The Very Best Golf Travel Bags To Protect Your Clubs In Transit

Weight: 8.5 pounds | Dimensions: 53 x 13.8 x 13.8 inches 

Best for:

• Tall golfers with long clubs
• Heavy packers 

Skip if:

• Budget is a top concern—it costs as much as a hard case

There’s nothing skimpy about Ghost Golf’s AWOL. This bag is made from tough materials, with a 1680D ballistic nylon body and stress points that are reinforced with extra webbing and rivets to reduce tearing. Even the zippers are burly YKK options that move smoothly up and down the runners. As for protection, the bottom of the bag is supported with wheels and an extended skid plate, so you can drag it across curbs without worrying about the bag inside, while the top of the bag is wrapped in thick padding. The AWOL also comes with its own Stiff Arm for solid top-down protection. 

The superior materials and beefy protection give the AWOL an edge, but in my mind, it’s the added features that truly set this bag apart, like the exterior zipper pocket that’s big enough for shoes and more (there are two more internal mesh pockets for more storage), the copious grab handles that allow you to pick it up from a variety of angles, and the extra padded sleeve that’s designed to wrap around your club heads. This last touch essentially doubles the amount of padding around your precious clubs, and gives you a nice basket to store a couple of shirts and socks.

Want another reason? The bag folds away into a relatively tight package that could be stored on a garage shelf with no problem. But it’s big enough to fit burly cart bags and with additional room for all the layers and accessories you want to bring along for the ride. 

The AWOL does it all, although you will pay a price; it’s as expensive as many hard travel cases. 

Weight: 9 pounds | Dimensions: 51 x 13 x 15 inches

Best for:

• Golfers on a budget
• Golfers who want hard-case protection but lack storage space for a hard case

Skip if:

You can buy some really cheap travel bags online, but you’ll definitely get what you pay for. The Enforcer is the exception; a budget-friendly traveler that offers the sort of protection you usually only find in higher-priced options. 

The Enforcer is a hybrid bag with a hard-shell top that completely surrounds the heads of your clubs where they’re most vulnerable to damage, and a soft-shell bottom where your golf bag’s natural design adds a level of protection. One interior strap keeps the clubs in place, while a single exterior strap cinches the load in the middle. Wheels and a skid plate provide a bit of structure to the bottom of the bag, while semi-rigid “bumpers” run up the middle of the bag. 

It’s a solid design, and the material, 1800D all-weather fabric, is strong enough to handle normal abuse. I also like how the entire bag folds into the hard shell for storage. The Enforcer also comes with a North Pole, providing top to bottom rigidity to help protect it from the most common forms of damage. That’s a feature that even expensive bags don’t often include. 

There isn’t a lot of room inside the main compartment—my cart bag essentially fills the entire space—but there are two exterior zipper pockets designed to hold shoes and other accessories. My only other concern has to do with the distribution of weight. Technically, the bag stands on its own, but the hard case topper makes it a little top heavy and it will fall over easily if it’s bumped or there’s a strong breeze. That’s a small annoyance considering the amount of protection you get with this case. Bottom line: The Enforcer offers a lot of protection for under $200. 

Weight: 12.1 pounds | Dimensions: 52 x 13.8 x 15.7 inches

 Best for:

• Golfers who pack multiple pairs of shoes and outfits
• Golfers with oversized cart bags
• Golfers on multi-day trips who need to take a lot of gear

Skip if:

• Budget is the top concern
• Removing your driver head seems daunting

There are a few different versions of Ogio’s Alpha Travel Cover (regular, Mid and Max), but I recommend spending the extra cash on the Max, which is made from a tougher 1600D polyester than the regular version, and has more interior space to accommodate large drivers and most, if not all, of your golf “fits.” The Alpha Max is big enough for the bulkiest cart bag and still has room for extras, but that’s not to say it’s full of bells and whistles. It’s essentially a large, padded bag. 

“There’s not a lot going on, but less is more with the Ogio,” says Goulden. “It’s simple and it does the job.”

The top and bottom of the bag are padded, while two internal compression straps fix your bag in place, and external compression straps help secure the entire load. A skid plate and wheels give the bottom of the bag a bit of structure, and handles on the bottom, middle and top allow you to tug it along in a variety of situations. 

There’s an exterior pocket that’s big enough for shoes and clothes, and the interior main chamber has enough space for the largest bags, umbrella, all sorts of layers and even the souvenir hats and towels you can’t resist buying when you’re traveling. 

The main knock against the Ogio Alpha is that it doesn’t come with its own internal support pole, which would provide added structure for top-to-bottom impact. You can buy a telescoping pole separately, or you can remove the head of your driver when you’re traveling.

Weight: 18.16 pounds | Dimensions: 52 x 15 x 14.5 inches

Best for:

• Ultimate peace of mind
• Golfers who need plenty of storage space

Skip if:

• You don’t have a place to store the case
• You want to pack clothes and accessories with your clubs

As you might expect, hard cases offer the most protection for your clubs, and the SKB ATA Staff Pro XL is no exception to that rule. Baggage handlers could stand on top of this case, or drop it from several feet, and your clubs will be just fine. The ATA Staff Pro XL also offers an almost airtight closure system that protects your clubs from water and dirt, and the middle latch is lockable with an included key. All of this is very reassuring when you’re sending thousands of dollars worth of golf equipment through the sky. 

