176 replies to this topic

[bte2]

Definitely Sun Mountain.
I really don't like their logo, but their bags are the best quality.

I have owned 3 ping hoofer bags in my life and each one has broken.
When I was in junior golf, my mom bought me a hoofer. Within a month, the entire side with the large pocket fell off, or detached. We were in the phoenix area after an even and took the bag to their main office and they refused to fix it. They said we needed to give it back to the pro at the course she bought it to send to them. We were a little pissed.

My next ping bag was bought by the local mens club for being on the high school team. Within  months the stand broke. This time I gave it to the pro and it took Ping almost 2 months to send it back and when they sent it back it had a hole in the pocket.

From then on I used a Mizuno Bag, then a AM&E Bag and never had any issues.

I refuse to buy a ping product, mainly because of how they treated me when I was a junior. Seriously, the stitching came out and the whole pocket detached.

I have never owned a Sun Mountain bag, but I sell a lot of them and people rarely have problems and if there is one, sun with fix it promptly.

Edited by bte2, 22 March 2012 - 05:57 PM.

[gthomas78]

Ping 4under is a fantastic carry bag. Used ping L8 for years. I love my ping. The way the stand works is far better than any other manufacturer.

[ThreePuttPar]

fwiw just got back from bandon dunes and asked the cadies what bags they prefer and the universal answer was anything from Sun Mountain.  These guys carry for a job so that comment has some weight to me.

[rbsanitation]

I like to walk and these do the job, the Mizuno actually carries a fair amount of stuff if necessary.


Mizuno Scratch Sac III

Ping Sunday Bag

Any idea who builds the Mizuno bag?

Edited by rbsanitation, 23 March 2012 - 03:02 PM.

[SurfinTurf]

Tru, on 22 March 2012 - 04:13 AM, said:

Sun Mountain all the way. i love my Four5. I had an Ogio Vaporlite and the legs were terrible. It was always falling over. Gave it to a friend when I moved and kept the Four5. Never tried the Ping Hoofer, but I've read nothing but great reviews about it.

+1 on the legs being crap. Mine would fall over if a ladybug landed on it. Plenty beer was spilt.

I had a Hoofer Vantage. Good bag but seemed liked the butt end of my clubs were always tangled up.

Think I'm going to check out the Four5.

Edited by SurfinTurf, 23 March 2012 - 03:53 PM.

[Kemosabi]

fujikura, hands down!!!

[Hacker#5252]

I own a 2011 SM Four5 and love it so far. More than enough room and the straps are really comfortable.

I haven't owned any other so I can't comment on whether it's better or worse to own than other bags.

However, today I browsed through the 2012 lineup, and I have to say I'm extremely glad I have the 2011 model. I think they dropped the ball on the 2012 Four5. The drink pocket has no business being on the front of the bag: it was perfectly fine on the side. There seems to be less butt padding, though it might end up being better or the same. If it keeps the bag lighter than before while keeping it just as comfortable, then good news, but I see no issue with the 2011 version. Also, they removed a side pocket, which is mindboggling because I find it very useful.

As for the H2N0, it looks very good, but I really dislike the zippers. On the one I looked at, one of the zippers was impossible to open without ripping the bag apart, which I didn't do. I'm guessing that bag is supposed to be waterproof ? Good idea, but when the zipper on a brand-new-never-sold bag is already broken, it doesn't put me in confidence.

As for the 3.5, the 4-way divider is just a turn off so I didn't even bother looking at it, whether it's the 2011 or the 2012 model.

Unless they're giving out free BJs with the bags, I don't see why I would want a 2012 model over a 2011 one...

Edited by Hacker#5252, 23 March 2012 - 08:45 PM.

[cidaddy]

I play  around 100 rounds a year, ping  4under , sun mountain 3.5 is also a good bag

[living_for_golf]

get sun mountain. ive had my 3.5 for 5 seasons now, stlll like new. plus they make the lightest bags

[guisician]

Sun Mountain for walking, no contest. The Lightweight 3.5 was my first & is still in use; just added discounted 2011 models of the Four5 & SwiftX to the rotation this season as well.

[steifperry]

I've used the same ping hoofer for 12 years. I did have to fix a zipper though.

