Most Practical Tips for Traveling with Your Golf Clubs Safely
It’s possible to travel with golf clubs. But is it convenient, affordable, and in the best interests of your clubs all at the same time too? This is where our most practical tips for traveling with your golf clubs come into the picture.
We’re a team of professional golf tutors, players, and more, so we have traveled a great deal with some of the most expensive gear out there. And we’re sure that even you’re carrying super-expensive golf clubs. Because, after all, you can’t go renting clubs everywhere and all the time.
You’re thinking of traveling with your golf clubs, which is proof enough that you’re a golfing enthusiast. In that case, you must be used to the feel and touch of the clubs you own. And this is something you can’t expect from rentals, right?
So how about you don’t worry about fitting your golf clubs in the plane without bending, damaging, or even breaking them during transit! Nothing should stand between you and the best golf courses in the world.
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The Most Useful Tips to Travel with Golf Clubs
It’s only logical to evaluate the alternative to traveling with golf clubs. Meaning to decide if you’d like to carry what you own or to rent ones that are available at the course when you get there. Does the latter seem like a better idea considering how renting is much easier? Also take into consideration how not uncommon it is for airlines to lose luggage.
So the risk of flying is indeed a hindrance when it comes to traveling with your precious and even expensive golf clubs. But that doesn’t mean people don’t do it, especially avid golfers. In fact, they do it ALL THE TIME.
On that note, here’s everything you might want to keep in mind when packing and traveling with your drivers, woods, and irons.
Make Sure You Get A Non-Stop Flight
When golf clubs are a part of your traveling experience, it’s just a whole lot better if it’s not a direct flight. Non-stop flights, on the other hand, are often preferred in this case.
Simply because no golfer wants to increase the chances of baggage handlers may or may not causing damage to your packed luggage when you’re switching between two flights. It’s only natural for them to get the job done a little carelessly and sloppily, right? And that could mean bent or damaged golf clubs.
But you know you can avoid such a tragedy from taking place if you just book a non-stop flight instead. So no connecting flights and no baggage handlers to deal with at all.
Another benefit of booking a non-stop flight is that it’s definitely a more convenient option, even for you. So you don’t need to go through the trouble of switching flights. More importantly, it’s a whole lot easier to travel this way with golf clubs.
Agreed that you might end up paying a little extra for non-stop flights. But the extra dollars are not going to drain your wallet for sure. You are indeed traveling with expensive golf clubs. So they deserve to be handled with care, no matter what.
Choose A Proper High-Quality, Durable Golf Travel Bag
Before we talk about the bag, let us inform you that the majority of airlines allow luggage up to 50 pounds. This is more than enough for a golfer to carry his/her clubs, shoes, and other gear. But then there are cheaper airlines that don’t let your carry more than 40 pounds. So it’s only common to want to get this part of the process sorted out beforehand.
Another very popular and useful piece of advice is to snap some pictures of your luggage. So you know which golf club is stored where. In short, you know where and how everything is packed, which can act as proof in case something goes wrong during transit.
As for what type of golf bag to carry when traveling, the most recommended is a cart bag. And why is that? Because cart golf bags are thicker plus less likely to allow any damage to happen to your expensive golf clubs when baggage handlers don’t care about tossing around your bag.
Moving on, if you want a specific golf travel bag, you get two options. There’s a hard case golf travel bag and a soft case version of that. The former, as is obvious, offers more protection. But it’s bigger and heavier. As for soft case golf travel bags, these are lighter, thus much more convenient and easier in terms of transportation, but not as protective.
Irrespective of the type of golf travel bag, you might want to place some extra towels between your expensive golf clubs at the time of packing. This, no doubt, creates cushioning and reduces the chances of damage. You can also use socks for the same purpose.
Know What to Pack
Apart from your 14-piece golf club set, pack your golf shoes, balls, tees, sweater, rain gear, and towels. Meaning include only what’s needed, eliminate the unnecessary fancy stuff (more on than later).
You have to keep in mind that the weight of your luggage should not exceed the limit set by the airline.
Know What Not to Pack
The first thing that comes to mind is expensive electronics. In the world of golf, the list includes GPS units and rangefinders. The latter, more often than not, costs over $400. And that means a very tempting deal for someone likely to steal. As for GPS units, be it handheld or in the form of a watch, these too are quite pricey, much like expensive jewelry.
