VESSEL / PING / REVCORE – BAG SHOWDOWN

Part of what’s so fun about any hobby is the GEAR!

This video covers my personal experience with the following golf bags:

Vessel VLS Lux
Vessel Player III
Ping Hoofer Lite
Ping Hoofer Tour 2025
Revcore Hybrid Stand Bag ( https://amzn.to/417ETkG )

While I earn a small commission if you use any of the above links (I will update the description with more links at a later date), my hope is that this video helps you pick your next bag!

[Music] Hey everyone, welcome to the channel Golf with James. I wanted to talk a little bit about golf bags today. And so if you are looking around to try and figure out which is the right golf bag for you, I have a collection of bags. Um, and I’m going to be selling a couple of these, so I wanted to make a video before I reduced my collection of existing bags. But today we have the Ping Hoofer Tour 2025. We also have the Rev Core LT lightweight standag. We have the Ping Hoofer Light. We have the Vessel Player 3, which should be pretty similar to the Player 4 and five, and also the Vessel VLS, which is one of Vessel’s more lightweight offerings. So, this is a pretty comprehensive offering in terms of what’s available on the market right now. Maybe the only ones that I don’t have are the OIO or Ogio bags and maybe a couple other brands that are out there right now. But I feel like what I have is a pretty good representation of what you might find out on the market. Now, what kind of golfer does this video maybe appeal a little bit more towards it? I would say the golfer who enjoys carrying but also doesn’t mind riding in a card every once in a while, maybe using their push card as well. So, I feel like most golfers that I know uh usually walk the course or uh ride sometimes and walk the other times or push carts. So, I think this is going to cover a pretty good uh chunk of golfers that are looking for golf bags. All right, I’m going to be walking through each of these bags. I’m going to start over here, walk through them, things that I’ve liked about them, things that I haven’t liked about them, and then I’m going to provide at the end a quick summary of what I think is the best value and the ones that ultimately I’m going to keep. So, let’s get started. So, first up is the VLS by Vessel. This is one of their more lightweight offerings. Uh the things that I do like about it is it has a classic vessel construction. Uh pretty nice faux leather material. The stitching is high quality. One of the really big downsides of the bag. I am not a fan of the zipper action. And the zipper action in general just feels a little cheap. So that’s a big knock against it. I’m actually going to be letting go of this bag. If you like the smaller form factor in the Vessel lineup, you’re probably still going to enjoy it. And the Vessel is probably something that you can uh or the zipper is something that you can probably live with. But for me personally, I just didn’t really enjoy that. Another thing that I’ve personally found was a downside of the bag is that I felt like it retained, especially this black color way, it retained random white markings. And I don’t know why that happened. Uh, it’s even on days where I wasn’t wearing sunscreen, so I don’t know if that’s just dirt or dust. Um, so I’ve had to kind of maintain or clean this bag a little bit more often. That said, it’s still a Vessel bag, and for folks who are loyal to the brand, the stand action is still really clean. The overall weight of the bag is very light. It features a four-way top and so if you are more of a minimalist golfer, I mean, I found this setup pretty enjoyable. I didn’t have any club tangle that I, you know, am aware of personally, but I also feel like some of these club tangle issues are overblown by players who are playing jumbosized grips and are demanding that their clubs go in and out easily even though they’re wearing jumbosized grips on their clubs. So, uh, Vessel VLS, I enjoyed it, but I’m not keeping it. All right, the Vessel Player 3. This, and you can tell probably just by the way that you hear me talking about it, was my favorite bag. And I’ll tell you why it ended up kind of falling out of favor with me. But I would say that this is as close to the perfect bag that you can get. has a really generous compartment so you can fit a lot of things and a lot of different pockets even inside which I found really useful for organizing all of my things whether it’s like hey I want to put sunscreen here or snacks here and I want to put more valuables over here uh still some more zippers on the outside relatively lightweight I felt like I could carry all my stuff even if I was carrying my camera gear I had all the room in the world to do that and yet it still looked really clean. Um, had features like that magnetic action on the on the rangefinder. Same thing with the VLS. By the way, a lot of these items I I feel like do also apply to the VLS, but the VLS just has fewer pockets. Again, the zipper action just not a fan of it. And because it’s a little more lightweight offering, the compartment is definitely going to be smaller. For this one though, the Player 3. I mean, extra jacket, extra water bottle, everything could go in. Uh, I found personally the water bottle holders on both sides to be sufficient. I just needed to find a water bottle that was a little bit more on the thinner flask side, which you know, it’s not it’s not a huge trade-off, I feel like, uh, if you have to look for that. But overall, really really good bag. The the sand kick action awesome. I really did appreciate rather than a four-way top, you had room for a six-way top. So, I put my driver in one bag, let the big dog eat, my putter in a separate separate uh separate compartment as well. Um, and then divide the rest of my clubs accordingly. But where the strap connects to the bag, uh, and I’m going to zoom in a little bit, is starting to come apart over here. And