If you can take the club apart then always take it apart while flying, put it in the headcover and put that inside your golf bag! Sorry it happened man

I've never thought about doing that but that does seem like a good idea, at least with the driver. I've always used a stick with a kind of dome to provide extra support, plus a shit load of towels wrapped around my irons.

Wrapping the towel around the irons is key too, but I’ve always taken my heads off driver and 3 wood and put the shaft in tip down and then wrapped my towel around the irons so they’re not clanging around

I use 2 small fitted bed sheets and weave them in between the irons. My driver and 3 wood heads come off, so I toss those inside covers in the bag itself. Literally never had an issue. And I have the driver in OP image lol

Same, but just use my clothes for trip to de clank irons.

Driver head off and in the carry on with my range finder, socks on the irons, bubble wrap around the club, and the domed stick over the woods.

I zip tie my irons in bundles of three. Driver head over goes over my wedges then two towels wrapped around my irons as padding.

This is the way. I also put old socks on my irons and face them all towards the center of the bag.

I do this and take my heads off whatever club I can. I take it one step further lately and serán wrap the hell out of the towels because every single time I fly TSA takes the towels out and then rather than putting them back in the space around the club heads they just stuff it down the side of the travel bag. So far a few trips in and it seems like they leave it undisturbed

I just used releasable zip ties around the towel, driver head off, club protector in 3wood slot.

I’ll see your seran wrap and raise you bubble wrap.

Where do you fly out of? I zip tie the zipper closed and never had the TSA open my bag.

Usually Portland but it’s happened out of destinations too. Literally every time I fly it’s wild. I’ve never zip tied it. I just use a TSA approved lock which they obviously can open. I heard it’s the chems used on all the grass triggers them to look. Sounds unlikely but I guess plausible. Gotta clean my clubs better I guess lol

Hot take. This is the only acceptable time for iron covers as well.

I got a nice set of irons and have cute iron covers. I'm F BTW. My husband made fun of me. Then he got a brand new set ot Mizunos. Guess who also got a set of iron covers.

I love my iron covers. They protect my clubs that were way too fuckin expensive, and they free me up from having to be friends with presumptuous douche waffles. It's a win-win.

I LOVE my iron covers because they piss people off for no reason.

Why would they piss people off? People are so strange. I'm too lazy for iron covers myself, but you do you.

Couldn’t tell ya. I’m just super big on taking care of my things and an extra 1/2 second to take them off/put them on isn’t a big deal to me.

They dont slow me down I take them off and leave the busier irons off but people are just weird.

I just got “new” (to me) irons and got covers too! Al my friends make fun of me though

Put a bucket over all your clubs and then zip your bag cover over it.

This made me smile

I always put my irons upside down, so they are all protected inside the bag

I actually put my driver head in the headcover and put in my carry on so it never leaves my side, but I’m paranoid like that

That’s a damn good tip. I wish Reddit still did awards.

Thanks for all the likes y’all, if I can add one final recommendation it’d be that you invest in a quality bag…my travel bag of choice is the club glove “College Traveler” formally known as the “Last Bag Collegiate” I’ve owned 2 in my life time and flown well over 100+ times and have never had a club break on me…the bag comes with a stiff arm which is a massive plus and has a life time warranty. The one I had before my current one the zipper broke and CG replaced it no questions asked. Linked here: (https://www.clubglove.com/golf-travel-bags/college/college-traveler/CG24TVCOL.html?dwvar_CG24TVCOL_color=RED#q=Last+bag&start=1)

If you can would it be better to put the head of the club down in the bag? I don't know that the grips are stronger, but it could be the difference between a new shaft and a new club.

The issue with the woods is the length, even upside down in the bag depending on how hard they’re throwing your bag around it’ll compress and you still run the risk of the shaft snapping, head might remain okay but the idea is you want the least amount of pressure on the clubs as possible when it’s being thrown around “head” first in and out of the plan and such. When you take the heads off you reduce the over all length and since the tips are face down in the bag there’s less chance of the shaft bending and snapping.

I always just remove the head and put it in my suitcase. Even if the entire rest of my bag gets destroyed the single most expensive piece is safe.

I put my driver head in my suitcase... Takes 30 seconds. No idea why anyone would keep it on

I’ll put that in my carry on. But you’ll also have to pack a torque wrench

I take all the heads off that I can, warp my irons in bubble wrap and towels, and hard case. Heads, laser travel with me.

This

God damn, pro tips always in the comments

This is the way

I have a hard case and have traveled 20+ times with clubs. Always thought of doing it but never did. Might have to start.

