And 2015 Ends...And Happy New Year!

The Best Year Ever? Who is to say?

Actually, Cameron Morfit did at Golf.com. While it's a good read and I agree with his take and that of Iain Carter, who wrote that we witnessed a professional golf season for the ages, the declarations of 2015 as best golf year ever speaks as much to the historic performances as golf's desperation to be as loved.

After several post-recession years amidst Tiger's downfall, the prospects were dimming. Yet the emergence of star players and some better economic news should have folks bullish. But there are too many worrying signs, too much hostility toward the sport and too many societal pressures that even eternal optimists must know dim the prospects for "growth." These doubts undoubtedly prompt the occasional Buzzfeed-style headlines designed to assure us that we're fans of something loved and popular. Golf, as a pasttime or as entertainment, finds itself right about where it has always been and always will be on the international radar.

Which is why the focus of this site will continue to be on the best stories, the most critical news worth analyzing and on all things design. Visiting and soaking up the St. Andrews scene this year reinforced just how important all elements of design were vital to the growth of golf and how enjoyable those elements--courses, clubs, clubhouses, clothes, etc...--are to scrutinize.

After a decade of a pretty straightforward blog format, I hope to gradually make a few significant changes to the appearance and energy of the site in 2016, keeping the general sense of a blog only with more short posts guiding you to great reads, more imagery, increased audio listening and video content. And of course, finally making it all mobile friendly without a sense that reading the site on a mobile device is less fulfilling than on a desktop (a sense I get with too many websites). I'm finishing up a survey to help crystalize a few ideas and hope to post it soon. Your input will be much appreciated.

These refinements will hopefully allow me to continue to enlighten and entertain the incredibly loyal reader of this site--78% of visits this year are from bookmarks and direct visits. In the mean time, my favorite time of year arrives with the west coast swing and Masters run-up, so as the site refinements get ironed out, we should be in for a continuation of 2015's theatrics. The best year ever? Who knows. But it was a very special one.

My continued gratitude for reading the site and contributing your thoughts, for clicking on the links posted and for supporting the efforts of my media partners to cover the sport.

Happy New Year!

Roundup And Reminder: Tiger At 40

If Tiger Woods needs motivational material, he should look no further than the obituaries stories posted today for his 40th birthday.

Bleak!

Well, not entirely. But the annual ritual that is golf writers penning one more possible GWAA-award worthy column did take on more of a post-mortem vibe after Tiger's depressing press conference in the Bahamas and the realization that he's had three back surgeries in a year. Nonetheless, there were some creative and thought-provoking efforts. The ones I enjoyed reading with highlights, though as always, I'd encourage you to click the links...

Steve DiMeglio reflects on the state of Woods and while he felt the mood brightened later in the week, had to note the Woods press conference as a low point for fans of the golfing great.

When he did talk golf at the Hero World Challenge, the tournament which benefits his foundation, it sure sounded like his playing days are over. In an uncharacteristically revealing news conference, the man with 14 majors and 79 PGA Tour titles painted a bleak future with a steady stream of telling comments.

Downtrodden and in obvious pain, Woods said there was no timetable for his return to the game, no light at the end of his tunnel. He said everything beyond this “will be gravy.” He’s looking forward to the 2016 Ryder Cup as an assistant captain (if he doesn’t play his way on to the team).

The Guardian's Ewan Murray wonders if Tiger's ever recovered from his scandal.

What does seem a fair analysis is that the sudden realisation that he was not infallible, either on or off the course, had a profound impact on Woods. Not only was he susceptible to the temptations and weaknesses of so many others, Woods had to carry out a supposed rehabilitation process, by way of the most cringe-inducing public apology in history, in front of the watching world.

Woods single-handedly dragged golf into a fresh commercial stratosphere, a matter not lost on the leading players of 2015 as they pursue multimillion-pound prizes week after week. When Tiger’s father, the late Earl Woods, insisted to anyone who would listen and plenty who would not that his son was going to revolutionise the game, it was portrayed as fantasy. Earl was right. Woods emerged as a sporting phenomenon.

Eternal optimist James Corrigan sees light at the end of the tunnel for Woods if post-40 career resurgences are any indication.

If he can feel like a proper, fit 40-year-old then the history of golf shows that his career does not have to be over. Woods evidently still wants to compete, but has allowed himself the privilege of looking back. In 20 years, he redefined his sport, broke down some of its barriers and brought so much pleasure and awe to so many. It is intriguing to read what he judges to have been his finest achievements.

