"Bag burn" on graphite shafts...

[Chief Broom]

I just noticed yesterday while giving my clubs a periodic cleaning that the shaft on my new driver (one month old) has a small spot worn on the shaft where it rubs against the bag. The Nike headcover doesn't go down very far on the shaft like some headcovers do and the shaft itself rubs against the bag divider. Since I walk the majority of the time and carry my bag my clubs take a pretty good beating. In fact all of my club's shafts show some effect where the shaft rests against the club dividers. My driver and hybrid are worn the worst though (neither headcover covers the shaft where it rubs against the bag). So I decided to wrap some clear plastic tape (3" wide packing tape) around those two shafts where the contact is being made. I'm also wondering if I should take such protective measures with all of my graphite shafts (which includes all of my clubs except for my LW and putter)?

Anyone else encounter this and come up with other solutions? The wear on my driver concerns me the most. In just a short period of time it wore a spot on the shaft where some of the surface graphite actually wore away! I think what I've done will correct this problem from worsening and I don't think I've done any structural damage to the shaft, but this really took me by surprise.

[Fourputt]

I just noticed yesterday while giving my clubs a periodic cleaning that the shaft on my new driver (one month old) has a small spot worn on the shaft where it rubs against the bag. The Nike headcover doesn't go down very far on the shaft like some headcovers do and the shaft itself rubs against the bag divider. Since I walk the majority of the time and carry my bag my clubs take a pretty good beating. In fact all of my club's shafts show some effect where the shaft rests against the club dividers. My driver and hybrid are worn the worst though (neither headcover covers the shaft where it rubs against the bag). So I decided to wrap some clear plastic tape (3" wide packing tape) around those two shafts where the contact is being made. I'm also wondering if I should take such protective measures with all of my graphite shafts (which includes all of my clubs except for my LW and putter)?

Most of the new carry bags I've looked at lately all have padded top dividers to alleviate that problem. My Titleist bag is well covered to protect my valuable clubs. Maybe a new bag is in your future.

[Release]

Put additional padding on the rails of the divider and the wall of the rim is a good idea. You could get lining material from craft store
I'm not sure about put tapes on the shaft, although I have seen golfers keeping the UPC stickers on their golf shaft for years ( not sure why, maybe they believe it'll increase resale value if they keep the stickers on the shaft ).

[Chief Broom]

My bag is new and the dividers are padded, but the padding on the top divider (this bag has one large space at the top for woods, and the rest of the bag is divided into quarters) isn't very thick around the main structural brace at the top of the bag. That's where the driver and hybrid are rubbing. What is making matters worse is that I pretty much always carry my bag and while walking at a brisk pace those two clubs really rub against that brace. Putting extra padding there isn't a bad idea, but sometimes it's already hard to pull clubs out of the bag if the shafts and grips get tangled in the bag. Extra padding would probably get pulled off quickly as the grips come out of the bag. The opening of the bag at the top isn't small, but it's far smaller than a cart bag. I'll see how using tape on these two clubs helps the situation. "Bag burn" is an issue with graphite shafts (go to trade in your clubs and you'll see the person appraising your trade-in paying special attention to the condition of the shafts around the club head), so I'm kind of surprised that there isn't some form of solution out there more readily available.

I could always go with a bigger bag that has individual slots for each club, but that kind of defeats the purpose of buying a lightweight bag so that I can primarily carry my clubs. I like carrying because it's faster, I don't have to fool around with a push cart, and I get the most exercise while golfing.

[Release]

I had one of those early Sun Mountain carry bag, remember I had to buy a kit to put the protective rubber tapes around the opening rim of the top.
This was the time most of the golfers still use steel shafts and persimmon woods were still being used.
I'd look at some 3/8 thick foam tapes with adhesive on one side, just measure, cut and apply, it won't take up too much space if you're carrying 14 clubs or less.
Another thinking is, I had seen golfers put the woods in the side slot in the middle section.