Top golf Bags for every occasion
Golf bags are designed to help players carry accessories aside from clubs, balls and tees around the golf course with ease. So, what should you have in your golf bag? And how many golf clubs are you actually allowed?
When playing a round of golf, you’re allowed a maximum of 14 clubs in your bag. This usually includes three woods (driver, 3-wood and 5-wood), eight irons, (3-9 iron and pitching wedge), and putter. You can have less than 14 clubs if you wish, and there is no limit on the number of a particular type of club you can have, for example if you wanted to carry around 3 putters in your bag that’s absolutely fine, a bit strange, but fine, as long as you have less than 14 clubs in total.
Golf bags will also need to carry all your accessories, things like spare balls, green markers, a selection of tees, the odd golf glove, maybe even some snacks and a drink. Whatever you carry around in your golf bag it’s important to find a bag that suits your requirements, depending on how you transport your bag around the course (trolley or carry) there are a huge selection of golf bags to choose from.
We’ve chosen some of our favourites, from Tour bags to carry bags, to help you decide on your new golf bag!
1. Best Tour bag – TaylorMade Tour Staff – £267
Tour bags, otherwise known as staff bags, are the largest bag types, usually meaning they are also the most convenient if you have a lot of equipment to carry around with you. This bag has lots of extra spaces for all your primary and supplementary accessories, such as clubs, extra clothes, gloves, towels, etc. Tour bags are the bag most commonly seen with professional golfers when on tour (being carried by their caddy of course).
The only usual downside to Tour bags is the weight, if you’re not planning to put your tour bag on a trolley you may regret the purchase half way round an 18 hole.
Our favourite tour bag at the moment is the TaylorMade Tour Staff Bag, with its classic appearance and high quality materials you can’t go wrong. It is on the pricey side for a golf bag so if you’re looking for a budget bag this may not be the one for you.
2. Best Stand bag – Motocaddy Hydroflex – £135
Stand bags are lighter, and they have two retractable legs so it can stand up when placed, which means you don’t have to lay it on the floor or balance it against something, allowing for convenient access to any club while playing.
Commonly used by golfers that like to carry their bags and walk between holes. Most stand bags have backpack style straps that balances the weight across both shoulders. When looking for a new stand bag, look for bags that don’t weigh much, having to carry round a heavy bag with added clubs can take its toll on your back when walking for long distances.
We’ve chosen the Motocaddy Hydroflex stand bag as our favourite, it looks great and the lightweight bag (weighing only 2.5kg) means you can carry it without too much strain.
3. Best Trolley Bag – PowaKaddy PK – £155
Trolley bags are designed to be moved around the golf course on a wheeled trolley, this makes them a lot easier to manoeuvre around the holes rather than having to lift and carry them like you would with stand bags. They usually come with a nonslip base that makes sure your bag doesn’t fall off the cart while moving.
The trolley bag is usually lighter and smaller than tour bags, but larger and heavier than stand bags. They have large amounts of storage space and are the most popular bag type from our list. Our favorite is the PowaKaddy PK Premium Edition 14 Way Golf Cart Bag, the 14 way split lets you organise your clubs really neatly, which is a feature we appreciate when it comes to golf bags.
4. Best Lightweight Golf Bag – Longridge Pencil – £15
Whilst these may not be useful for all scenarios, we do feel there is a place for these super light-weight golf bags, maybe you’re just popping to the driving range and don’t want to take a full set of clubs with you? We use these if we’re doing a local 9 hole course and know that we will only need a few select clubs to take with us.
The Longridge 5″ Pencil Golf Bag weighs less than 700 grams and costs just over £15, there’s really not much to complain about with this bag! It does exactly what you would expect, without any of the fancy bits.