I don’t know how well you can see that on the camera right now, but the Vessel I I believe it only has a 1-year warranty. And so if you’re looking for a bag that’s going to last you, you know, you’re going to be paying almost 500 bucks for it at this point. It’s like 489 or something like that uh for the Player 5, you would think that the workmanship is going to last longer than like 2 and 1/2 years. And granted, over those 2 and 1/2 years, I did play a lot of golf, but I would just expect the bag to hold up longer. I’m not really looking to pay 500 bucks every 3 years to just make sure that my bag stays in functional shape. Um, so I, you know, I haven’t heard good things about Vessel’s warranty process. Um, and so that’s something that I’m not even going to really bother going through their uh returns process. It’s also because it’s it’s out of warranty anyway, right? So, there’s no real point in going to them and seeing what they could do. But, from what I’ve read online, too, uh, Vessel is pretty strict with their warranty. That brings me to Ping. So, Ping actually their warranty for their bag is 2 years. And so, um, I’ve actually had to use their warranty service for an issue with a sand leg for one bag. And I think there was another issue that I forgot. Um, oh, I think the spine inside one of my bags was wasn’t functioning properly. And Ping was really their customer service was really good about uh rectifying the issue as long as you’re within the 2 years of purchase date. Now, I mentioned the two issues that I did have. And so, I think anytime you go with a bigger box brand, you’re going to find maybe some of the quality control issues that you would anticipate for more of a mass-roduced bag. But the Ping Hoofer Light, I think it’s something like 240 bucks or something like that. When you look at the other offerings that are here that are more in the 300 to 500 range, 240 for a bag that is actually really nice and the calling card or the Hoofer Light is it’s really light. So, if you enjoy carrying the Hoofer Light is going to be one of the best options that’s out there. Now, the material of the bag is obviously where a lot of that lightness comes from. So, if you want faux leather, you’re going to have to sacrifice a little bit of the the pounds to try and make sure that um you know, you have that more luxurious uh appearance versus kind of this rip stop material that’s on a Ping Huffer Light. But, uh overall, again, very generous compartment over here. I did wish there were a couple more compartments inside so I can organize, but there I mean there’s enough for me to go on. Um, so I haven’t really had trouble in terms of fitting the things that I need to inside the Hoofer Light. Plus, this bag is ultimately a little bit more geared towards folks that are walking. And if you’re walking, the assumption is that you’re not trying to carry too much. Um, the only thing that I kind of wish Ping would change about the Hoer Light is the pocket for the rangefinder. If only this was magnetic. If only this was magnetic, I would probably make this my daily like my everyday bag. Because although I enjoy the the the nice feeling of faux leather, at the end of the day, the lighter you can get and the nicer uh kind of amenities of the bag you can get combined is what really makes the experience for me. And I found it pretty annoying to one keep this kind of open so that I’d have to kind of worry about Oh man. I mean, it’s a trade-off in between. You can easily access your rangefinder versus, dude, is this going to fall out? Um, and so I I wasn’t a fan of that. Also, I I wish that there was a way to just put my water bottle into a little like flap instead of having to put it inside one of the compartments. So, um, those actually are relatively minor complaints when you consider the difference in price tag. So, if you’re looking for an established brand that is going to be responsive to any issues with quality control, I think Ping is definitely the way to go, especially if you’re going to, you know, uh, be putting in a lot of rounds. And, um, but again, just when you’ve had a bag with a magnetic enclosure for your rangefinder, it’s really hard to go back. And also a place for your water bottle. I mean, it does feature, I think, an insulated water bottle holder right here, right? So, you could put like a like a plastic bottle of water that’s chilled or like a can of Coke or an IPA or something like that. But for me, I like carrying my flask around. This doesn’t really do it for me. Um, and so that’s those are some two quibbles that I wish, you know, really make the difference. I’m still going to hold on to this bag. Um, and so I’m keeping this one. All right, let’s move on. So, one thing I’ll say, I bought like every one of these bags with my own money except for the one that I’m about to talk about. And the one that I’m about to talk about is the Rev Core LT lightweight sandbag. Now, anytime you receive a product, for me personally, I I let folks know that I’m going to be giving an honest review. And even if that means that I have to point out some of the things that I don’t like about the bag, that’s the risk that the manufacturers have to take in order for them to get their product to be reviewed. That’s that’s my opinion. I don’t think, you know, I feel like I’ve seen too many videos where people are shilling for things. And on my channel, I have a number of videos where I talk about things that I actually don’t like about a product. And so that doesn’t mean I hate it. It’s just that, you know, it’s it’s hard to have a perfect product, right? All right. With that disclaimer, I received this Rev Core sand bag and Oh, no. Uh, one of the bags almost fell over, so I had to reset. So, I’ve received this RevCore LT lightweight stand bag and I honestly was a little skeptical because when I think of bag manufacturers, I don’t really think of Catty Daddy, which is the