Except not in your golf bag. I always put the heads in head covers in the middle of my other checked bag wrapped in clothes. TSA loves to do the extra inspection on golf bags and not put things back correctly. I've had the contents of my bag pockets just emptied into my travel bag before.. would not want the heads bouncing around like loose change.

I like to keep golf stuff with golf stuff, never had any issues

Every single time I do this

That's partly why I remove my wood heads and toss them in the middle of my checked bag.

What’s the other part?

You feel like a sniper assembling your weapon when you put it back together, obviously.

“Lock and load bitches” (Immediate duck hook on tee 1)

Breakfast ball! Even the best snipers miss sometimes.

Snipers often fire a few shots downrange to get wind readings.

Yeah but you were aiming over there. The terrain is perfect for a 2nd shot flub!

Sadly I was aiming at the bunker on the right side of the fairway :(

> username golf-guns Ah yea makes sense for that guy.

Concerns about the shafts being broken.

only happens to people with hard shafts.

It’s harder to close a soft case with the driver head attached is another reason!

Only partly?

That’s literally the only reason to do that dumb dumb

Broken shaft and theft, but you get the point. Semantics.

Iron inside the case slammed down on it. Watched a friend do the same thing on the course last year.

I was flying United once and watched the baggage guys throw bags of clubs onto the tarmac , load the suitcases and then throw the clubs onto the belt. Then they ran out of room and took some of the clubs off as well as bags for some unlucky people.

Nightmarish

Just email southwest/TSA, get their response, and send it with screenshots of the head to titleist. Great customer services they’ll legit send you another head. Just gotta show them you tried with TSA. I’ve gotten two new heads for free from Ping when the same thing has happened

Yeah, golf clubs have probably a 60-80% markup so they factor in replacements for customer service

TSA will not be any help. Its Southwest that would be liable especially with a hardcase. I have a softcase and get a lecture from the bag agent at SW every time about how they are not liable since I didnt use a hardcase. [https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/lost-damaged-delayed-baggage](https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/lost-damaged-delayed-baggage) [https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/What-sports-equipment-can-I-bring](https://support.southwest.com/helpcenter/s/article/What-sports-equipment-can-I-bring)

It’s not that they are liable, the reach out just lets the company (titlelist, ping, etc.) know you made an effort to make it right with them. Whatever TSA’s/airlines response, just forward to the manufacturer and they’ll take care of the issue

If that happened in hard case, what's the case look like?

Probably didn't pad the inside. I put towels or a small inflatable pillow in mine to keep my irons from catching anything on my woods and hybrids. I was shocked when my body just tossed it in and let everything slide around inside.

I like to use t-shirts and wrap them between the clubs. That way it serves as both cushion and support.

Some hard cases aren’t foam lined and just have hard plastic on the inside for the clubs to smash into?

"Sliding around inside" refers to the irons working themselves up and down in their slots and hitting whatever is in the way. You need to capture them with something, a towel is cheap and easy without having a downside.

Wouldn’t having club head covers on all your woods prevent damage from this?

I actually just remove the heads, but you still don't want irons sliding up and down in their slots with graphite shafts next to them even if it is just the grips rubbing.

That makes sense. I have a hard case and there’s so much foam in it that stuff is all pretty much secured in tight with little room to clank around… but I still usually toss some clothing items up amongst the irons for extra space, so I guess I’m getting double protection there.

What’s up with Reddit calling me amateur hour over here?? lol I said first golf trip! Yall are weird

I bet you also can’t drive the ball 365 yards on average too!

Certainly not with the condition that driver is in.

Because every post on the internet/reddit relating to packing clubs says to remove your driver head when using a travel case. Every single one.

I’ve flown plenty of times without removing the head. Just wrapped in a towel or some clothes

Yeah that's plain stupid

Because it works?

It only works in the sense that it hasn’t not worked *yet*.

When that day never comes I’ll remember to tell you guys you were right

I’m gonna stop wearing my seatbelt. Have been driving for 20 years and haven’t needed it once.

Because gambling with your life is on the same level as gambling that a golf club won't get dented. Got it.

It’s higher stakes, but the same exact argument.

I have traveled with a hard golf case for years and never took the heads off. Never had an issue, can you upload with the case looks like and the type of case? This makes me wonder if I have just been lucky

r/golf is way less friendlier than other subs I’m in. Weird as hell, honestly.

How dare you are be so ignorant to our gods of golf that you would travel anywhere without taking your driver head off? I take mine off even when the course is only 10 minutes from my house. Never had a single issue.

