Let me start by saying I’ve been coaching and looping for at least 10 years at this point, and I have seen everything under the sun in people’s golf bags. And when I say everything…I mean everything.
As a looper, there is nothing I hate more than picking up a bag and realizing it weighs 65.3lbs. I speak for every caddie on this planet when I say that the last thing I want to do on a Sundayis have to worry about wrestling with this Goliath of a bag for the next 4 hours. So this article is going to be about how to lighten your load a little bit so you can save your back and Erwin’s, the 65 year old looper who is going to have a heart attack on 6 if he’s on your bag.
The 5 essentials to keep in your bag (outside of clubs and 8 balls) are:
1) A BIG towel. I capitalized big for a reason because if you are using one of those little bitch ass green towels that come in a cart, you might as well use your shirt to clean your sticks. The reason you want to get a nice, big towel is because it is the most versatile piece of equipment you own. The trick is you want to keep one half wet and one half dry. Use the wet half to clean dirt off of your club face and out of your groove and the dry half to dry your hands and grips if you get all sweaty or if there is rain.
2) A rules book. Now I’m a believer that regardless of your ability or how serious you take your round, you should always carry around a rules book. Everyone should be able to take a drop in the right spot or know how to play in certain situations so that when you do wind up playing with someone who is a rules nazi, you can at least have a basic knowledge of the rules so you can keep him off your ass about if a drop is one club length or two.
3) A waterproof jacket or pullover. I’m not saying have a full rain suit in your bag all the time because that’s, well, stupid. But having a light-weight waterproof jacket comes in handy for a sudden rain shower or a cold morning where you might need an extra layer. A good jacket would be something that takes up little to no space, and you don’t even know it’s there.
4) Something healthy to snack on.
If you want more of an in depth breakdown of why, go check out one of my earlier articles. To keep this one short, I’ll just say to keep some almonds or maybe some beef jerky in your bag to munch on during your round.
5) A bottle of sunscreen for those super hot summer days where the UV index is through the roof. Im not talking about a big bottle – just a tiny tube so you can get your face and forearms. One of the cheap little travel tubes from Target or Walmart should suffice.
Honorable mention: a koozie to make sure your beverages stay nice and cold and so that you don’t get your glove all messy after you pull a fresh one out of your cooler.
lifetime looper 