actual I think mother company of Revcore to be producing quality bags. But this is I I believe it’s supposed to be like a vessel competitor. So, it has that faux leather um and has a lot of the features that I personally am looking for. So, it has a magnetic enclosure. I’ve been really happy with the action of the zippers. Um I’m not worried at all that this is going to, you know, catch on me. Um and a lot of room in the compartments. Really, the only thing that I wish was a little bit different about this bag is this is a compartment for your water bottle. And even though that’s better than nothing, I do wish they went with something more similar to the vessel design where the water bottle is carried next to the the ball compartment over here because once you fill up this big compartment over here, then it doesn’t once it’s filled up, it’s hard to get this to open up, right? And so your ability to carry something here is dependent a little bit more on what you’re carrying in here. That all said, I really enjoyed my experience in carrying this bag. They put little nice details that I really appreciated like uh using metal metal fastening materials rather than plastic fastening materials or like uh I don’t think that’s what it’s called, but um you know where you clip onto the things and overall lot of room for you to put your club. I really like the action of how it it stood as well. I did have one really silly issue which when it was mailed out to me, the clip over here was connected to the wrong uh I guess clip. And so when I wore it, I was thinking to myself, dude, this bag feels horrible. And so I actually carried it a couple rounds. Um and and oh yeah, I’ve I’ve carried all these bags, by the way. I carried it a couple rounds and I was just thinking, why would they make a bag like this? Once I once I realized that it was clipped on to the wrong place originally when it was shipped out to me and I fixed it, then the bag sat way more comfortably. So if you do buy this bag, it’s 230 bucks. And so 230 240 for the ping hoofer light uh believe like something like 300 for or almost 500 for the vessel player three through five depending on which one you get. And then the VLS is something like I don’t know 300 bucks. But for 230 bucks, you get something that is uh you know, pretty similar to what you get in Vessel. Um I’m excited also to see, you know, what their bag evolution looks like because I’ve been pretty impressed with the bag. All right, so I’m keeping the Rev Core bag. All right, last one here. And this is a little heavier and a little bit more fully loaded because I’m moving this right now and testing it. But here are my first impressions. This is the Ping Hoofer Tour 2025. The reviews for the previous Ping Hoofer were not good. Um, I felt like a lot of folks were talking about how even though the bag looks really good, there were a lot of things functionally that they didn’t really appreciate about it. So, when the 2025 came out, I was pretty excited because I figured, you know, hopefully Ping has uh addressed some of those issues. This is the no logo version of the Ping Hoer Tour 2025. And I like the no logo version because even though I do carry a couple Ping clubs in my bag, no telling whether or not they say or not. So, uh, I personally enjoy it when my bag looks like it’s not necessarily affiliated with any club manufacturer. Um, you can always go with the Ping logo, too. The Ping logo looks amazing as well, but that’s just my personal decision. Now, compartment size, pretty great. I do wish that there was one more pocket inside of here because this is what you get. You get a pocket here where you can insert maybe your val valuables or something. And then you get another pocket over here. And one thing that I really actually don’t like about this pocket over here is there’s a flap of material that covers the zipper. So it’s it it’s like hard to access this zipper tie. And then even when you open it now, you have to kind of go in and kind of pull this off to then go inside your bag. I really wish uh Ping had gone with a design more similar to uh most other bags which just has a simple zipper just lying outside, really easy to pull, really easy to access the bag. But uh otherwise, I’ve really enjoyed the Ping Huffer Tour. a lot of generous space. Doesn’t feel super heavy. And um the zipper action is similar to it’s not metal. It’s it’s the plastic zipper, but one of the things that I know I can be confident in is that King is going to stand by their product. And over 2 years, I’m probably going to be, you know, carrying this bag for uh hopefully like a 100 rounds. And over that 100 rounds, hopefully if any issues do show up, they’ll be rectified by the customer service. I have noticed with this material that it seems to hold creases a little bit uh more easily than I thought it was going to, but it also has a dedicated water bottle strap, which is something that I’m super excited about. It’s it’s these small things that you really get excited about in your golf bag. Are any of these bags perfect? By the way, that that’s going to be a keeper. Um, are any of these bags perfect? I would say no. Right. I I think I’ve mentioned everything that I’ve talked about in terms of things that I’ve liked or disliked about the bag, but I’ve carried every one of them. And if you have questions on any one of these bags, like from a price ratio standpoint, all I can tell you is that I’m going to be holding on to these three over here. Uh, two ping bags and a RevCore bag. And I’m actually not going to be holding on to either of the Vessel bags. All right, guys. So, that concludes my overview of all the different bags that I have personally played with and carried. So hopefully that information is helpful to you as you’re making your own decision. In the meantime, please like and subscribe. Thank you for watching and I will see you guys hopefully on the course. Take care.