Christine Brennan sees Woods turning 40 going on 70.

Just as Tiger was in a hurry to win majors, it turns out he also was in a rush to reach middle age. Not by choice, of course, but it appears to have been inevitable, considering how he lived his life outside of golf, how he contorted his body to make a golf ball do what he wanted it to do (putting tremendous pressure on a back that eventually couldn’t take it anymore), how he drove himself so hard so fast that he has driven himself right out of the game he once dominated, at least for the time being.

Mercer Baggs has warm memories of the younger Woods around Orlando and at Golf Channel.

Tiger’s talked a lot over the last two decades. Did you know he has 1,364 transcripts on asapsports.com since 1996? That’s about 72 transcribed interviews a year during that span. Well more – over 200 more – than Phil Mickelson has given in a greater time frame. And that only counts when a stenographer was around.

Back in the day, the early professional days, Tiger regularly came into Golf Channel studios. He did interviews. He even viewed tape. We could peek into the window of the library screening room and watch him watch footage of past majors, gleaning knowledge on an unfamiliar venue. We were told not to bug him, and we always kept a respectful distance. Think he drove a Mercedes.

Tiger seemed relatable back then. Like, if you just introduced yourself that would lead to a chat.

Ryan Lavner on why Tiger still matters, talking to some interesting folks about what makes Woods different, and how he impacted college golf and motivated the kids in spite of the hat he wore on Golf Talk Live.

Rex Hoggard wonders where Tiger goes from here and includes this from Arnold Palmer:

But as Palmer eyed that fateful cover from 1969, the conversation turned to Woods and his impending birthday. The signature smile vanished, replaced by the slightest hint of sadness.

“I’m afraid some of my thoughts about Tiger and his life and his future might be different. There are things that would be unfair, to him, for me to say,” Palmer said. “He has an opportunity and a talent that is something he should value more than he does.”

Jason Sobel talks to Jack Nicklaus, who is more optimistic given his post-40 career.

"Forty was just a number for me," he explained. "It really didn't make any difference. The hardest birthday I had was 65, because I knew 65 was the year I wasn't going to play anymore."

If you're looking for a group of golfers to take pity on Woods for hitting the Big Four-Oh, don't look to those who have already passed that benchmark, because most will simply echo Nicklaus' sentiments about the occasion.

Golf Central’s Tiger at 40 special airs at 6 and 11 pm ET today. Here's a preview where Rich Lerner, Brandel Chamblee, Jaime Diaz and Tim Rosaforte talk about moments that stand out from Tiger's career.

Update on 2015-12-31 02:00 by Geoff

**Bob Harig added his thoughts, including this on the prospects of Tiger excelling in his 40s.

Age 40 saw Nicklaus win two majors in 1980 at the U.S. Open and the PGA. And there are numerous players today competing in their 40s, including Jim Furyk, 45, Phil Mickelson, 45, and Lee Westwood, 42. Along with Thongchai Jaidee, Jamie Donaldson and Soren Kjeldsen, they are the only players age 40 and older ranked among the top 50 in the world.

And while Ben Hogan and Gary Player won majors in their 40s, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson did not.

GolfChannel.com's Justin Ray's forty for forty stats are fun. Here's a particularly good stretch:

38. Woods won 10 majors before his 30th birthday. Since the first Masters was held in 1934, the only player to even win five majors before turning 30 was Jack Nicklaus, who won seven.

37. On that note: today, there is currently only one player with double-digit PGA Tour wins (not majors, just regular victories) under age 30: Rory McIlroy.

36. In majors from 1997 through 2008, Tiger recorded 34 different rounds of 67 or better. No other player had more than 16 such rounds in that span.

35. Woods won 46 times in his 20s, 16 more than any other player in PGA Tour history (Nicklaus, again, is second). During the time Woods was in his 20s, the player with the second-most victories before age 30 was David Duval, with 13.

“What would have happened if he had two-putted the eighth?”

End that question with the eighth green at the Old Course and anyone who follows golf closely knows the topic: Jordan Spieth, holder of the green jacket and the U.S. Open trophy, with a chance to win The Open and he inexplicably putts uphill, way past the hole, intp the only spot you can't putt your ball, well off the otherwise benign green.

