An airport such as JFK in New York City can be a bit overwhelming at times. I’m pretty sure most international or large airports can be this way. The more streamlined you are the better. Meaning the less baggage you have the easier it will be to navigate through that urban jungle. Recently, while at JFK waiting for some family to arrive, I noticed a man who was very upset at the condition his golf clubs were in post flight.

I believe this gentleman made two mistakes. The first being he used a soft golf club travel bag instead of a hard case and secondly, he let airline baggage personnel handle his clubs. WRONG! Everyone knows or has a pretty good idea of what happens behind the scenes with luggage at an airport. I always worry that my suitcase will come down the carousel busted open and that I would have to get on the conveyor belt and collect all my stuff as everyone watched and laughed.

Everyone can learn a lesson here. Just look at what happened to Lee Janzen’s clubs a year ago when he was traveling to play the Shriners tournament. His clubs and bag somehow managed to be dragged or who knows what happened. Check out the custom grinding job Delta did to his wedge in the pic above. 

What is the best way to transport golf clubs when tavelling by airplane? Well, let’s check the options. We can do what the first gentleman did and use a cheap soft travel bag. We can splurge on a hard case and hope the latches and hinges hold up. We can use a service like UPS, FedEx or a private forwarder to ship them or we can leave the clubs home and rent a set wherever we go.

In my opinion, it’s always nice to have the clubs you’re comfortable with. You don’t want to be on the course and play even worse than you normally do because of the clubs. Actually, that could be a good excuse especially when you are playing with people you don’t know. “Ah man! If I had my 60 degree I would have been on the green in two…” Heard that crap before. What it comes down to is cost and value. What is the most economical way to bring my clubs with me?

It’s all relative. If you travel and play a lot it is worth the $200-$250 for a good quality hard flight case plus the extra baggage fee the airline hits you with. If you don’t play as often but are travelling to play somewhere there are services that will ship your clubs. For example, it might cost $90 to ship a standard golf bag and clubs roundtrip from the east coast to the west and back. It’s less if you compare it to buying a case and paying the extra baggage fee but if you’re traveling and playing more than 2 or 3 times then this option can get costly but you are also paying for peace of mind. Decisions, decisions.

What do you do when traveling and playing?

Hit’em long…yell FORE!!!