a dozen times and have never had any issues. I just recommend taking the driver head off in case
I have a soft case and just wrap the heads of my clubs in my shirts/shorts/underwear and have had zero issues. I don’t take the heads off. If I were to upgrade it would be something like this, hard cover over the club heads only, for reasons others have said. Good luck!
I had this similar bag for 10 years and traveled the workd with it. This bag style is better head protection than other soft case. Make sure you tied the golf bag inside the case to the shell so it does not have any lateral movement. This would ensure your clubs not hitting the end cover. Warp tower around your irons so they do not rattle.
I bought the exact same one in November when I went to Phoenix.
Highly recommend getting the extending metal bar with kind of the umbrella looking thing on it to keep the heads even safer and the bag from collapsing.
I wrapped the heads in a couple microfiber towels.
Bag was perfect for travel.
I started flipping my clubs and putting them in the bag head first and taking the driver head off.
I have a completely hard shell SKB case. Is it a bitch to maneuver? Yes. Do you have to use larger rental cars? Yes. I won’t pretend there aren’t downsides. However, if you already have some form of travel anxiety, then to me it’s worth it. I have a lot of money and time invested in my clubs/bag, I’d rather not sit there and worry the entire time if they will be okay. All it takes is one bad experience and your trip is ruined.
My wife and I both have that exact same travel bag. Last year we took it on three different flights. Never had an issue.