Club Glove TRS system smartens golf travel luggage

• By Brandon Tucker
• Apr 26, 2012 2:10 PM ET

Luggage maker Club Glove boasts that 90% of players on tour use their travel equipment. Well, I like to think I travel darn near as much as those guys, and I don't have caddies or assistants lugging all my stuff around for me. Nor do I have a PGA Tour bank account to fall back on every time a piece of luggage breaks.

So quite frankly, I need sturdy, functional luggage more than those folks on tour, which is why I gave Club Glove a try this spring. 

I was particularly interested in Club Glove's "Train Reaction System" that links each piece of luggage together. The golf club travel bag attaches to the carry-on with a single click, and then you're off, wheeling through airports and parking lots with ease. Club Glove's mission with the TRS concept was to "eliminate the Smarte Carte." But even with a Smarte Carte, you usually need two hands to steer. I was blown away with just how easy it was to navigate both my carry-on and attached golf clubs with one hand through airport foot traffic using the TRS. I may have been carting 50-plus pounds of luggage behind me but it felt like my pieces were empty.

The new TRS Ballistic line is made in America like all of Club Glove's products. The Golf travel bag, called "Last Bag" is double-enforced and also comes with two separate side compartments and bags so you can fit at least two pairs of shoes (which came in handy on my trip to walk the links of Scotland). The carry-on model has a new, narrower frame that makes it easy to wheel down an airplane aisle. It was assembled with Cordura nylon fabric and nylon seat belts and bolts that are not only slick to the eye, but further the luggage's sturdiness. The luggage also comes with a collection of variably-sized packing modules (to which travelers far more detail-oriented-than-I can use to keep items separated) and also has a couple easy-to-access pockets on the outside for magazines or boarding passes. 

The Golf travel bags range from $219-329 and the luggage pieces range from $699 for the TRS Ballistic Carry-on to $799 for the Check-in X.L. and come with a lifetime warranty. Over the years I've realized that skimping on luggage purchases will probably come back and bite you. I blew through two Samsonite carry-ons I purchased at T.J. Maxx within about a year of purchase recently, so call me a convert in investing in luggage that come with a lifetime guarantee, especially when they're such smarter pieces. 

To learn more visit ClubGlove.com