What to Pack for a Golf Trip

Every society golf trip has at least one player standing at the baggage carousel with an expression of mild concern, waiting for a club bag that is taking longer than everyone else's to appear, and quietly calculating what a new driver would cost at the pro shop. A little more preparation beforehand removes most of that anxiety.

The clubs: hard case vs. soft case

This debate tends to generate more heat than it deserves. The honest answer is that a good hard case provides better protection and is worth using if you are travelling with clubs you care about replacing. A soft travel bag is lighter, easier to manoeuvre, and adequate for most flights if the contents are properly packed — but it offers less protection against the specific hazard of a heavy bag being placed on top of it, which does happen.

Whichever you choose, remove the driver head and pack it separately in a sock or bubble wrap inside the bag. This single step prevents the most common transit breakage. Pack clothes around the shafts if you are in a soft bag; use the bag's built-in dividers if you have them. Do not pack anything valuable in the external pockets — most airline policies do not cover items in external compartments.

Shoes

The sensible approach is to wear your primary golf shoes onto the plane and pack one additional pair inside the club bag or main hold luggage. The shoes you wear through the airport will survive the journey perfectly well in a shoe bag inside your main case; they do not need a separate hard-sided container.

Travelling with three pairs of golf shoes, as some players attempt, solves no genuine problem and creates a luggage-weight problem that tends to manifest at check-in.

Clothing

The things everyone forgets

The adaptor plug appears on every packing list and is still forgotten with remarkable regularity. Pack it first, not last. If your group uses the same sockets for charging GPS watches and phones before an early round, the absence of a single adaptor becomes a communal problem.

Waterproofs. This one is specific to golfers who are travelling to Spain and have mentally categorised the destination as "hot." Spring and autumn mornings in southern Spain can be entirely dry; they can also be accompanied by significant Atlantic fronts that arrive quickly and do not leave until after lunch. A lightweight waterproof jacket that folds into its own pocket takes up almost no space and is never regretted.

Any prescription medication should travel in your hand luggage, not in hold baggage. This applies to antihistamines and anti-inflammatories as much as anything else — sunburn and an unfamiliar diet have a way of requiring things that seemed unnecessary to pack.

Protecting your clubs in transit

Beyond the hard-vs-soft case debate, a few specifics bear mentioning. Zip tie the zips on your club bag where possible — this does not prevent a determined search but does reduce the risk of the bag opening in transit. Photograph the contents before you hand it over at check-in; if something goes wrong, the photograph is evidence that the clubs were in good condition when they left you.

If your clubs do not arrive at the destination — which is rare but not unheard of — report it to the airline immediately at the airport rather than waiting until you reach the hotel. The sooner a delayed bag is logged, the better the chances of it arriving before your first round the following morning.

Most resorts have hire clubs available, and most groups will have at least one member whose clubs can be redistributed for emergency use. It is not ideal, but a delayed bag is not a cancelled trip — and the story tends to improve considerably in the retelling.