James Corrigan, in reviewing Spieth's year for the Telegraph, goes back to the same spot that I keep thinking of in remember 2015. Because that putt encapsulates the historic majors season posted by Spieth by reminding us how close he was to winning the first three majors of 2015. But it also reminds us that someday he'll lie awake at night knowing the first three were so within his grasp and yet even the world's best putter could throw in a shockingly average putting week and still miss a playoff by one.

Corrigan writes:

The point is that if Spieth had enjoyed even one of his average putting weeks, he would, by his own reckoning, have become just the second golfer to win the Masters, US Open and Open in the same year and become the first to have the chance to win all four at the USPGA. In the event, he finished second at Whistling Straits behind world No 2 Jason Day, but who knows much how the Claret Jug could have inspired him in that August week?

We could easily have been talking about the greatest season in golf instead of just “one” of the greatest and with the strength in depth in the game we can only wonder when we might witness a player coming so close again; especially a player of his tender years.

Update on 2015-12-30 16:08 by Geoff

**Cameron Morfit talked to looper Michael Greller about the season and there was this about Spieth's bounce back ability, which included the moment mentioned above:

What were some of his other great bounce-back moments?

Go back to Augusta, Saturday: He hasn’t missed a shot, and he makes double bogey on 17 and misses right on 18. It feels like all the momentum is shifting to Justin Rose. And Jordan hits that flop shot from above the hole and makes the putt for par. St. Andrews: He four-putts No. 8 for double bogey and bounces back and birdies nine and 10. He just doesn’t go away. [Laughs] That’s what I love about him. He’s got so much fight. He scratches and claws.

Mr. Style On 2015's Fashion Winners And Losers

Mr. Style Marty Hackel, with assistance from Alex Holmes, eases into things at GolfDigest.com with quibbles for Nike and Adidas in their presentation of Rory McIlroy and Jason Day respectively, but then gets to the stuff that matters: playing Fashion Chief of Police.

This was beautiful:

Loser: We're all for challenging conventional golf style, but Na seemed to miss week in and week out in these Elord printed polos. I'm still convinced this shirt is a Magic Eye design.

But it accents the sunscreen layering so well!

Now, if only we could be in the office when Ian Poulter calls about his "Push" status for 2015.

A Less Rosy View Of Back9's Reorganization Attempt

Katy Stecha at the Wall Street Journal has gone through the court papers and paints a less flattering image of Back9's possible reinvention as an online website and app.

Most eye-opening is who and how much the failed network owed money to.

The five existing investors behind the $2 million offer are retired United Technologies Corp UTX +1.16%. executive Karl Krapek, private equity managing partner Denis Nayden, wood exporter Ted Rossi, KKR KKR -1.77% investment firm portfolio manager Paul Raether and Brian Furbish.

Under the purchase plan, the investors will continue to repay roughly $4.75 million in low-interest loans extended through Connecticut’s media tax credit program. The state’s decision to invest in the golf channel gave critics of Democratic Gov. Dan Malloy something to grumble about. As the Connecticut Post pointed out, Mr. Malloy’s chief of staff is married to a Back9Network employee. The network also employed former Democratic state Sen. Sanford Cloud Jr., his close ally.

The channel’s collapse stung an impressive list of more than 200 investors, including tech entrepreneurs, Wall Street executives, doctors and golf industry players. People who own small slices of the channel include New Jersey Devils part owner David Blitzer and UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma.

Here is the full list of those owed money by the failed network.

Philly Cricket Buys Its Historic St. Martins Site

Silly me for thinking Philadelphia Cricket Club owned the St. Martins golf course property recently restored and so very historic to early American golf, but after Jacob Adelman's report of a $600,000 purchase, now we know they were leasing all along. (Thanks to reader LM.)

Not anymore, thankfully. So one of America's most important early homes to championship golf and still the place where members can whap it around using hickories, is safe from future development.

The PCC closed on the nearly 41-acre property on Dec. 17, according to the Media-based Lands Trust, which is empowered to preserve the property for open-space recreational use under the sales agreement.

The property was sold to the PCC by the families of Quita Woodward Horan and George Woodward III, whose forbears had owned the land since the 1880s. The club had long leased the property for part of its nine-hole golf course.

Pete Dye Turns 90!

Golf architect Pete Dye turns 90 (December 29) and isn't slowing down, renovating some of his designs and also creating new ones.

Bradley Klein files a short update on Dye and notes that it may have taken a little bit of urging to get the legend to relent to calls for repairing TPC Sawgrass' 12th into a drivable short par-4.

