The Club Glove Last Bag is reasonably lightweight and fits a standard golf bag and clubs with a fair amount of extra room for shoes, clothing, extra golf balls and whatever else you’d like to cram inside. It’s a good-looking bag, easy to roll and maneuver, and durable enough to hold up to the abuse inherent within airline travel.
The Last Bag is advertised by Club Glove as the travel golf bag used by more professionals on the PGA, Champions and LPGA Tours than any other. It is also the travel golf bag used used by more Critical Golf editorial staff members than any other. Need we say more?
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DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
The Club Glove is made of Cordura, an extremely durable fabric, and is, hold on to your hats, made in the United States!
In addition to the tough Cordura exterior, the Last Bag features a wheelbase made of high-impact plastic, which protects both the base of the bag and the lower portion of the back of the Last Bag, and houses two in-line skate wheels (with bearings, no less).
The design of the Last Bag includes:
- 1 strap on the inside of the case to secure the packed golf bag,
- 3 restraining straps with buckles on the outside to provide support, including one around the clubheads, one around the center of the bag, and one at the base of the bag,
- durable plastic clips on the outside of the bag for the included (removable) shoulder strap,
- 2 inline stake wheels that, when combined with the base and heavy construction, make the bag easy to move,
- 3 handles, two of which are located in the middle of the bag that snap together, and one at the base of the bag to assist when lifting and moving the bag,
- thick padding around the top of the bag to provide additional protection around the clubheads, and
- a choice of 16 colors to distinguish yourself when traveling (go ahead – feel free to pick out a wacky color – Mocha with Pink webbing isn’t for us, but knock yourself out!).
The buckles, zippers and rivets are all made of heavy-duty materials and perform well over time. We have yet to find another soft cover bag that compares in overall quality of construction and durability to the Club Glove Last Bag. No, it’s not cut-proof, but it is as close as you can find in a soft cover golf travel bag.
While the Last Bag has all the basics the typical golfer would want in a travel bag, Club Glove also offers the Last Bag XXL, which is geared toward Tour professionals who require a larger bag for travel (and presumably don’t care about the extra fee for bags that weigh more than 50 pounds). The Last Bag XXL features the same construction as the Last Bag and costs about $30 more. We believe that the vast majority of travelers will be happy with the “standard-sized” Last Bag. And given the numbers of players that we see at the airport with these bags, make sure to make use of the external business card slot so nobody walks away with your bag accidentally!
Lastly (no pun intended), if you are concerned about the unlikely possibility of club breakage (which the company notes occurs 1 to 2 times a year across all Tour Professionals), the Club Glove Stiff Arm is available to add vertical strength to the bag. So if you just dropped a smooth $5,000 on eBay for a Scotty Cameron GSS Putter, you just might want to spring for this extra support.
TRAVEL IMPRESSIONS
Traveling with the Club Glove Last Bag is a breeze. The Last Bag weighs 10.5 pounds and accommodates clubs up to 47 inches in length. The high-impact plastic at the base and around the back of the bag provides a solid structure for the bag, allowing for the bag to be easily rolled through airports and slid in and out of vehicles (soft bags with no structure are more difficult to wheel around, because they keel over at every opportunity). The bag can be grabbed and lifted by the handles at the top and center of the bag. Because it’s a soft bag, the Club Glove Last Bag also provides a fair amount of “give” when you’re trying to fit everything into your trunk, and it folds up into a moderate size for tucking away into a closet when not in use. Compare this to the various hard-shell golf cases which don’t provide that kind of flexibility.
The Club Glove Last Bag has two external shoe pockets and comes with two shoe bags. If you’re only bringing one pair of shoes, you obviously have the option of using the second pocket for other belongings (such as golf balls…unless you are traveling through Edinburgh, where golf balls mysteriously disappear from travel golf bags on a regular basis). There are no locks built into the zippers of the bag, so those looking to further secure their valuables will need to purchase TSA-compliant locks separately.
Since there are no pockets on the inside of the bag, we usually toss in clothes in loosely or in a small packed bag. The Last Bag provides a healthy amount of padding at the neck of the bag, so you don’t need to worry about wrapping the top of your clubs to provide for additional protection.
Just a quick travel tip – given the ample space within the bag, it’s easy to quickly increase the total weight of the bag and gear above 50 pounds. If your bag weighs more than 50 pounds, the airlines will hit you up for a hefty excess weight fee ranging from $60-$175 each way (as if they don’t charge enough already…except for you, sweet sweet Southwest “Bags Fly Free” Airlines). It’s never a bad idea to make sure you have extra room in your carry-on just in case they weigh you in at more than 50 pounds and you need to offload some items. And yes, we have learned this from experience. Some travelers we know who shall remain nameless recommend that if you are going to exceed the 50 pound barrier by a reasonable margin, you should consider curbside check-in for your golf travel bag and wave a tip during the process, which can reduce the likelihood of your bag being weighed.
COST/VALUE
At $289, the Last Bag isn’t the least expensive golf travel bag on the market, but we think that it’s worth every penny. Some of our more “frugal” reviewers have tried cheaper bags in the past, before realizing the error of their ways and stepping up to the Last Bag.
The Last Bag comes with a limited lifetime warranty, covering defects in material and workmanship during “normal travel use”. Club Glove also now offers a $59 upgrade to an “unconditional” 5-year warranty. This unconditional (or “NQA” for “No Questions Asked”) warranty is offered by Club Glove to cover any damage that occurs to the bag. Keep in mind, however, that the Club Glove warranties just cover damage to the bag, and not the precious clubs inside.
There are a lot of soft bags on the market that are available for a lot less (yes, you can find ones on Amazon that are available for under $50), but if you travel to play golf on a regular basis, the purchase of a Last Bag is an investment you should make. In the long run, it’s a small price to pay for this level of construction and durability. Take it from us – in the world of soft-cover golf travel bags, there is the Club Glove Last Bag…and everyone else.
Retail price: $289
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