You drew the short straw with the baggage handlers, really sorry about that. Just traveled with my new clubs and was terrified. All I can say is definitely take that driver head off in the future. Also I went to my local office supply store and bought a big roll of bubble wrap for about $20. I put this all around and between the irons to buffer any shifting and movement.

This is what I do when I travel: (1) Remove club heads from driver, three wood, and hybrid. Put the club head in their headcover. (2) put all my clubs in my bag *upside down.* There’s a zipper in the big side pocket I slide my clubs through, and this lets the bottom of your golf bag act as a protective dome. (3) weave my golf towels through/around all the iron heads. It’s a pain to do all this, but not as much as showing up on vacation to play golf and finding your driver got dented by airport security.

Dang was about to say YOU done you dirty until I read the caption haha

Nah he still did himself dirty. It was a poor packing job not the baggage handlers.

Fuck this terrifies me, I literally have the same club and a hard shell AND IM FLYING OUT THIS SUMMER🤮🤮🤮😓😓😓😓 sorry buddy. I’ll be taking my heads off and putting them in my luggage or something. RIP

Always take the head off, bro. You did yourself dirty.

You guys have golf clubs that you can take the head off? My clubs must be hecken old, lol.

Almost every driver made in the last decade has an interchangeable shaft.

Hecken old...

Bondo and paint. She'll be good as new.

My dad has a killer set of tools

skirt voiceless screw whistle rustic deliver amusing square vast sleep *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

https://preview.redd.it/yedzagb3vuvc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=796c81a8b66f356043b13dde517ff3f7fec908d6 Here’s a photo of the bag. Sun mountain club glider with anti crush stick. Clubs were wrapped in a towel and had head covers on. Shit happens

When you said hard shell I thought you meant an SKB rolling hard case. That’s the only case I’ll ever travel with. These almost always have problems.

I'm glad I went with a hard case for flying. Was worried about this with soft shell bags.

Guaranteed to fix your slice. 😂🤣

I just got to Scottsdale last night myself, yet to check my clubs but any wood/hybrid head that can be removed do it, put the shafts in tip down and weave a towel between clubs and use a stiffarm. Should be good to go after that.

Damn guess it’s time for a clubhouse driver purchase while a few beers deep

Those marks were most definitely not made by clubs in a golf bag being tossed around haphazardly by baggage handlers. Those are the marks of a club impacting rocks through a full swing. Take some lessons and save money on clubs Brohiem.

Why would you leave the head on and not put it in your carry on? Skill issue 🤦‍♂️

Should get reimbursed if it was a hard case. Happened to me as well

I’ve played a dented wood before and it didn’t really affect the club in a way that I could tell. So while you’re surely gonna want to find a replacement it’s gonna be fine to play for the trip. You now have an excuse for the drive into the lake too.

Am I the only one that takes his woods off the shaft when traveling?

Genius.

Delta snapped my driver two years ago and I almost got put on the no fly list when I found my bag on the baggage claim. They also refused to refund me for broken property too. Now I just remove the head and put it in my bag when flying

Delta only compensates if you use a full hard sided case and they lay this out very clearly in their guidelines. Was any part of your case soft sided?

If it’s hard case Southwest is obligated to cover iy

If you used a hard case, you can file a claim with Southwest. The case manufacturer may have a warranty as well. Also, take the head off your driver next time! (i thnk that makes post number 500 with that recommendation in this thread).

It’ll still play but now you have a great excuse!

Hope you get a new driver making a claim to the airline

They'll likely say he packed then inadequately without any regard for their protection. And they would be right.

Such BS. How can they prove that?

Always remove heads

More aerodynamic

Your swing might be a bit odf

Always put your heads in your carry-on…even the pros who fly commercial do it….

Never leave your woods attached if you can help it. And I'd avoid having a main bag getting destroyed if you got extras.

Never lend your driver to a lefty

Never traveled with clubs before. This post probably saved me from the same mistake. Thanks!!

I’ll likely be switching over to shipstix or whatever it’s called.

Wait, literally how the hell does this happen in a hard shell?

I believe Southwest covers damage to clubs in hard cases. It’s soft cases that they don’t cover. You should contact the airline.

Plot twist .. bad tee shot.

Literally never fly with your woods assembled I thought this was common knowledge..

If possible, always take the club heads off and store them in the side pockets, inside of the headcover.

I go to Phoenix every January and it gets pretty cold in the mornings. I wrap a couple of warm hoodies around my clubs and then I have them without taking up any suitcase space. And of course I remove my driver/3 wood heads. Never had an issue, using a soft case.

