Airline travel with your tools

What are your various opinions regarding hard shell vs. soft shell cases for your golf bag when cheking your clubs on a plane?  I have a padded soft case for my bag that I have used in the past but am considering getting a hard shell case.  Is the peace-of-mind factor worth the additional investment?  I don't want to worry about my equipment getting damaged in the cargo hold of the plane or by the baggage handlers, but when I have checked my clubs using the soft case they made the trip just fine.  Thoughts?

I haven't had a golf holiday abroad in years but when I used to do it on a very regular basis, I used to take my carry bag, my only bag, with the hood attached and a small padlock to keep the two together. I never had any problems with mine at all and I am probably talking about well over fifty return flights to destinations such as Faro, Lisbon, Almeria, Malaga, Florence, Prague, Corfu, Nice, Athens, Rhodes, Thessalonika not forgetting Orlando and Phoenix.

Of course there probably were not as many tea leaves employed by the airlines in those days as there are now. I fully expect that my clubs were thrown about by the baggage handlers and honestly belive that doing that will not harm them. They are pretty well made pieces of equipment, after all.

We used to padlock the Rain Cover on our Tour Bags and also padlock the main compartment where we put Balls,Tees & Gloves. We used to leave a couple of Balls in the other compartments, just in case. We also taped our Driver, Putter and SW together then pushed Golf Shoes down inside. Didn't have any clubs broken. Flew all over Europe, Africa and The States.

On one trip to Portugal, at Faro Airport one of the guys set of clubs came onto the Baggage Claim Belt one at a time, he had padlocked the Rain Cover but forgot to put it through the zip. Nothing was missing though.

TheLyth

I was only relating my experiences, David. There are always incidents that will cause concern to some. I might add, that at one time, golf clubs, were included in ones allowance, so a small carry bag of yesteryear, with clubs and shoes, was always under 10kgs.

I thought it was Air-ships.

TheLyth

If you don't behave yourself, David, I will not let you take my money this friday at South Winchester.

Just a suggestion, but I wouldn't use a padlock on any bag now.  Some US carriers specify that you must use certain, approved makes of padlock that have master keys so the monkeys (sorry baggage handlers) can open them for 'security' reasons.  Top tip I had from a pro was to use tie wraps (zip ties or whatever you like to call them) in place of padlocks, they can be removed with a stout pair of scissors, certainly won't burst open accidentally and are a deterrent to casual thieves.  It also saves the embarrassment of turning up on the first tee in Portugal with your clubs in their carry bag and not being able to find the key (f'rinstance)

Ive not had the pleasure of playing abroad yet (if you exclude Wales!) I wouldn't consider anything other than a hard case though. Spend it once spend it wisely!

Dur, I had my leatherman in the side pocket of my hold baggage... 

I've got a thick padded Mizuno soft case. Never had any trouble. Keeps all the clubs etc nice & compact.

Isn't there a chance that some of these hard cases could get dented?

Don't know about the quality of them but I was in Direct Golf at the weekend and they have a hard case going for a steal. Like I say couldn't guarantee the quality but may be worth a look.

A friend of mine has a soft case for his clubs when we go abroad. He packs all his clothing around the clubs, bag etc to cushion any blows the bag may recieve while being "transported" by the baggage handlers but this also means he has no other bag to check in and so keeps the cost down a bit more, about £15 each way I think. Good idea in some respects but if his clubs go missing then so do all his clothes.