Shipping Clubs When Flying or Better to Just Check Them in?

[StuM]

I will be flying to Florida this November and will be golfing 2 rounds.  I've never taken my own clubs on flights before and with the many "Lost Baggage" stories out lately I am wondering the best way to ship my clubs, or if I should just rent while there.

I did a quick look at Ship Sticks and estimated @ $165 each way (may be wrong since I did not weigh my bag).  I am concerned about checking my clubs at the airport given all of the horror stories of lost baggage lately but the cost of Ship Sticks seem high for only a couple of rounds of golf.  Also, I am thinking about getting an Apple AirTag to put in the clubs regardless of how I get them there as a means of hopefully not losing them.

I could check with the courses to see if they have rentals but I really like my clubs and the shafts are 1/2" longer and I am used to them and my preference is to use my clubs.   I doubt I could rent anything other than "Standard".  Maybe I should ask and not assume.

Any experience with Ship Sticks?

Anyone check clubs on flight recently, how did that work?

Anybody have experience with the Apple AirTag?  Would it work well in this situation? 

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, StuM said:

I will be flying to Florida this November and will be golfing 2 rounds.  I've never taken my own clubs on flights before and with the many "Lost Baggage" stories out lately I am wondering the best way to ship my clubs, or if I should just rent while there.

I did a quick look at Ship Sticks and estimated @ $165 each way (may be wrong since I did not weigh my bag).  I am concerned about checking my clubs at the airport given all of the horror stories of lost baggage lately but the cost of Ship Sticks seem high for only a couple of rounds of golf.  Also, I am thinking about getting an Apple AirTag to put in the clubs regardless of how I get them there as a means of hopefully not losing them.

I could check with the courses to see if they have rentals but I really like my clubs and the shafts are 1/2" longer and I am used to them and my preference is to use my clubs.   I doubt I could rent anything other than "Standard".  Maybe I should ask and not assume.

Any experience with Ship Sticks?

Anyone check clubs on flight recently, how did that work?

Anybody have experience with the Apple AirTag?  Would it work well in this situation? 

Okay, I'll chime in here. I probably have averaged 2 trips per year in which I've brought my clubs. I've done everything from VA, to CA and NV. Plus, The Netherlands, The UK, Finland, Egypt and a few others. 

I have never had a real problem flying with my clubs. I've checked them at the air port A LOT. The good news is they've always made it safely and unbroken. I will say I do have a high quality travel bag for them. Plus, I always unscrew my driver head, put the head in the head cover and slip it inside the bag. Then just put the naked driver shaft back in the bag, grip end up.

The last time I flew to Vegas, I brought my clubs. Funny thing happened at the airport. I'm standing at the belt thing in Vegas waiting for my clubs. My clothes made it safely but where's my clubs. I'm watching and watching, my clubs aren't there. Oddly, there was a bag that kind of looked like my clubs but wasn't. So I start thinking "Oh, shit. The airline got my bag of clubs and these confused." Just then I see this kid (I say kid, he was probably 23.) putting my clubs back on the belt. I talked to him. He had grabbed my clubs got all the way out of the airport to his ride before he realized it wasn't his bag. So, he brought them back. His bag was the one that kinda looked like mine. 

I've tried ShipStix once. I was not impressed. Everything was fine and all, but ShipStix literally sent my clubs via UPS. After that, if I ever want to ship my clubs, I just take them to the UPS Store myself. Much cheaper, plus I get all the UPS numbers and stuff to track them. Works great. 

Several times, I've just taken my clubs to the UPS store and shipped them to the hotel in which I'm staying. When you do that, you can tell them you want to pay for the return trip at the same time. They will give you a sticker you can put on your clubs and ship them back to yourself. When you ship them back it's super easy. Just bring them to the concierge desk. The hotel will send them out when their UPS gets picked up. Seriously, even easier than using ShipStix.

The other option is if you know where a UPS Store is in your destination city, it's super easy to send them to your home. In Vegas there are like 50 UPS stores. Couldn't be easier.  UPS will also let you insure your clubs. 

IMO - There's no reason to use ShipStix ever. They add a day or sometimes two to the whole process. They charge you more. And in the end they just send them UPS anyway. Much easier just to go to a UPS Store and do it yourself if you have a UPS store in your area. 

[StuM]

26 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

Much easier just to go to a UPS Store and do it yourself if you have a UPS store in your area. 

