The problems begins in the elevator after leaving my apartment. Seemingly, it’s difficult for contemporary humans to see a golf-vacation bag and not make a remark. You know, like, “I’m jealous! In which are you heading?” How dare they? Then the Uber driver glares at me like I’m striving to provide an alligator into his Camry. Relax, chief. If it doesn’t in good shape in the trunk, I’ll put it in the entrance seat.
Traveling with the sticks can be a headache, but it’s really worth it as opposed to the alternate: not enjoying golf or, worse, actively playing with a rental established. There are perks, albeit little types. For occasion, I’m under no circumstances tempted to acquire a have-on, and I can pack two pairs of socks for each working day alternatively of one particular.
After you arrive at your location, you are both of those happy and relieved that your clubs created it, but the system can be a logistical nightmare.
If there’s any kind of line at the baggage fall-off, you are screwed. Most vacation baggage aren’t pretty ergonomic. I know mine isn’t. There is no very good way to established it down, and you just cannot rest your backpack on major of it like you can with a suitcase. If you stand the clubs up vertically, you hazard another person knocking them more than with just the slightest nudge. Then you get to the front of the line, and the agent will not enable you lay the golf equipment down on the scale the human being thinks you are trying to fudge the figures and can make you stand them up straight. Cannot we all just conserve ourselves the work? I’m not a tour player my bag ain’t 50 kilos.
In some airports, these as New York City’s JFK, you have gotta deliver your clubs to the oversize baggage region. If there is no attendant there, challenging. Wait till there is.
After you land, your initial work is to determine out regardless of whether your clubs will appear out with the regular baggage (which is lousy due to the fact handlers toss suitcases all around if they feel they are stuffed exclusively with outfits and shoes) or in the oversize segment (great for the reason that they know if they split something oversize, they are heading to listen to about it).
These times, roughly 80 % of airports sequester the golfing baggage from the typical baggage, but the oversize luggage seem to be to always come out past. I could produce a novel with the time I’ve put in anxiously waiting for my inexperienced vacation bag to arrive. It’s a specially nervy practical experience in the United terminal at Los Angeles Worldwide simply because the oversize-baggage segment is dangerously near to the community sidewalk. Whilst the space is roped off, the attendants never ever seem significantly bothered about who’s grabbing which bag. At the time you lay eyes on yours, you ought to pounce. Really don’t even get me began about the hurry of adrenaline when checking to make positive your driver didn’t get snapped in fifty percent. (Looking at you, Maui’s Kahului Airport. Also on the lookout at myself, for staying dumb sufficient not to acquire a single of those umbrella contraptions for security).
Up coming comes the rental automobile, a process I’ve come to dread in major-metropolis airports—Charlotte and Dallas come to mind—because they are far too unfold out. It is no exciting to consider to wield that burly sack by way of a crowded terminal. At Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson, you’ll in some cases have to stroll the equivalent of 18 holes when continuously exploring for pathways like an NFL working back . . . only to head up a walking escalator and hold out for an annoyingly not-shorter tram ride to pick up your car or truck. In Denver, you have to trip a tram to the baggage claim and then capture a shuttle to the rental-automobile centre. The Florida airports I frequent—Jacksonville and Orlando—get significant kudos for having the rental-vehicle garage across the street from the terminal.
As a rule, the more compact the airport, the easier the experience. My clubs were waiting around for me in Charleston, S.C., Columbus, Ohio, and The Bahamas, and they unquestionably know how to deal with a golf bag in Augusta, Ga. But the gold typical of golfing-club journey is the Monterey Regional Airport in California. Indeed, it ticks all the boxes—small, pleasant staff members, quickly obtainable floor transportation—but the true cause it stands on your own is a straightforward a single: If you’re there, and you’ve brought the sticks, probabilities are you’ve obtained some remarkable golf in your potential.