FrankieG
Newbie
Saved my pennies and bought myself a new Grip Bag! Thought I would share my thoughts on the bag in case you are considering buying one yourself. Also PM me if you want additional pictures.
My previous bag was a Latitude 64 tourney bag with Fade RainFly straps which I loved. This bag was roomey! Could carry a change of clothes, snacks and anything else I wanted for a full day of tournament play. I decided though I wanted something more comfortable for my aging back (will play GM in 2013).
First thing I would like to say about this bag is it is extremely comfortable, you almost don't feel the weight on your back and that's even with a full complement of discs, chair and umbrella (I recommend buying a compact golf umbrella, it fits perfectly and you can get them at Meijer).
That being said it isn't nearly as roomy as my Latitude bag. I play in the Midwest so a typical Spring/Fall round means cold temps early then warming up so after 9 holes you are ready to shed sweatshirt and pants. There isn't a pocket big enough to hold these items so I added a small drawstring bag to the Grip to hold these items. Honestly though I can see that adding bigger pockets would destroy the ergonomics of the bag but I just wanted to point this issue out since Grip calls this a "tourney" bag and I guess it is compared to the smaller bags but compared to other makers "tourney" bags it doesn't have the same capacity.
The bag also only holds 18 discs in the main compartment and that is with really squeezing them in there plus two discs in the putter "quiver". I carry two putters there but you could carry anything you wanted. For tournament play I usually carry a few more discs than this for backups for key discs, especially if there is water on the course so you might be hobbled a bit since there is only one other spot big enough to hold a disc and this is in the mesh pocket in front of the main compartment but if you have a disc in there it is harder to get discs in or out of the main compartment.
There are plenty of other pockets though for the sundry stuff of golf play but you should plan on hooking a golf bag to the outside since I found putting my towel on top of the discs in the main compartment resulted in several lost towels. Another addition I made was adding a small liner to the pocket I put the stool in. The strap/pocket designed for the stool is great except the side of your bag gets coated in mud/dirt from the legs of the chair so I added a liner made from another drawstring bag so I could protect my investment and to have something removable I could clean.
Another random note, the bag is so comfortable because it sits high on your back but this also means the stool and umbrella stick out a bit so take off your bag if you're going to look for a disc in the trees or you're going to keep getting hung up on branches you duck under
I also modified the color of the embroidery instead of paying $60 extra for one of the two colors Grip offered. All you need is to buy a $3 fabric marker from a fabric store and you can make it pretty much any color you want. I chose Neon Yellow because I liked the way it stood out on the black bag. The other thing I did was have a patch created with my name and number. I had a local embroidery place do it, total cost $7.50! So for ten bucks I was able to make a completely unique one of a kind Grip bag. I probably shouldn't have shared these tips, I could have started my own business of Pimp My Bag, LOL.
Overall I think it is a great bag for what I want but it might be a bit pricey to use as a casual round bag and I didn't find it big enough for all my tourney gear.
My previous bag was a Latitude 64 tourney bag with Fade RainFly straps which I loved. This bag was roomey! Could carry a change of clothes, snacks and anything else I wanted for a full day of tournament play. I decided though I wanted something more comfortable for my aging back (will play GM in 2013).
First thing I would like to say about this bag is it is extremely comfortable, you almost don't feel the weight on your back and that's even with a full complement of discs, chair and umbrella (I recommend buying a compact golf umbrella, it fits perfectly and you can get them at Meijer).
That being said it isn't nearly as roomy as my Latitude bag. I play in the Midwest so a typical Spring/Fall round means cold temps early then warming up so after 9 holes you are ready to shed sweatshirt and pants. There isn't a pocket big enough to hold these items so I added a small drawstring bag to the Grip to hold these items. Honestly though I can see that adding bigger pockets would destroy the ergonomics of the bag but I just wanted to point this issue out since Grip calls this a "tourney" bag and I guess it is compared to the smaller bags but compared to other makers "tourney" bags it doesn't have the same capacity.
The bag also only holds 18 discs in the main compartment and that is with really squeezing them in there plus two discs in the putter "quiver". I carry two putters there but you could carry anything you wanted. For tournament play I usually carry a few more discs than this for backups for key discs, especially if there is water on the course so you might be hobbled a bit since there is only one other spot big enough to hold a disc and this is in the mesh pocket in front of the main compartment but if you have a disc in there it is harder to get discs in or out of the main compartment.
There are plenty of other pockets though for the sundry stuff of golf play but you should plan on hooking a golf bag to the outside since I found putting my towel on top of the discs in the main compartment resulted in several lost towels. Another addition I made was adding a small liner to the pocket I put the stool in. The strap/pocket designed for the stool is great except the side of your bag gets coated in mud/dirt from the legs of the chair so I added a liner made from another drawstring bag so I could protect my investment and to have something removable I could clean.
Another random note, the bag is so comfortable because it sits high on your back but this also means the stool and umbrella stick out a bit so take off your bag if you're going to look for a disc in the trees or you're going to keep getting hung up on branches you duck under
I also modified the color of the embroidery instead of paying $60 extra for one of the two colors Grip offered. All you need is to buy a $3 fabric marker from a fabric store and you can make it pretty much any color you want. I chose Neon Yellow because I liked the way it stood out on the black bag. The other thing I did was have a patch created with my name and number. I had a local embroidery place do it, total cost $7.50! So for ten bucks I was able to make a completely unique one of a kind Grip bag. I probably shouldn't have shared these tips, I could have started my own business of Pimp My Bag, LOL.
Overall I think it is a great bag for what I want but it might be a bit pricey to use as a casual round bag and I didn't find it big enough for all my tourney gear.