Lots of UPS Stores in my area.  I just called and estimate is $80 each way.  Half the cost of Ship Sticks.  Thanks for the idea

[Darkfrog]

I've flown with my clubs checked one time, on Southwest Airlines. My clubs didn't make it on my plane, and ended up somewhere else. They were located and returned to me unscathed. Problem was that my trip was just for a weekend, and by the time the clubs got to me, it was time to fly home.

 

So I would ship separately, based on my singular experience.

 

[DeadMan]

I've checked golf clubs probably 10 times, and I've never had an issue. Some things to think about:

• Are you connecting or flying direct? Connecting adds a second flight and more chances to get lost.
• I have a hard sided case, so I'm not worried about clubs or shafts breaking.
• An air tag is definitely a good idea. I've never done it, but I probably will in the future.
• Make sure your bag can fit in your rental car. Mine does not fit in some trunks, so I have to make sure I have a big enough car. This is more of an issue for me when I'm traveling with family.

Two things have held me back on shipping clubs. It's normally cheaper to check clubs. Second, there is lag time when shipping clubs. To save the most money, you need to ship them a few days in advance and they'll get back a few days after you get back. That normally does not work for me. If that's ever not an issue, of knowing my clubs got to my destination before I did might be worth the extra money to ship it.

But, bottom line, I've never had an issue with checking clubs.

[Shindig]

I am currently on my first-ever golf trip that involved flying with my clubs.  When I moved a few times, I would pack up old clubs into appropriate boxes and let the movers arrange those, but never my active 14-17 -- those went in my car with me (I have yet to move in such a way that I didn't drive myself, although two of these were over a thousand miles).  I have been terrified of lost luggage with clubs, even though that's never happened to me with not-golf luggage.  The recent news with Collin Morikawa didn't help matters.

For this trip, I looked into Ship Sticks and wow did it look too expensive.  For less than it would have cost me to ship my clubs for this trip, I ended up buying a case, some device called a backbone  (this is not a comment on "get brave and take your clubs with you" -- it's a thing BagBoy makes), paid the fee to have a checked bag each way, and had some to spare for some pizza at my stopover.

I flew earlier today, one stop in ORD (Chicago).  My clubs got to my final destination just fine, in good shape, although it was clear the bag had been looked through, but I have yet to detect anything missing.  My clubs were all there, as was my ShotScope and my laser.  

I really like the case, and I'll post more about what it is when I get home early next week and have a full keyboard available to me (I am typing this from my Chromebook).  The case was basically a large suitcase, but not so large that it caused extra baggage fees (beyond what is apparently normal to charge for baggage these days, I haven't flown in almost five years prior to today).  My clubs fit into it fine, as did a pair of shoes.  And I also got to put my clothing for the trip in it, too.  So I just had my carry on bag with some books and stuff to lug through the airport, other than the very beginning and very end of today's trip.

My clubs got here fine enough that I played within an hour and a half of landing, parred two of the first three holes and my only bogey (of the first three holes) was from a three-putt.  Not bad for stepping off a plane and not hitting any balls prior to the first tee.

My point is, I was terrified of taking my clubs as luggage but it came out fine.   The only thing we might say was off, if we can call it that, is that I didn't take my beloved driver headcover with me -- he's sitting at home in my golf room, while the cover that came with the club made the trip.  But that cover was a gift from a very good friend and, as far as I'm concerned, would not be possible to replace. 

[brownbogeyboy]

Personally, I had a 10/10 experience with Ship Sticks. Was heading to TPC Sawgrass and it was a group trip, so one of my co workers said we should just ship them out instead, and luckily we found out that Ship Sticks offered group discounts. We all got a really good price and decided to drop them off at a FedEx near the bar we usually head to after work. The guys at FedEx know how to put the labels as best as possible to our bags, and mind you one of our guys even decide to order the Ship Sticks box which we thought was kinda stupid.

We got to TPC the following Thursday and all of our stuff is there, and I had very little faith in them as I always checked my bags at the airport but I had a pretty crap experience last time I did that (but it was Spirit so that's on me). Everything was in the same condition we sent them, and for some reason our guy who sent them in a box made me want to buy one right after. We sent them back and I'm glad we did because all I brought back on the plane was my backpack. I'd definitely use them again, and I don't know but the prices for us justified based on the experience, might start using them for luggage to be honest. 

I'd say the only thing I would do to make sure I get a lower price is sub to those guys, the emails aren't too spammy but legit every 4-5 weeks there's always a discount code sent which makes us want to travel more.