[kitsoasis]

Mizuno absolutely dominates current Ping bags on quality

[jebbadiah6]

I say ping I own 6 of them, everyone is in great working shape. Playing junior, high school and college golf I've probably walked a hundred plus rounds with each of them and I could use any of them today. Sun mountain bags are nice they make bags for titleist but for me I will never use a different brand then ping, My two cents.

[sigepdvd]

To me, Ping is the go-to for the best carry/stand bag.  I carried my second generation Hoofer for 12 years.  For 6 of those years I worked for several golf courses, which allowed me to walk at least 18 holes, carrying my Hoofer, 5-6 days a week.  I recently replaced the Hoofer because in my current location there are not many courses that allow walking, so I wanted something that rode better on the back of a cart.  I put a Nike SQ stand bag in play, and it is a good bag for walking and its more rigid structure makes it better than the Hoofer for riding.  I gave some serious thought to the Sun Mountain 4.5, but the Nike worked slightly better on the back of a cart.  The Nike is a pretty heavy bag (possibly because there are so many compartments it is easy to overload it), but it isn't unmanageable when I walk and the 14-way divider has been great for keeping my clubs from banging against each other.

That said, if I were still in a position where I could walk every time I played, I would still be using the same Ping Hoofer.  It had 12 years of service, and I don't doubt it would have gone 12 more!

[dxdgenert]

My take is this (from personal experience and working in a golf store for 4 years several years ago).  

Sun Mountain bags are a great mix of lightweight and durability.  
Ogio bags are heavier but, generally, hold up better and have more features.  
PING bags will last forever but are frustrating as hell to use.  The leg system is goofy, the strap system is odd and the clubs seem to always get stuck towards the end.  

I have a PING but will soon be switching to Sun Mountain or Ogio.

[tngolf22]

dxdgenert, on 28 March 2012 - 02:39 PM, said:

My take is this (from personal experience and working in a golf store for 4 years several years ago).  

Sun Mountain bags are a great mix of lightweight and durability.  
Ogio bags are heavier but, generally, hold up better and have more features.  
PING bags will last forever but are frustrating as hell to use.  The leg system is goofy, the strap system is odd and the clubs seem to always get stuck towards the end.  

I have a PING but will soon be switching to Sun Mountain or Ogio.

I have a couple of questions about Ogio.  I've been reading up on them and it seems they are pretty innovative.  Are they that much heavier than Sun Mountain?  I like their shock absorbing (ShockXX) straps and according to their website the Ogio Pace is 3.3 lbs.  I'm wondering if Ogio doesn't have the market exposure that Ping/Sun Mountain/Titleist have and is the reason they didn't get more votes.

[Cooper]

In my humble opinion bags have gotten obscenely expensive. Having to pay over $120 is ridiculous. With that said Ogio or Sunzmountain are the way to go. Sun Mountainis the better bag but Ogio has better club separation for the money. Either way you can't go wrong

[makaveli]

How about the Nike Vapor X, this thing is a beauty, its under 4 lbs too.

[dxdgenert]

Call me odd, but I'll sacrifice 1-1.5 pounds of weight if the club organization and ergonomics of the bag are good.  I think that may be why I get along with Ogio so well.  The oblong/oval shape of their bags fits my back nicely and I much prefer the single-piece, double-strap.  My wife's Callaway Dayrtipper II (Ogio) is a VERY nice bag.  Heck, I'm contemplating giving it a whirl this season because of the strap design and Wood-E club management.  Yes, it is 1-1.5 lbs. heavier than my PING but I don't think my back will notice.

[makaveli]

dxdgenert, on 28 March 2012 - 11:46 PM, said:

Call me odd, but I'll sacrifice 1-1.5 pounds of weight if the club organization and ergonomics of the bag are good.  I think that may be why I get along with Ogio so well.  The oblong/oval shape of their bags fits my back nicely and I much prefer the single-piece, double-strap.  My wife's Callaway Dayrtipper II (Ogio) is a VERY nice bag.  Heck, I'm contemplating giving it a whirl this season because of the strap design and Wood-E club management.  Yes, it is 1-1.5 lbs. heavier than my PING but I don't think my back will notice.

as long as you stretch like our boy Jimenez!  

i had to, your avatar is cracking me up

[BigDave11]

i have used a titleist carry bag for over 4 years now and it has lasted wonderfully. No broken zippers or tears or anything broken and the legs still work great. And i have walked a lot of rounds. I've never heard of those bags being rebadged sun mountain though but i believe it. When i get a new bag it'll either be sun mountain or a PING hoofer.

