Tour Trek GTS 3 Golf Travel Bag

For years I’ve done a lot of travel, but didn’t ever fly with clubs until I started my quest to play top courses last spring.

I was flying to Chicago for a speaking engagement, and decided to head out and play Cog Hill #4 – only my 3rd of the Top 100 Public Courses.

Being that it was my first time traveling with clubs, I knew I needed a travel bag – but didn’t want to spend a ton of money.

I headed to Golfsmith and after half an hour of weighing the pros and cons of each bag I ended up deciding on the Tour Trek GTS 3 golf travel bag.

It looked sturdy enough, and while the feature set was basic, I figured it would do the trick for the rare times I travel with clubs.

Fast forward 8 months and as I sit here at Phoenix Sky Harbor International, I’m returning from roughly my 6th trip with the bag.

Every time I fly with it, I remind myself to write this post.

To put it simply, this bag *mostly* sucks.

From the get go, I’ve seem to have one issue after another, which has made me regret not paying a little bit more and getting a much more high quality bag.

After just a few trips there are holes in the canvas, and what should be the sturdy cover is slowing beginning to peel away.

I got this after two trips.

By the third trip, I had to resort to tape.

My Nike Sasquatch Bag, doesn’t seem to fit in there half the time, and is always at least a 10 minute process.

Often, halfway through my trip my clubs will shift and won’t go all the way to the bottom of the travel bag, resulting in the wheels not rolling properly.

This pretty much means I’m dragging my bag through the airport being that guy that people silently sneer at as he troubles to fight his baggage.

There are a few saving graces however. It does have a couple mesh storage pockets on the inside that can help you to carry misc. items when you fly – and the outside shoe pockets work great.  The zippers are of high quality  – even if the canvas is not.

If you only fly once a year, then this bag will probably serve you just fine.  There’s certainly no way I’d buy any of the lower models like the GTS 1 or GTS 2, but I’d imagine the GTS 4 or GTS 5 are probably at least better than this bag is.

If you travel with clubs often, spend the extra bucks and get a more sturdy bag – your clubs and your sanity will thank you.

I highly recommend the Burst Proof 2. It’s the bag I’m now using and I couldn’t be happier.

The Breakdown