The Shag Bag

If you’re reading this then you are obsessed with golf. And because you are obsessed with golf then I know that YOU know the quickest way to scoring better is not that new driver with movable weights, 8 different loft settings, and Bluetooth. It’s practice.

Practicing instead of playing might sound as appealing as algebra homework sounds to a teenager, but you will learn to love it. This is why you need a shag bag.

If you own one, you already know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, the concept is simple. After you’ve hit your balls, you take the bag and pick up each one with a gentle push down, pushing them up a tube and into the bag. No bending over, and no hitting all your balls back to your chipping area of the practice green. Still grabbing 2 or 3 balls out of your bag to work on your short game with? Ha, child’s play. Try hitting 30, 40, or even 50 chip shots in a row. Go at multiple targets over and over again. Bunker practice for days ladies and gentlemen.

I got mine for 12 dollars, and it has been the best investment in my game I’ve ever made. Grab two wedges, your putter, and your shag bag and leave them in your trunk. Any free hour turns into time you can spend working on bump and runs. It’s free, productive, and relaxing. Perfect for the public golfer. Now, if your shag bagging is up to the challenge, then consider taking it to the next level.

My father was in the Navy for 21 years. My mother also has a career with the Navy. Here in southern Maryland this gave me access to Cedar Point, a cheap golf course on the Patuxent River. As great as it was, the main draw for me was the practice approach green built awkwardly close to the main runway. The green is the size of a king size bed sheet and the incredibly thin strip of fairway is marked off with spray painted distances every 25 yards, up to 175 yards. It was so enticing because anyone could take their clubs and shag bag and hit from any distance toward the green. All free.

I thought “why pay for range balls when I can pick them up myself for free?”

Thank you John Q. Taxpayer.

Weekend afternoons turned into entire days once summer came. Before I had a driver’s license I would ride in with my mom and hit balls until she got off work. Once I could drive myself, the golf course became my second home. Potential girlfriends were lost as I lowered my handicap. The best time to go was right around lunchtime because the heat and humidity gets so bad in Maryland no one is outside between 11 am and 4 pm. Just me and the shag bag.

My main sport growing up was soccer. I played at an equivalent level to junior hockey in Canada, and was lucky enough to play soccer at a high level for my university. This made me put my golf game on hiatus for a majority of the year.

Each summer I’ve been able to come back to that fairway with the knowledge and swing thoughts I’d been accumulating all year. Taking practice swings on the soccer field, working on my grip sitting in class, practicing my shoulder turn in the shower. I watched my golf game slowly transform each summer on that fairway. I’ve never had a lesson. I dug my swing out of the dirt. Regular flexes turned to ‘X’ flexes. I now hit 9 irons from where I used to hit 7 irons.

I’ve graduated college and this will be the first year I won’t be able to return to that fairway now that I’m no longer a dependent of my parents. The good news is I can practice golf full time and I’ve set some pretty lofty goals set for myself. I still have my shag bag. The handle is broken and the bag portion is starting to tear from being over filled so many times. I continue to use it for short game practice, but I’m now desperately looking for another approach green I can hit countless balls at. Hell, even a vacant field will do.

Something gets lost hitting balls into an empty range. With a shag bag you have to go and pick up each shot you hit. Taking ownership for each shot in a way. You get pissed when you keep picking balls out of the long grass around the green and pumped when they’re all on the green. It’s very personal, almost romantic.

I’d say a shag bag is an essential piece of equipment for the majority of golfers out there. It makes practice much more appealing and convenient. For me it has also given me a personal connection to my golf game. Spending hours hitting balls then walking out to pick them up so you can do it again will do that. I don’t mind it one bit.