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Protecting clubs when traveling by air.


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My recipe:

Remove any heads that are removable - pack those in your carry on if you're worried about sticky fingers from baggage handlers.If your bag allows putting rest of the clubs in upside-down, do so. This has two benefits - extra protection for the clubs and makes wheeling the carry bag much easier because most of the weight is down by the wheels. (This is a huge advantage of bags that have fewer, large openings rather than many small ones). Don't put the clubs in upside-down with covers on - it's easy for a cover to get stuck down there.Use a stiff-arm or equivalent. I use a cut up broomstick with a tennis ball on the end. Probably stronger than an actual, commercially-made stiff-arm you can buy and you can make one for essentially no money. The collapsibility of the commercial ones doesn't matter to me because it just lives in the hotel room or trunk of the rental car, anyway.

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Never thought of putting this irons upside down. Great idea.

Driver: Titleist 913 D3 8.5° A-1 setting Graphite Design YS-6+ 65g stiff

Wood:  Titleist 980F 17° Aldila NV stiff

Hybrid: Titleist 909H 21° Aldila Voodoo stiff 

Irons:  Titleist 716 AP2 4- W  DG AMT S300

Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7  54°,  58° DG S200

Putter:  Odyssey White Hot #1 Tour

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

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When possible, fly to golf sites on Southwest Airlines. SWA allows two free checked bags per passenger, one of which can be your golf bag carrier. Just make sure the total weight with clubs is under 50 pounds.

Technically, the carrier's dimensions {length + width + height} should not exceed 62 inches.

What's In The Bag (As of April 2023, post-MAX change + new putter)

 

Driver:  Tour Edge EXS 10.5° (base loft); weights neutral   ||  FWs:  Calla Rogue 4W + 7W

Hybrid:  Calla Big Bertha OS 4H at 22°  ||  Irons:  Calla Mavrik MAX 5i-PW

Wedges*:  Calla MD3: 48°... MD4: 54°, 58° ||  PutterΨSeeMore FGP + SuperStroke 1.0PT, 33" shaft

Ball: 1. Srixon Q-Star Tour / 2. Calla SuperHot (Orange preferred)  ||  Bag: Sun Mountain Three 5 stand bag

    * MD4 54°/10 S-Grind replaced MD3 54°/12 W-Grind.

     Ψ  Backups:

  • Ping Sigma G Tyne (face-balanced) + Evnroll Gravity Grip |
  • Slotline Inertial SL-583F w/ SuperStroke 2.MidSlim (50 gr. weight removed) |
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Clean your clubs before. When they're dirty, I've seen them more prone to being inspected. I don't have any numbers or statistics, it just feels that way.

 

When they inspect them, they probably won't be as great as protecting your clubs, messing up the towels and anything you may have put there for protectoin

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Club Glove and stiff arm. Just be careful how you pack it because you can exceed the 50 pound airline baggage limit very easily.

Rogue ST Max Graphite Design MAD
Rogue 3HL and 7 wood
Sub 70 4/5/6 949x Hybrid
Sub 70 699 Pro Black 7-GW Recoil 680 F4
Sub 70 JB Forged Wedges 54/58

Odyssey EXO Seven Slant

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I fly with my clubs quite a bit. I use a softside bag and stiff arm and have not had any issues. However I just took a trip last weekend to FL and when I unpacked my clubs this is what I found..........stiff arm did it's job and is worth every penny.

FYZPUF83L6VR.jpeg

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Callaway Rouge 9* Aldila Rogue Silver 44.5"
Tour Edge Exotics E8 Beta 15* Aldila Rogue Silver
PING G410 Crossover 2i Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro Blue 80
PING i230 4-U Recoil F4 Smac Wrap
Vokey SM7 Black 54f - 58k
Scotty Cameron Futura X7M 33"

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This is what I always do. I put the club heads inside the head covers and put them in one of the pockets of the bag. I also wrap a towel around the irons in the bag.

I prefer the club glove over a hard case, as a hard case is a horrible PITA in a rental car or hotel room. They are so big and bulky.

 

-ZA

TM SIM 9.0 with Fujikura Ventus Velocore Blue 6X

TM SIM 15 deg 3W with Project X Smoke Green S

TM SIM2 3H with Fujikura Ventus Velocore Blue 9X

TM M3 4H with Fujikura Ventus Velocore Blue 9X

TM P790 5i with KBS $-Taper 120

TM P760 6-PW with KBS $-Taper 120

TM Hi Toe 50, 55 & 60 with DG S300

Scotty Cameron Phantom X 11.5 

 

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I get a 47 inch pvc pipe 1/2 inch diameter you can splice with a t connector if you want to be able to shorten it. I use a couple Velcro “zip ties” to bundle the woods/ pvc pipe in 1 bundle together and then the irons in another bundle together. I figure there is strength in numbers, don’t want them rattleing around. A couple towels around the heads. Throw it in my club glove and off we go.

l

Wishon 10.5 919 driver pure grip
Pure fit Raw ID 4 wood star side winder
Ping rapture 21 degree gripmaster wrap
4-pw Maltby dbm with aerotech regular gripmaster wraps
50;53;58 Maltby m wedges w matrix kujoh w brown perf gripmaster wraps
ray cook gyro w ust filter shaft gripmaster 
Ping moonlite bag

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Club glove/stiff arm.

