Pro Golf ‘Analytics’ Is Conquering the Final Frontier: Golf Bags

Have you ever wondered why professional golfers need those big golf bags? It seems the players themselves are wondering the same thing.

That’s it. The war is over. Analytics have conquered the final frontier of sports. The Tour bag golf bags are on the outs. So blatantly unnecessary yet so aesthetically captivating, that 40-pound bag packed with hopes, dreams, and extra tees is being replaced. You might be familiar with the scab bag taking its place. I’ll give you a hint: it looks like the one in your closet and stands on two legs.

Picture the greatest moments in golf history; Jack Nicklaus’ one-iron at the ’72 U.S. Open, Tom Watson’s chip at the ’82 U.S. Open, Tiger’s chip at the ’05 Masters, and every other Tiger moment. What these moments have in common is something other than being executed by the greatest golfers the game’s ever seen. In the background of your favorite moments is a caddie, gently holding one of those massive golf bags upright.

No more. A year ago, Rickie Fowler donned a stand bag. It was jarring at first sight, to see a bag just standing there by itself without any human support. Watch closely the next round of golf and notice the syndication of stand bags in professional golf. What began as a promotional opportunity for bag manufacturers may now become the accepted norm, tempted by the ease of mobility.

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There is a certain air of coolness surrounding caddies, stoically pulling the strings. Part of the job is being cool under pressure, mostly, but it doesn’t hurt to be generally. Part of being cool is looking cool. You know that expression, “Look good, feel good, play good?” The quintessential image of a caddie is his/her legs crossed, hand on the hip, and leaning against the tour bag. Not unlike the cold-eyed Sundance Kid watching Butch Cassidy quickly subdue Harvey Logan.

The tour bag, for all its faults, is a reason to have a caddie (among others, obviously). The bag looks so burdensome that it seems implausible a professional golfer would carry it themselves. Would anyone expect Justin Thomas to lug around half his body weight in rain gear? And then shoot 65? This isn’t college, and even half of those players use a pushcart.

It makes sense to replace the tour bag with one of the stand-up golf bags. There’s really no need to constantly tend one of those golf bags when there’s a kind that’s totally independent. It must be tiresome on the caddie’s back to pick it up off the ground a couple of dozen times a round. Having a stand bag could potentially save shots. Who knows the bad club-selection that’s been given because the caddie was tired?

At what cost, though, does efficiency come at? Some might argue that questioning past traditions in favor of a more logical future is the natural development of humankind. But then what does a caddie do with their hands?

If the caddie stands away from the bag while their player hits a shot, then it looks like they’re not doing anything besides watching golf. If the caddie leans on the bag, then it looks like they’re trying to be cool by leaning on a golf bag. All of sudden, hundreds of caddies aren’t sure what to do with their hands.

Sponsors can’t be happy with this trend either. Try looking at a MasterCard logo when it’s tilted towards the sky at 30 degrees. You can’t see it.

Without the tour bag, the only thing separating you and me from a professional golfer is just our games, which is sad to think about.

Standing bags are a slippery slope. Just look at baseball (aside from the truly massive cheating scandals). Major Leaguers don’t like hits anymore. They’d rather hit a home run every 50th at-bat and accept the inflated number of strikeouts. The math supports this movement (in the regular season, at least).

Why not then use a light and agile Sunday bag?

If there were data to measure the fatigue a tour bag causes a caddie, surely the findings would be similar to the NBA discovering that three is worth more than two (the mid-range is still king, though. Just think of the greatest players ever – Bird, Magic, Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, KD – championships are won in the mid-range).

Change is always met with resistance, and the stand golf bags will take some getting used to. There’s just something funny about the image like it’s somehow unprofessional or unworthy of the stage. As if holding the bag upright is part of the challenge of professional golf.

Maybe size, at least partly, does matter – the tour bag representing powerful intimidation. Maybe that’s just an overly masculine excuse for the added burden. If the day comes, it will be curious to see Brooks Koepka pull his driver from a puny little stand bag. He may not seem so big and bad then.

It just seems a little wimpy. That’s it. The stand bag is wimpy. But then again, so was the three-pointer and the spread offense.