Traveling with golf luggage - The guide to costs and Travelcover

Anyone who wants to play golf while traveling likes to take their own equipment with them. After all, you are familiar with the clubs and ideally they have been adapted to your own game during a fitting. However, especially when traveling by plane, taking golf baggage with you often involves additional hurdles. While you can simply pack your golf bag in the car when traveling by car, golf luggage requires more planning when traveling by plane. This starts at the booking stage: golf equipment is classed as special baggage by almost all airlines and must be registered in advance. Background: the airlines set internal limits on how many pieces of golf baggage can be taken on each flight. Here the principle usually applies: whoever books first has a better chance. Conversely, this means that the upper limit for golf baggage is quickly reached, especially on routes that are popular with golfers. Some airlines also allow you to take your golf equipment with you as part of your normal free baggage allowance.

How much does golf baggage cost with airlines?

Another question that quickly arises is the cost of taking golf baggage with you. These are usually staggered according to route and range from 50 euros for routes within Europe with Lufthansa, for example, to around 100 euros per route for intercontinental flights. Package deals that cover all golf baggage transportation with a particular airline per year are unfortunately becoming increasingly rare. The Lufthansa Group, for example, has discontinued its Swiss Golf Traveler, which is particularly popular with frequent travelers. If you are frequently traveling to Turkey, you should take a closer look at the Sun Express Golf Club, which also includes the transport of golf equipment. If you have achieved a certain status with an airline - for example Frequent Traveler or Senator with Lufthansa - you can usually also take your golf baggage with you as part of your free baggage allowance at no extra charge, provided you can otherwise manage with one piece of checked baggage. The same applies here: you still need to register your sports baggage.

Travel safely with a Travelcover for golf bags

Another challenge: packing your own equipment correctly. After all, it is well known that not everywhere in the world air luggage is treated with the utmost care. The market offers a wide range of options here. You should also consider the question, especially when planning round trips: Where to take the golf travel bag on site? Basically, the sturdier the Travelcover, the better the protection during transportation. If you opt for a hardcover travel bag, for example, you will have an additional piece of luggage with you for the entire trip that cannot be reduced in size any further. Softcovers, on the other hand, can be at least partially folded - how well they protect depends on the material used and the stability of the Travelcover. Sun Mountain offers a particularly clever solution with the Kube, which can be folded to the size of a carry-on suitcase for storage on site and at home.

Wood requires special protection

The Woods require special protection as they usually protrude from the bags. To protect them from damage, you should definitely use an appropriate stiffening rod (e.g. from Big Max, BagBoy or ClubGlove), which is placed in the golf bag. Alternatively, you can unscrew the club heads for transportation and only put them back on the shafts when you get there.

Rental clubs instead of golf luggage as an alternative

If you don't feel like burdening yourself with extra baggage, especially when traveling by plane - after all, golf equipment has to be checked in as special baggage almost everywhere - you can also hire equipment locally. Almost all clubs that cater for guest players offer their own rental clubs, although the cost of these has risen significantly in recent years. Clubstohire.com, a provider specializing in rental equipment, offers a good and significantly cheaper alternative. You can currently hire sets of clubs from various manufacturers at 29 locations worldwide - a good opportunity to try out different models. Handover and return usually take place directly at the airport, so that, depending on the chosen club set, you are not only more comfortable but also cheaper than with your own golf equipment.