 

Callaway Epic MAX 10.5*
Callaway Mavrik MAX 15*
Taylor Made M4 19* & 22* hybrids
PING G410 5-U w/DG 105s 
Cleveland RTX 54* & 58*
Odyssey Stroke Lab Big Seven Toe Up vs MEZZ1 vs Seemore
Precision Pro Nx7 Pro, Garmin S60 (watch)


https://forums.golfwrx.com/discussion/1580770/recaps-the-taylormade-twistfaceexperience-7-golfwrx-members-visit-the-kingdom-for-an-exclusive-m3/p1

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Totally agree. I just got back from a trip yesterday and was seriously considering Ship Sticks but the other guys in the group were flying Southwest. I was able to pick up a new Ouul travel bag from RockBottom for about $80, so just about the same as Ship Sticks would've charged, plus now I have it available for future use. That free second bag was the clincher. Hopefully Southwest will be an option for most of our next trips and they keep that deal alive.

 

As for packing, I wrapped the iron heads in a few towels. Went to GG to pick up a stiff arm, but when I saw they wanted $30 I went across the street to Home Depot and got a 10' piece of 1 1/2" pvc pipe, a T fitting and a cap for about $8 total. I cut the pipe down to 48", then I removed my driver/3wd heads and put the shafts inside the pipe, capped and stuck in the putter well of my Sun Mountain C-130 bag. Worked out perfect for me for about $22 less, and I have 6' of pipe left over for any other projects that come up.

WITB:
Mizuno GT/ST-180 Dr w/ EvenFlow White 6.0 75
Mizuno GT-180 3wd w/ Tensei CK White 75
TM UDI 1, 3 w/ KBS C-Taper Lite S
TM P770 4-PW w/ TT Tour Concept Satin
TM Milled Grind 52* LB and 58* SB
Odyssey O-Works 7S Tank

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Club Glove, and I use two pieces of 48" long, one inch hardwood dowel rod with PVC end caps for stiffening and impact strength in the bag. placed at outer slots.

irons - heads down, any removable wood or hybrid heads go in your carry on bag.

wind a long towel around whatever remains at the top of the bag.

extra balls, shoes, in the middle or lower part of the travel bag for better balance.

keep a large ID card inside the travel and golf bag with your full name, address and phone number. people forget to label their stuff.

 

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currently playing:
FT-5 - D
Cally FT hybrids
Hogan Edge GS, 4-PW
Vokey Oil Can 52, 56
Ping Anser 2

TM FlexTech Lite/Titleist StaDry
 

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Just to add about shipsticks vs taking yourself is if youre looking at it from the point of view that you find you value the convenience of not having to take your clubs to/from the airport then go for it otherwise (1) i have never seen shipsticks be cheaper unless your bag is overweight and (2) its not like someone in white gloves is picking your clubs up and hand carrying them to your destination, theyre getting loaded onto a plane and truck with pretty much the same care that the airline people are using. Ive read horror stories about both options but in the grand scheme they are the exception and not the rule, havent had any issues in the dozens of times ive flown with my clubs

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I agree with this 100%. Ship Sticks is going to use one of the major carriers (FedEx/UPS/USPS), and don't think that your clubs aren't going on an airplane or truck of said carrier. At least when I check mine, I know the condition right when I hand them over to the airline and right when I/they arrive. If I need to file a claim there is no "middle man", it's 2 parties involved vs. 3 or more.

 

And for me to ship via Ship Sticks and have them guaranteed to arrive for my trip, it was actually a lot more for their "3 day service" than just taking them with me, even if I had to pay an extra $75 for an additional checked bag. I think Ship Sticks' quote for 3 day service was over $100 from Cleveland to Daytona (one way), and it was such nice weather in Cleveland for November we actually played the day before the trip, so that wasn't an option unless I wanted to ship mine early and then play with a backup set.

WITB:
Mizuno GT/ST-180 Dr w/ EvenFlow White 6.0 75
Mizuno GT-180 3wd w/ Tensei CK White 75
TM UDI 1, 3 w/ KBS C-Taper Lite S
TM P770 4-PW w/ TT Tour Concept Satin
TM Milled Grind 52* LB and 58* SB
Odyssey O-Works 7S Tank

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Club Glider Journey (Meridian is even better)

Club Glove Stiff Arm

Heads off woods in side pockets in head covers

Neoprene Iron Covers on all irons/wedges (amazon/$10)

Towel around the iron heads, and stuffed down into the bag.

Zip Tie the Zippers shut at the top of the bag - Last time I flew US customs opened it up left a note they had a browse, its not really a "safety measure" I just like that it keeps any prying hands out (like when its waiting for me to get there in oversized area) and customs can easily pop it open if they want to inspect and not destroy a lock every time.

 

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