Previously, Dye has looked askance at such holes, deriding efforts at other championship courses as a way of cheapening the shot value of par 4s. “They have a name for drivable par 4s,” he has said. “Par 3s.”

Garry Smits reported last week on planned changes after the 2016 Players.

Don't Call Inbee A Hall Of Famer Just Yet

Inbee Park quietly became a Hall of Famer with her stout 2015 campaign (two majors), but that incredible career milestone was overshadowed at season's end by the understandable Lydia Ko hype.

Beth Ann Nichols reports that Inbee actually has to play the LPGA Tour for one more year to be Hall eligible. Or, to be exact, round one of her tenth LPGA start of 2016.

Hope you don’t get injured! 
Or choose to start a family with that devoted husband beforehand. Otherwise you’ll be in HOF purgatory with Lorena Ochoa, who amassed 37 points in seven glorious years on the LPGA before dedicating herself to motherhood.

Shouldn’t the LPGA Hall of Fame be a benchmark 
of greatness and not time served?

It should and the LPGA might want to figure out a way to fix this before we have Inbee taking a curtain call after hitting a first round tee shot.

Gloriously Awkward: Steph Curry's High School Golf Team Pic

I'm guessing the collar up was a prank/stunt based on the smiles bordering on giggling.

But what is that club resting against the AP Male Sports Athlete of 2015?

Flashback: Steph Curry on his high school golf team pic.twitter.com/QswJts6RVO

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 28, 2015

Membership Closes In Annual World Top 50 Club

There's something increasingly absurd about the year-end World Top 50 Club. Not that it's the fault of the Official World Golf Ranking. Or even the precious algorithm guiding year-end standings that carry entirely too much meaning by qualifying people into majors and other events.

It's always seemed strange to be handing out passes for major championship field spots for the previous year's top 50. They also secure $300,000-or-so in guaranteed appearance money for the coming year, all because the calendar switched to a new year January 1st.

Yes, people need to plan schedules and make travel plans at some point, but I don't get why this New Year's Eve mythical milestone of world top 50 status is still used by events such as the Masters. The idea of rewarding folks in such a substantial way while restricting others, all for finishing the year one one side of the top 50 line, just seems like an outdated notion.

Nick Menta reports on those who slipped in and those no longer with access to the club. And then there's Tiger down at 416th.

Back9 Network Planning Online Return, Expansion

Stephen Singer reports for the Hartford Courant on efforts by the failed television network Back9 to continue on as a website, app and email property, according to bankruptcy filings and confirned by CEO Charles Cox.

Singer writes:

Cox and co-founder Reid Gorman tapped $2 million from a group of investors, including Karl Krapek, former president and chief operating officer of United Technologies Corp., and Denis Nayden, managing partner of Oak Hill Capital Partners and former chairman and chief executive officer of GE Capital, the one-time financing unit of General Electric Co. They did not return calls seeking information on their roles in the return of Back9Network.

Back9Network executives acknowledged in the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Hartford their failure to launch a profitable television network. They're now forming a "compelling online platform" of websites, a golf app and an email newsletter with 1.7 million subscribers, they said.

Anyone use the app cited by the network as key to its growth?

Nine Days Of Christmas: Buy A Book From Peter Yagi For 20% Off

To recap, so far we've had deals on between Seamus, Johnnie-O, St Andrews, Lululemon pants, Wybranski major art, Photobucket printing to canvas for your golf pics, Mack Daddy wedges and Sun Mountain's travel cover glider.

Our year-end nine hole round concludes with no specific gift you can buy yourself, but instead, an introduction to one of the few trusted golf booksellers left: Peter Yagi Golf Books. His catalog must be requested by email (pete@moneytolend.com) or via his mailing list for those who enjoy receiving Peter's twice-a-year printed catalog by mail.

As a courtesy to GeoffShackelford.com readers, Peter is extending his After-Christmas 20% off sale a little early, so email him now for the catalog and buy yourself a classy addition to the shelves in the form of a great golf book. Oh sure you're relatives might have spotted one of these...but I doubt it.

Just a few that caught my eye on Peter's current list, which includes a strong collection of Darwins. Merry Christmas!

