Update:  May, 23, 2009.  I should mention that as I approach two years of owning this bag (tomorrow), that it is now on its last legs.  Granted, it gets fairly heavy use, but recently one of the support rods actually punched through the hard plastic bottom.  How, I do not know.  It’s becoming more difficult to get clubs in and out of the bag.  I could probably rig up something to make it work, but I’m just going to get a new bag.  I don’t know if this is a freak occurrence, but consider it as you read my original review from two years ago.  -Mike

Until recently, I’ve always been a cart bag person. When I walk, I’ll typically use a walker to tote my bag. A while back, the strap on my bag broke, so I used that as an excuse to start shopping around.

For a while, I’ve been admiring the double-strapped stand bags that have come on the scene over the last five or ten years. I figured that since I’m looking for exercise along with golf, carrying my bag will only help.

A couple of weeks back, I stopped by my local Golfsmith store and set out to check out some of the bags. I tried on the Nike Xtreme Sport bag and loved it. Being tall and big, I was concerned about the shoulder straps being comfortable to me. But I was able to adjust them so the bag felt great. It was hard to imagine how comfortable the bag would feel when it was full of clubs and gear. Of the ones I tried, thought, it definitely felt the best.

I bought it up for a price of $99 and took it home. That day, I played my first round with it and was pleasantly surprised. It was my first double-strap bag, and the first time I had carried my clubs for a long time. With all my gear in it, the straps were extremely comfortable on my shoulders. The weight was distributed perfectly. At the end of nine holes, I could hardly tell that I had been carrying my bag instead of using a cart. I had only normal fatigue in my back and shoulders, nothing extra from carrying my clubs for the first time in a long while.

Being new to that style of bag, I was curious as to how it would feel to be constantly slinging it over my shoulders and then off again. Again, I was surprised that this was a very comfortable action. Getting the bag to comfortably plop down and spring the legs was a breeze and never got tedious or uncomfortable.

Here’s the lowdown:

The Good

• Very comfortable on my large frame. I’m 6′3″ and am a big guy with broad shoulders. After a few 9-hole rounds, comfort has not been an issue.
• It has seven pockets, providing a reasonable amount of storage room. Things aren’t as nicely segregated as I’m used to with my normal cart bags, but I had no trouble transferring everything out of my old bag into the new one. I don’t normally carry extra shoes or clothes or anything like that, so I didn’t have a ton of extraneous stuff.
• The top has a six-way divider to keep clubs organized.
• Two mesh water bottle pockets (included in the seven-pocket total) on the side work well for dropping in extra balls and tees and anything you need to access frequently. Of course, dropping in a water bottle or two might make sense for many, but at my course there are an adequate number of water jugs out there, so I’m not worried about dehydration, at least not until it starts getting really hot.

The Bad

• Obviously in a carry-bag, light-weight design is important, but I can’t help feeling that the “rugged nylon” design is a little flimsy and over priced at $99. But, in fairness, virtually all the carry-bags are designed similarly of the same materials and are comparable in price. I think I’m just amazed at what $100 would get you 13 years ago when I first started playing, versus what it gets you now, even in cart bags. Yes, I know. And I walked uphill to school in the snow, both ways, too.
• The 6-way divider with putter well gets a little crowded with a full 14-clubs in there. It’s just a minor nitpick. Remember, I’m a cart bag guy, so it’s taking some getting used to.
• This is more of an unknown than something bad, but obviously I can’t comment on durability after only a couple of weeks. I’ve had nothing go wrong while breaking it in, but be aware that I can’t make a judgment in that area yet.

Conclusion

I would definitely recommend this bag. My top priority was comfort and it more than met all my expectations in that area. In all the other categories, including storage space, convenience, and so on, it performs well. I’d certainly like it if the price was lower but it’s right there with the rest of the market so it’s not a big deal. If you’re in the market for a bag of this kind, try it on. I think you might like it.

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