But this rigid protection comes with a price. First, this case is heavy—it’s almost 20 pounds empty. And second, there isn’t a lot of room to pack anything beyond your clubs. It fits a cart bag without issue, and there’s a bit of leftover room around the club heads for some small layers, which I would definitely add to help keep the club heads from rattling against each other during transport, but there’s no room for shoes or an umbrella. Depending on how robust your bag is, you might even have to empty its pockets. My cart bag was empty, and it fit very snugly inside.

With that said, I found it to be easy to pack thanks to the hard, stable shell, which was immobile as I shoved my bag into place. It’s also easy to maneuver, rolling around smoothly, and the middle and top grab handles make it simple to load into the back of my vehicle. But consider the size of your rental car, especially if you’re traveling with other golfers; it would be hard to squeeze two of these cases into the trunk of a sedan.

Weight: 6.8 pounds | Dimensions: 52 x 14 x 14 inches 

Best for:

• Golfers who lack storage space
• Golfers who want to travel light

Skip if:

• You don’t want to buy a support pole separately

Using the word “slight” might not sound like a good adjective when describing a bag that’s supposed to protect your golf clubs, but the fact is my storage space is minimal and I need a bag that basically disappears when it’s not in use. Enter Sun Mountain’s Kube, a fully-featured travel bag that offers good protection in the form of a hybrid hard case/padded topper, while packing down into a small cube via an accordion design when you’re not using it. It’s also the lightest bag on this list, even though there’s a combination of hard plastic and ample padding on the top and bottom of the bag. 

The materials (mostly ballistic nylon) are durable, as well, although the carry straps are a little thin compared to other bags on this list, and I’d like to see more reinforcements around those straps’ attachment points.

Two big interior pockets provide storage for shoes and more, and the Kube had no problem swallowing my cart bag, with ample space leftover for whatever clothes you’d like to include. Two interior straps hold the bag in place and external compression straps help tighten the overall load. 

The Kube does not come with a support pole, and while the top and bottom have hard plastic elements that provide some rigidity against top-down impact, I would absolutely add a third-party telescoping arm to this cover if I were to fly with it. And I did add that stiff arm when I threw it around the backyard. 

Weight: 8 pounds | Dimensions: 51 x 15 x 14 inches

Best for:

• Avid walkers who carry slim stand bags
• A bag that stabds up on its own

Skip if:

• You’re a dedicated cart bag golfer  

Club Glove makes some of the most trusted golf bags in the business, and their Traveler series of carriers are always well-reviewed by real users. The College is the smallest in the Traveler line, but it’s given the same amount of attention that the larger, more expensive versions enjoy. The bag is built from 1000D nylon that’s water and tear-resistant, and features grab handles that are reinforced with rivets and YKK zippers that run smooth and won’t snag or break. This is a high-end piece of luggage built to withstand the elements and abuse of frequent travel. 

It’s a svelte bag, designed to fit only carry or stand bags, so golfers who have oversized cart bags should look elsewhere. Club Glove makes larger sizes of the Traveler (the Pro and Tour offer more room), but Goulden, an avid walker, picked the College as his personal bag years ago. “I’ve had a bunch of different travel bags over the years, but as soon as I could afford it, I got the College. I’m positive this thing will last me the rest of my life.” 

While there isn’t a lot of wasted space inside the main compartment, the bag does include two side pockets for shoes and extras. Three straps tighten the load, and an exaggerated wheel base and skid plate provide a lot of protection from the ground and curbs, while also giving the College a sold base to stand on its own. The top of the bag has the padding you’d expect from an expensive travel bag, and the included Stiff Arm provides top-to-bottom protection for your taller clubs, so there’s no need to remove the driver head.

Weight: 10 pounds | Dimensions: 51 x 13 x 15 inches 

Best for:

• Golfers on a budget
• Travelers who want their bag to last for years

Skip if:

• You’re looking for a lightweight bag

The First Class is a beast of a golf travel bag. Made from 1000D military-grade ballistic nylon—the material that was used for bulletproof vests before the adoption of Kevlar—it’s not going to tear easily regardless of how poorly the bag is handled. Every stress point on this bag has been reinforced with multiple rivets to reduce the chance of straps tearing free, and the base of the First Class has a robust skid plate and beefy, in-line skate wheels intended for off-road use. 

Thanks to that infrastructure about the base, the First Class has no problem standing on its own. It’s large enough to handle a full cart bag, and two exterior zipper side pockets offer room for storage, and the exterior straps do a good job of securing the load so your gear doesn’t shift around during transport. Ample padding surrounds the club head portion of the bag, and it comes with a telescoping arm to protect your sticks from top-down impact. 

My favorite aspect of the First Class is the EVA molding around the top of the bag, which is more flexible than hybrid hard-shell cases, but still offers an added level of protection that you don’t find on most soft cases. Caddy Daddy is so confident in the materials and construction of First Class, it comes with a two-year, full-replacement warranty.