Learning how to carry a golf bag in a way that works for you and helps protect your body from additional wear and tear is important. It can enhance the round by freeing you up to focus on the shots rather than worrying about how you look carrying it.
Know that not all bags are exactly the same, so you may have one with two straps. Therefore, you might need to know how to carry golf bag with two straps.
We cover both styles here.
Importance of Carrying a Golf Bag Correctly
How you carry your golf bag can affect your back. If you’re carrying it in a manner that’s causing stress on the soft tissue in your back, you’ll feel back pain at the end of your golf game since your soft tissue is taking the brunt of the work.
Additionally, you’re adding work to the game instead of enjoying it. Your golf bag is supposed to make the game easier. When you carry your golf bag improperly, you’ll feel tired more quickly than if you would hold the same bag with the same weight in it properly. Not only will you be tired at the end of the game, but you may also not perform up to your full potential during the game.
Let Your Legs Do the Work To Protect Your Back
First and foremost, whether you have a bag with one strap or two, your legs need to do the lifting, not your back. It’s the same rule that applies with all lifting — never let your back do the work.
To accomplish this, make sure you’re standing with good posture. You should stand straight and tall. Roll shoulders should roll back slightly, and your chest should puff out a bit. Keep that back pain at bay!
Carry Golf Bag With One Strap
Before you try carrying your golf bag, you should first make sure everything in the golf bag is properly placed to avoid too much weight on one side as opposed to the other. A lopsided bag will affect your posture and cause stress on a portion of your back. Uneven weight disbursement can even affect you in the long run, even if the bag is only slightly uneven.
Place the golf bag on your dominant shoulder. This is the one with your dominant arm. Typically, this side of your body will have more stamina and be able to carry the weight for a longer period of time. This is the side that can handle a heavier weight in general.
While the dominant shoulder of your body does seem to have more strength and can withstand more, it’s okay to give your dominant shoulder a break as needed, as long as you’re holding the bag properly.
Play around with the strap until it’s in a comfortable position for you. Generally, you want the bag to rest higher up on your bag, so it’s placing the least out of press on your shoulders and back as possible. To test each length, walk around a bit after you move the straps into a position. Carry it just as you would if you were on the golf course. Pick the position that feels most comfortable. Keep in mind that if you need to, you could always readjust the straps when you’re on the course.
Carry Golf Bag With Two Straps
How to carry a golf bag with two shoulder straps is similar to that of carrying a single strap golf bag. Firstly, you need to evenly disperse the weight in your golf bag, so no part of your body is carrying more than it has to. You should use your dominant arm as much as possible for this particular task.
If your two bag straps are adjustable, you’ll want to experiment to see which length is right for you. We recommend altering the size and then going for a test run. It helps to do the test run outside, especially if you have an uneven property. This way, you get a true feel for what it’ll be like to carry your golf bag. Keep testing different lengths until you find one that’s comfortable for you.
You’ll notice that your bag will be high up on your bag in most cases. This is the ideal position to make sure that your back isn’t lifting the majority of the bag’s weight.
You want to have little slack when you’re carrying your golf bag. Extra slack means that a part of your body that shouldn’t be doing a majority of the work is. The weight isn’t completely dispersed equally when you have slack.
As you can see, holding a two-strapped bag is almost identical to holding a one-strapped bag, although you may find it easier to find your ideal carrying position with a two-strapped golf bag.
Carrying golf clubs is a bit more entailed than you may have thought, especially when you properly carry the bag. This is especially the case if you don’t want to call a chiropractor after every golf game!
Types of Golf Bags
Now that you how to carry a golf bag, you should know that different types of golf bags exist. So firstly, you need to pick out one that bests suits your needs. You may even want to purchase two different bags, one as your usual golf bag and the other as a travel bag for when you visit different places.
Examples of varieties of golf bags include:
Waterproof Golf Bag
Whether you’re an any-weather golfer or not, a waterproof golf bag could benefit you. You never know when the weather will change, and a waterproof can protect your clubs from the moisture.
Travel Bag
Travel bags aren’t for on the course. These bags are heavy-duty ones that are specifically for putting your golf stuff in when you travel, meaning they’re rather large. Often, they consist of extra padding to protect your gear as it’s jostled around on an airplane, train, or even in an automobile.
Tour/Staff Bag
These are the ones you see on TV during golf tournaments. Professionals use them who are known to travel from one golf course to another.