13)AITCHISON, THOMAS S., LORIMER, GEORGE.  Reminiscences of the Old Bruntsfield Links Golf Club.   1866-1874.  1902, printed for private circulation.  Contains some of their Lays (poems) and early golf history.  $995

61)BAHTO, GEORGE.  The Evangelist of Golf.  The Story of Charles Blair MacDonald.  2002.  Fine, DJ.  Bahto inscribed.  MacDonald article laid in.  A spectacular book, quickly has become extremely collectible and scarce.  $495

167)BOLT, TOMMY.  How to Keep Your Temper on the Golf Course.  1969.  VG, DJ.  By ‘Tempestuous Tommy’.  $20

335)COREN, ALAN.  Golfing for Cats.  1975.  VG, DJ.  Has the notorious swastika jacket.  $45

414)DARWIN, BERNARD.  Every Idle Dream.  1948.  VG, owner plate.  $15  And 1948.  VG, DJ edge wear.  $25

490)DOBEREINER, PETER.  Dobereiner on Golf…and more.  Foreword Seve Ballesteros. 1998.  Fine, DJ. Posthumous print.  $20

528)DYE, PETE.  Bury Me in a Pot Bunker.  Foreword Greg Norman.  1995.  Fine, DJ.  Inscribed by Dye.  $45

608)FINEGAN, JAMES W.  Blasted Heaths and Blessed Greens. Pilgrimage Courses of Scotland.  1996.  VG, DJ. JF signed. $30

834)HARRIS, ROBERT.  Sixty Years of Golf.  1953.  VG, DJ.  Top Scottish amateur reflections. Ross Goodner signed. $65

957)HUTCHINSON, HORACE G.  Fifty Years of Golf.  Intro Peter Ryde. 1919, 1985, USGA.  Fine, slipcase.  $45

1007)JOHNSTON, ALASTAIR J, JOHNSTON, JAMES F.  The Chronicles of Golf: 1457 to 1857.  1993.  Fine, DJ, pictorial label slipcase.  Numbered limited edition of 900, signed by authors.  An instant classic, important reference of the early history. $795

1208)LOW, JOHN L.  F.G. Tait a Record.  Being his Life, Letters, and Golfing Diary.  1901.  VG, gilt dec cover, stunning!  $245

1232)MACKENZIE, ALISTER J.  The Spirit of St. Andrews.  The Lost Manuscript.  Foreword Bobby Jones.  1995.  VG, DJ.  $20  And 1995.  Fine, leather, padded clamshell case.  Numbered limited edition of 1500.  Has additional photos, text, gorgeous.  $295

1400)MURDOCH, JOSEPH S.F.  The Library of Golf.  1743-1966 revised, 1967-1977 added.  1978.  VG, PB, lots of pen and brio marks as owner noted books he owned, still very scarce.  Numbered limited edition 13 of only 150. With clean photocopy.  $95

1634)PRICE, CHARLES.  The World of Golf.  A Panorama of Six Centuries of the Game’s History.  Foreword by Bobby Jones.  One of the game’s premier reading histories. 1962.  VG, DJ.  $25

1965)STOWERS, CARLTON.  The Unsinkable Titanic Thompson.  A Gold Ole Boy Who Became a World Super Star Gambler and Hustler.  1982.  Fine, DJ.   $145

2011)THOMAS, GEORGE C.  Golf Architecture in America.  Its Strategy and Construction.  1927.  VG, dec cover.  $495  And 1927, 1997.  Fine, DJ.  Faithful reprint, excellent!  $145

2061)TUFTS, RICHARD S.  The Principles Behind the Rules of Golf.  1960, 2000.  Fine.  $25  And1960.  VG, DJ.  $245  Also 1960, 1989 USGA.  Intro by P.J. Boatwright, Jr.  Fine, slipcase, owner label.  Limited edition of 1500.  $125

2194)WETHERED, H.N. SIMPSON, T.  Design for Golf.  Preface J.C. Squire.  1929, 1952.  VG.  ‘Architectural Side’ reprint.  $65

2235)WIND, HERBERT WARREN.  An Introduction to the Literature of Golf.  1996.  Fine.  37 forewords to CG.  $25

2260)WODEHOUSE, P.G.  The Heart of a Goof.  1926, 4th.  VG, dec cover, some fade, facsimile DJ.  $45

Tiger's Sounding Old In A Good Way: On Changing Technology

While the sports fan in us hates to hear an athlete waxing nostalgic, signaling the end most likely, it's fun to hear what things Tiger Woods notices about changes in the game. While he's too tactful to ever say what he's really thinking, his recent comments about the cut-missing propensity of the millennials was pretty revealing.

