If you’ve ever been self-conscious about the weight of your golf bag, don’t worry — you’re not the only one who’s overpacking. According to Tour caddies Aaron Flener and Geno Bonnalie (the bag men for players J.T. Poston and Joel Dahmen, respectively), Tour players are notorious for stuffing way more than they’ll ever need into their bags, too — much to their caddies’ chagrin.
During a segment of this week’s episode of GOLF’s Subpar Podcast, hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz asked Flener and Bonnalie a series of hypothetical questions in an effort to get them to “name names” on a variety of topics, one of which was to think of the player who is most likely to carry rain gear in the bag when he definitely won’t need it.
“Not J.T.,” Flener laughed. “I check that bag every day! Lanto Griffin. I filled in for Lanto two weeks ago in New Orleans, and he has got the heaviest bag I’ve ever picked up. We walked out on Tuesday and he’s like, ‘I just took a lot of stuff out of the bag, it should be fine.’ And I’m like, uunh!”
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Rain gear is apparently a big offender in the bag-weight department, but many players are more comfortable having it than not. “I’ll say this: If you decide not to carry [rain gear] and it rains, it is bad,” Flener said.
“I would say the umbrella is more of a requirement than the rain gear itself,” Bonnalie added.
“What’s the most unnecessary item both of your players carry in their bag that they rarely, if ever, use?” Stoltz asked.
“I’m telling you, I scour the bag,” Flener said. “We might have like, some old snacks in there or something that has been there for a while. I will say, at Players [Championship] one day during the practice rounds, J.T.’s like, check and see if we’ve got enough balls and if not, go in the locker room and get some. I pulled 18 balls out of his bag. Yeah, I think we’ve got enough. And I gave like six of them away.”
“We’ve got some random training aids that find their way into the bag and then stay there for a little too long that we don’t really use,” Bonnalie said. “The mirror is a useful one, but we’ll go a few months without using it. I think there might be one in there now.”
So there you have it. Avoid stuffing your bag full of unnecessary rain gear, too many balls and training aids, and anyone who has to pick up your bag will breathe a sigh of relief. For more from Flener and Bonnalie, check out the full Subpar interview below.
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