Carry or Cart? Discover the best golf bags for your game in 2025

By , Golf Equipment Writer

Click here to find out how we test our golf bags

How do we test golf bags?

How do we test golf bags?

The Today’s Golfer team have tested hundreds of bags over the years and are split evenly between those who prefer to carry and those who prefer to cart their clubs around the course, meaning we always have someone well placed to test the latest releases. 

Top of our priorities when reviewing golf bags is practicality: is the bag fit for purpose, and does it make life easier on the course? Do clubs slide in and out easily, or do they tend to get tangled and stuck? Is there plenty of storage?

For carry bags, do the legs pop out seamlessly when you place the bag on the ground and then pop back in without catching when you pick it up again? Is the bag sturdy when standing on a slope or in strong winds? Is it comfortable to carry? For cart bags, we’re looking at the base of the bag and how well it will mount on a golf trolley.

Once we’ve loaded up a new arrival with our full artillery of clubs and accessories, we take the bag out for a spin. No one wants unnecessary weight, and with the best bags constructed from lightweight, high-tech and durable fabrics, there really is no excuse for a bag that feels overly cumbersome – even if you’re just mounting it to a set of wheels. With rain clouds never far away (in the UK at least), we feel waterproofing is an essential consideration too. A good bag in our books will repel water as a minimum, and if the material can’t protect your valuables and spare clothing, then it’s hard to justify scoring highly.

We’re big fans of functional storage space. Who likes stabbing themselves in a haystack of tees when trying to find a pitch repair tool, or fumbling around for your car keys among the debris of damp waterproofs and empty Coke bottles? It’s not the number of pockets, but the mixture of sizes and accessibility that counts, ensuring you do not have to merge accessories randomly. When it comes to carry bags, we scrutinise carry comfort, considering how well-balanced the bag feels across our shoulders and any concerns we have from an injury prevention perspective. 

Finally, a quality golf bag is something you shouldn’t have to replace for a good number of years, and therefore, its robustness and durability are a non-negotiable for us. And while we may not be self-professed culture vultures, we’ve seen enough sights on the golf course to know what you can get away with, and are happy to say when we’re unsure on aesthetics!  

See a full guide to how we test golf equipment.

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