So was this, penned by his ownself in a year-end PGATour.com exclusive:

Also the technology. When I beat Davis Love III in a playoff at the Las Vegas Invitational in 1996, he had a 43-inch persimmon head driver. The transition to metal to where we are now with 460 cc drivers and 45-inch shafts being the norm, and the ball going from wound to solid construction … the technology has changed dramatically.

I had a conversation the other day with some of my friends who play golf. They're a little bit younger than me, but are amazed how much technology has changed. I said go back to when Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and that generation of guys played. When they were in their prime and the end of their careers, technology never really changed except for the golf ball. It was always persimmon and steel. That was the reality. Now, some companies are asking guys to change equipment twice a year.

Oh to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation!

It is a profound point he makes though: Tiger excelled during a time of incredible change and adapted quite ably to the times. As much as golfers love to tinker and try the latest, greatest thing, his point is a sound one in that he adapted to some big changes as he was cranking out 14 major wins.

SDUT's Endorsement Of Tom Weiskopf's Torrey Pines North Plan

The San Diego Union-Tribune's Tod Leonard endorses Tom Weiskopf's vision for the Torrey Pines North Course, though I'm not clear how much of it is based on getting to see actual plans/conceptual drawings, and how much is based on just how much less-awful Weiskopf's plan was compared to the alternatives. Furthermore, after seeing this year what Weiskopf did in giving TPC Scottsdale sand-flashed bunker faces that looked dreadful compared to the previous version of the course's time-tested moonscape-vibe, it's hard to gauge how sensitive he is to what has proven to work over time.

Either way, this is mildly encouraging in light of what Leonard saw in Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s plan:

In fact, it’s disturbing to me that Jones, given some of his ideas (we’ll get to those), was the top choice by the city golf committee, but we were saved when the Jones group was disqualified for going about $2 million over the best-value budget. (I’ll always scratch my head about that one, given that the parameters of the bids were very clear when the process started.)

Weiskopf’s plan on paper is detailed and direct. It removes the least amount of grass (5 acres), and so there is little fear that the essence of the North Course will be lost. There isn’t any danger of this spinning out of control with waste areas and becoming a desert course on the cliffs.

The current par will not be changed on any holes. There is no significant re-routing. (Gulbis' plans were outlandish. She wanted to flip the North nines and reverse the direction of the current first through third holes, with the 18th green placed where the No. 1 tee is now.)

There are some creative additions by Weiskopf (such as making 16 a driveable par-4), but nothing outlandish. Who doesn’t vote for shorter holes?

There will be fewer bunkers on the North Course than there are now, so that should allay concerns that this is going to become another South Course.

As for the greens, let’s face it, for their age they are maintained at a fabulous condition by the greenskeepers, but they have their issues, especially when they are cut low and speeds are fast. As the course readies for the Farmers Insurance Open, downhill putts on the North that are merely tapped race 8 to 10 feet past the hole.

Nine Days Of Christmas: Sun Mountain's Club Glider

First World Problem Alert!!!

So far my suggested holiday gift items that you'll never receive from relatives have been kept at a fairly sane price tag, unless you consider $150 books, $98 pants (but before 25% FARANDSURE discount!) and $128 polyester-ish pants expensive (they are, but both are worth it).

For the second-to-last product that I enjoyed this year, we go up the price ladder a bit with Sun Mountain's Club Glider Travel Bag. Granted, as more folks use Luggage Forward and Ship Sticks, a travel cover doesn't seem like a priority any longer. But knowing how fragile clubs can be, you can never be too safe.

That said, after years of my R2D2-inspired Sun Mountain droid of a travel bag--which thankfully protected my clubs every time they traveled--it was time for an updated travel cover after a wheel finally came off during what was undoubtedly an unusually rough journey. After just one trip using the Sun Mountain "glider" I'm all in (I also bought their suitcase with the same glider wheels and loved it).

The glider is a simple metal bar you push down and pull out, propping your bag up to that you eliminate bending over to pick up the bag and even better, for the times you have a couple of bags and are dragging the clubs along. With the stand down, you simply glide now instead of strain pulling the clubs. First world issues extraordinaire, I grant you, but the difference when you go through the misery of baggage claim, car rental, etc... is significant. Oh and the bag is well-constructed with thick canvas, plenty of padding around clubheads, shoe pockets and Sun Mountain's solid warranty.

One last thing: keep the box if you buy one. The bag folds up very nicely into a small, easily storeable package.

Edwin Watts has a few left of the popular seller here. They also have some nice deals on shipping.

Merry Christmas!