Pack Your Clubs So They Arrive "Unbroken"

Pack Your Clubs, So They Arrive "Unbroken"

Hi, I’m Mel Sole, Director of Instruction at the Mel Sole Golf School, headquartered at Pawleys Plantation Golf and Country Club in Pawleys Island, SC.  We conduct 1, 2, and 3-day golf schools, hourly golf lessons, and senior golf schools—any golf instruction program your heart desires. Give us a call at 800-624-4653 or 843-237-4993.  We will be happy to book a commuter school or a package that contains accommodations, golf, and golf school.

Golf Blog by the Mel Sole Golf School.

If Louis Zamperini, the subject of a movie called "Unbroken," were a golfer, he would travel just like Craig Better of golfvacationinsider.com.  Craig describes how to pack your golf clubs so they arrive without shafts being bent.  Or worse still, club heads snapped off.  This has happened to me, and I wish I had read this article before I traveled.

You might think I am obsessive after reading how I pack my golf clubs.  But I've flown with them on a lot of golf trips and never once opened my travel bag to find a damaged club.

Here are my tips on protective packing, and, of course, I'd love to hear yours, too.

The Theory.

If a club breaks in transit, it usually happens where the clubhead meets the shaft.

Think about it: the rest of the club is protected by the "shell" of the golf bag, but the head sticks out and bears the weight of anything placed on top of it.

So, my entire approach revolves around protecting that point -- where the clubheads meets the shafts.

The Approach.

In the old days, I would turn my woods upside down so the heads were inside the bag with the shafts sticking up, but with today's narrower dividers and oversize heads (particularly on drivers) that's usually impossible.

Instead, I go with a "strength in numbers," approach.

For example, a single wooden chopstick is pretty easy to break, right? But bundle 10 chopsticks together and even Dustin Johnson can't break them.

Same idea here: I simply group all the clubs as closely together as possible, preferably will all the shafts in a single section of the bag. It helps to throw a sock over your irons (and putter) to keep them together, and may reduce scratches, too.

Note, too, that I place my tallest club, my driver, in between my other woods/hybrids. The club that sticks up the most is usually going to be the most susceptible to breakage.  So I try to insulate it as much as possible.

Once that's done, I throw my rain hood over the whole thing to keep everything in place.  Also as a precaution against rain or leaking engine oil (although if the latter is happening, ruined golf clubs don't seem like such a big deal).

Golf Travel Bag.

You want to preferably have a hard travel bag, then you don't need anything else.  However, soft travel bags need some help.

Once inside, I try to fill up any space above and below the clubheads to further reduce any stress/flex put on them.

In this photo (on my driveway so you could more easily see what I mean), I've placed my shoe bag under the clubheads.

On top, I'll usually put a rolled up golf towel or two.

Stiff Arm.

By the way, there's a product you can buy that largely achieves the same effect as all this.

It's called the Stiff Arm and one of my colleagues never travels without it.

Made by the same company that makes the Club Glove, it's basically a telescoping closet rod with a small frisbee on one end.

Place down the center of your golf bag.  Extend up to the top of the inside of your travel bag.  It becomes the tallest "club" in your bag and takes the brunt of any weight placed on your gear.

(By the way, if you have those nifty, adjustable clubs that easily pop on and off their shafts, I'd recommend toting the clubheads in your carry-on bag.)

I hope these tips on packing your golf clubs will be useful for your next golf vacation.

If you have other methods that you use, I'd love to hear about them.

Drop me a line at editor@golfvacationinsider.com.

Source : Craig Better    golfvacationinsider.com  Mel Sole Golf School.

Pictures : Craig Better    meridican

Thank you for reading - Pack Your Clubs So They Arrive "Unbroken."  Hopefully your next traveling golf vacation will have your clubs arrive intact!

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