Stand Bags
A stand bag has a sturdy bottom. This particular bag has an open top where you place your golf clubs. It makes it easier for you to carry since the bottom of the bag supports your clubs rather than any part of your body. You may have two straps on this golf bag for carrying, but not in all cases.
Cart Bags
A cart bag is one that’s intended to use when you drive a golf cart and want to place your bag on it. These bags are full sized, so you can place everything you need for a game of golf in them. On average, they weigh between five and nine pounds. Cart bags tend to have only one strap.
Sunday/Pencil Bag
This is a small golf bag, not intended to carry all of your equipment on the course. Of all bags, this one is the lightest. You, however, might need to be selective about what you carry on the golf course with this particular bag. This Orlimar bag is an amazing option if you are looking for one of these.
What to Pack in a Golf Bag
Now that you know what types of golf bags there are, you should understand what you should put in your golf bag before you learn how to carry a golf bag with two straps or one strap. We recommend you keep your bag organized and make sure you only put in your bag what you absolutely need to play with. When you do this, you won’t need to carry around more than necessary. When you over stuff your bag to cover all the “what ifs,” you could find that your bag is heavy and puts stress on your shoulders and back, whether you carry your bag with one strap or two.
Golf Clubs
In the pros, golfers have limits as to how many clubs they may carry on the course with them. For instance, golfers may not carry more than 14 clubs with them on the course. However, not every golfer has 14 clubs with them, though.
Moreover, the clubs that a golfer carries with him or her may vary from player to player. This is even true in the pros. You may find you have certain clubs that are more beneficial for you than others, and these may be the ones that you choose to carry with you.
While you might stray away from what everyone else does, the average clubs that a golfer takes with him or her includes the following
Standard Clubs
- Driver
- 3-wood
- 5-wood
- Three-iron
- Four-iron
- Five-iron
- Six-iron
- Seven-iron
- Eight-iron
- Nine-iron
- Pitching wedge
- Sand wedge
- Lob wedge
- Putter
This combination includes every type of club you’ll need to play a game. Since this does fill all 14 spots with this combination, you can swap some of these for others that you find fit your game better.
Golf Balls
Although we would all love to play18 holes and never lose a single ball, this isn’t practical. There will more than likely come a time during your amateur golf career when you’ll lose your golf ball, whether it’s in a water or sand trap.
Ideally, you should carry three or four sleeves of balls, although if you’re a more skillful player you may be able to get away with fewer. However, if you require more balls than this, you may want to keep practicing to try to decrease the number of balls you lose each game because they get heavy and can weigh your bag down significantly.
Umbrella
You never quite know when the sky is going to open up and pour right on your golf game. It could be an absolutely beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, but that could all change in the blink of an eye. Rain could ruin your game, and the last thing you want to do is walk back to the club or your vehicle in the rain.
Sunscreen
Sunburn is a golfer’s worst nightmare. Not only does regular bouts of sunburn increase your risk of skin cancer in the future, a bad case of sunburn can easily ruin your good time on the golf course and affect your score.
Instant Ice Pack
An instant ice pack is a unique first-aid device that can provide you with cold when you sustain an injury on the golf course. One back has two bags — one inside of the other. One has water while the other has a combination of substances like ammonium nitrate. When you break the bag of water, which is located in the inside pouch, it’ll dissolve the contents and create a temporary ice pack. Generally, it’ll last about 15 to 20 minutes.
Golf Tees
It’s easy to lose a tee and another one and another one. The last thing you want to do is ask someone else for a tee for the rest of the game. Therefore, you should make sure you stock up before you play a game.
Extra Socks
Whether it’s a sopping, wet mess on the golf course, your feet sweat, or the morning dew soaks your socks, you don’t want to have to finish the game in a wet pair of socks. One or two pairs of socks in your golf bag are more than enough.
Bottled Water
The sun beating down can easily dehydrate you. Although you may bring a drink with you, it’s easy to finish it half way before the course is over. Therefore, it could benefit you if you have a backup bottle in your bag.
Snacks and Cash
Even if you protein load before every game, there may come a time when your breakfast wears off before you’re done with the game. You don’t want to feel sick and dizzy on the course, so you should always have a granola or protein bar in your bag for those just-in-case moments.
You never know when the opportunity to strike up a game will come, having cash on hand gets you in the game!
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