[Snufles]

It is funny how so many new profiles voted for the Ping bag, in such a short period of time. Wonder if it is the same group of people putting their name in for contest giveaways.

Edited by Snufles, 16 April 2012 - 08:12 PM.

[mw15deck]

The Ping Hoofer pre2010 were the best bags on the market. The new ones, with the new material IMO are no where near the quality of the old ones.

[timhat88]

My favorite is whatever was on sale from last year, just picked up a nice callaway stand bag, small and lite, to replace my ping moon bag .  Like some previous posters, stitching let go on the big pocket. Come on ping buy some better thread.

[OffCourse]

What do you people do that have the OGIO bags fail??  I've owned four now, played them all for at least a year (~100 rounds) one of them for 3 years and have sold every one of them in perfect working condition to fund the next bag.

The thing about the heavier weights is, you need to compare apples to apples; their fuller-featured bags are heavy, but my last model the Ozone was 6 lbs. with the straps, and the model I have now, last year's Velocity (basically this year's Sprint) is 4.4 lbs. with the straps.  They now have an ultralite line with very light bags.  Just remember, the weights they list are WITHOUT straps and the straps pretty much always weight 1/2 lb.  So factor that in when you're looking at the weights.  Not sure if other manufacturers do this too.

To be honest I've tried but I can't STOP using OGIO bags because of their Woode club system, it's just so good; Driver, and typically 3 woods / hybrids (2 in the Velocity) run down one side and your irons and wedges are on the other side, nearest you (for a right-handed player that drops the bag on their right side.)  So it's incredibly ergonomic because the tallest clubs are farthest from you.  This would work like crap for lefties though.  The putter slot is also designed to only hold a putter and keeps it from touching any of the other clubs which is good for your putter (if you care, which I do not) and good for the other clubs (I do care, sucks when your graphite shafts get all torn up).  And many of the their carry bags have the lift grip on top which is just an indispensable feature as far as I'm concerned.

Some clubs missing but that's another ho story...


That's the Velocity

Edited by OffCourse, 03 April 2012 - 06:49 PM.

[Sean2]

I have a TM RBZ stand/carry bag and it's great. The clubs go in and out very easily. You can carry it over one shoulder without a problem. It's easy to slide the straps on and off. Just a great all around bag.

[dxdgenert]

Had some issues with my PING Voyage and was offered to have it replaced by PING with another bag in their lineup.  I chose to go with a new Hoofer.  PING customer service was awesome but more on that in another thread!

While the new bag in in transit, I've been bagging the wife's OGIO (Callaway Daytripper II) for two rounds and have a few observations:
It is definitely heavier than my PING.  It was only noticeable around the 15th hole but it was there.  

The shape of the bag being more "oval" made it very comfortable against my back.  

The strap system is much better that the two independent PING straps, however, it seems that the OGIO "ran out" of room for adjustement and the bag seemed to hang too low.  

The legs on the OGIO have a MUCH wider stance than my PING.  This is good when in windy condition.

The WoodE top on the OGIO is great.  My clubs did not get tangled like they did when in the PING.

At the end of the day, the OGIO had some pluses and some minuses.  I'm going to see what happens when I get the new PING Hoofer shipped to me.

[MarkFromTheUK]

My new J.Lindeberg branded Ogio bag is awesomeness. Best bag ever!

[Buzzkill]

Tough to say what's the best if there's such a thing.  My Titleist Utralight wore out prematurely - material wear underside near legs after 6 months use.  My Callaway 3.0 was returned twice for drooping legs then was upgraded to 4.0 model - it had material failure too (seams gave out near ball pocket).  I had an Ogio Vaporlite with drooping legs too.  My current Ping Latitude had drooping legs too and that's with their supposed retention leg strap system.  I did a temporary fix on it and hope it lasts for several years.  $200 bucks is a lot of dough for bags that don't last a season.  Needless to say, I'm done with Titleist, Callaway, Ogio and Ping as far as future bags are concerned.

Edited by Buzzkill, 17 April 2012 - 08:57 PM.

[Ben Tang]

Sun Mountain hands down.

Currently have a Washington bag from Team Effort and it broke the first time I walked a course. Usually ride so not a big deal but terrible quality.