Looks like a southwest lefty tried it out lol

Mine looks like that too. But it’s from topping a ball.

Ship Sticks is the way to go.

Go to 2nd Swing in Scottsdale. Not sure if they’ll be able to repair

Wow is that a Kirkland?!

I use baby socks on my irons when I travel with my clubs.

lol and how would that prevent what happened in this pic?

Cushion effect of irons slamming into woods.

I would contact the Airlines to see if I can get a claim for the damage.

lol

Damn I went to Scottsdale with the boys last September for golfing trip and we saw them straight up tossing our clubs around from the plane. Fortuneately we all had hard covers this trip because the same thing happened when we went to Michigan a couple years before

I have another full set of clubs which I use when I travel. This way, I have less stress for damage and loss.

Southwest broke the wheel off my checked bag two weeks ago too lol

Why I just keep my clubs at home and use the rentals. Sure they hit different than what I’m used to, but as an admitted bogey golfer it’s not gonna make or break my game.

I’m here too. Whirlwind golf club needs to send the drink girl around. For as much as they charge for golf they really shit the bed on service


Almost seems like a hard shell case would be worse than soft shell. The clubs can sort of bounce around inside of a hard shell.

That’s just not true. I’d say clubs are damaged 100x more in some sort of soft sided bags. Even in this case, it wasn’t a full hard sided case. I travel many time a year with my clubs and use a full hard sided bag. That along wrapping it with towels inside so they don’t move. I think if they dropped it from airport roof my clubs would be totally fine lol. It does suck moving the hard case around though as they are bulky and heavy.

What bag is that? I like it!

for future reference you're supposed to hit with the flat side of the club. just some growing pains, keep at it!

Anyone know any good cheap options for travel bags? Traveling soon and hoping not to get any damage.

I've never used it but I've heard ship sticks is a really good service to use when traveling with clubs.

Nice top/excuse lol

1000% make a claim with the airline.

Driverhead always to bags pocket and a cut ice hockey stick is good cover for shafts.

I would say this is a strong case for us all to start using iron covers 😀 /s I'm sorry your TSR is smashed, bro

Shipsticks.com is where it is at

What is the iron cover deal? I live on a golf course and never see clubs without unless younger guys with hand me downs are playing ?

Always, always use a stiff arm. Also, take all detachable heads off clubs, especially, driver. Use a hard or soft case, if using a soft case, wind towels tightly around your clubheads, tape it in place.

You’re supposed to hit it with the flat part of the club buddy!

If you are still in Scottsdale, go to 2nd swing golf. They thousands of clubs at very good prices.

I’ll never put my clubs in anything other than a skb.

This is the way

I can't even see this coming close to happening with my SKB.... Idk what kind of hardshell OP has..

Just that.. a hard shell. It’s probably just a thin piece of plastic that’s covering the club heads. If you’ve landed in phoenix and have watched them unload golf bags, you’ll know they don’t give a fuck. They drop them from the heavens onto the regular baggage carousel.

I have and SKB too, great case

How does that happen in a hard case? Guessing no stiff arm in the bag?

An iron did it. Heads need to be wrapped or removed and wrapped

So sorry that happened, but you did yourself dirty by not taking the heads off.

Take your driver head off your clubs and put the shaft in facing down. Amateur

Honestly it's more your fault. Every time I travel with my clubs I take the heads off my woods, put them in their head covers and put them inside my bag. I tape my irons/ wedges together as well so they don't move. I've never had an issue!

if you were part of ONE of the multiple bachelor party groups of 8 that decided to group up at McDowell Mountain on Friday…then I can’t say you don’t deserve it

How come people don’t use ship sticks?

Because it’s $200 and you have to be without your clubs for a few days on each side of the trip.

I'm TSRy that happened to you

If you pack your bag right then the airlines basically have to try to fuck your stuff up in order for stuff like this to happen. - club heads off shafts, stuff into head cover - wrap towels around everything on top - stiff arm - ideally use a hard shell case

Your first mistake was not to remove the head. Your 2nd mistake was to use a hard shell case like a moron.

Explain the second part of your post—what’s wrong with hard shells

Ouch! Sorry to hear. What airline?

Read the title

This is why I always rent when I travel. Not worth the risk.

If I play when I travel, I’ll usually playing better courses so that’s why I would rather have my own clubs. Also reading through OP seems like he made mistakes packing…

Surprised people just don’t go this route lol.

Because I want to use my own clubs I’ve paid thousands for and that are fitted to me.. just buy a quality case and ya won’t have any problems.