We also avoid packing logo golf balls, which don’t come cheap for sure. So it’s best to put these into your carry-on luggage or backpack.
Remove the Clubheads If Possible
Fairway woods and other golf clubs sometimes are built with adjustable or even removable heads. So it’s a brilliant idea to use this particular feature right about when traveling. Just take it off and place it inside the head cover.
Some of us even add these clubheads into our carry-on luggage. However you choose the carry them, just make sure to also pack the adjustment tool.
Add An ID to Your Golf Travel Bag
Once packed and ready to go, add a carry ID or maybe even a ribbon, sticker, or something like that with which you can identity your luggage easily. Maybe the bag already has a pre-installed one. Nevertheless, add an additional ID for safety. It should include your full name, phone number, and email address.
What this also does is prevent a frantic traveler from grabbing your luggage at baggage claim.
Use Ship Sticks
Ship Sticks is a service traveling golfers simply love because it allows you to transport your expensive clubs without a worry in the world. You schedule the time of the pick-up of your packed, ready-to-go golf clubs using the service’s online software. Attach the required shipping labels. And that’s about it.
Now all that’s left to do is for you to travel the most conveniently. And your bag arrives right on time. Plus, you can even track your travel bags along the way.
Now let’s talk about the money aspect of Ship Sticks. The price, as goes without saying, is based on how soon you require those golf clubs and where you’re headed.
Here’s the general rundown of the prices offered by Ship Sticks:
- $119 for next-day delivery
- $109 for 2-day delivery
- $79 for 3-day delivery
- $39 for ground shipping
All the more reason to plan your adventure well in advance, right! Other services include Lugless, FedEx, and UPS.
Frequently Asked Questions
It all differs from one airline to the next. Some of these airlines classify golfing equipment as regular checked luggage. Likewise, they charge extra if you cross their weight limit, much as in the case of standard luggage. Then there are others who charge a certain minimum amount, which depends on your destination and the class you’re flying.
The best thing you can do is check the website of the airline to get to know all the specific details regarding baggage, weight limit, and the like.
Then comes the cost of golf equipment insurance. This is very useful if your cubs happen to get damaged, stolen, or lost during traveling. Around $80 is the average yearly cover.
Now what you can do is add up all these costs and compare it with the price you would pay for renting the golf clubs at the new course. The latter, in most cases, is a far more affordable and even less stressful choice. So do consider leaving your precious golf clubs at home.
Once more, this depends on the airline you choose. The overweight fee is only applicable if your check-in luggage weight exceeds the limit set by the airline. So find out the weight limit of the airline you’re flying with before traveling.
That of British Airways is 23 kgs. That of EasyJet is 20 kgs for golf clubs. And you have to add this information at the time of booking i.e. before your flight because the airline considers golf clubs as small sports equipment and allocates a maximum of only 20 kgs to it.
Ryanair charges 35 pounds for golf clubs for a one-way flight. And if you don’t add this at the time of booking, then 40 pounds at the airport.
Typically speaking, the weight of a golf bag is around 20 pounds with clubs. The number does indeed vary slightly based on the type of bag and how many golf clubs you carry.
It’s only natural to assume that government agencies and airlines don’t allow flyers to carry even a single golf club on a plane. Because the club can indeed become a weapon. So it’s necessary to check it in with your luggage.
When talking about golf holidays, golf travel insurance is worth the money before you start the trip. And that’s mainly because the likelihood of unpredictable circumstances is not eliminated. So, at such times, your insurance can cover potential damages or even the loss of your expensive golf clubs during your travel and even the vacation.
You can’t expect baggage handlers at the airport to care for your bags and their contents. Their job is to just move your luggage so it reaches you. For that very reason, the best thing you can do to protect your costly golf clubs is to pack them in a hard golf travel bag case. This piece of equipment does indeed prevent any kind of unnecessary damage.
Conclusion
This brings us to the end of the post. The tips we’ve discussed here are all geared toward making your travel experience not only more convenient but also more money-saving. The goal here is to make sure your super-expensive golf clubs don’t incur any damage during transit.
And if you think it’s just not worth traveling with your clubs because the golf course you’re heading to does offer rentals, then that’s not the most horrible idea either.
