11 iron golf travel tips from the 2025 season

No one likes pain. And no organ finds it less fun than the brain.

For the many recommended gifts of cognitive function – thinking, reasoning, feeling, breathing – the brain has an equally creepy capacity to forget. When they are presented with unpleasant stimuli, the brain will go to the extreme to prevent them from experiencing it. Often the coping mechanism of choice is memory loss.

For the most part, the painful moments in my life are everyday: leaving chapstick in the laundry, accidentally washing an article of red clothing with the whites, or by performing performance by the dryer. (For a type-B person in a type-a-household, laundry is a frequent area of fear.) But in some cases the lessons of these painful moments are real possibilities for learning-organizational hacks, important lessons for navigating through situations with high stress, ways to prevent my shirts pink being unknowingly to forget.

One of my favorite podcasts, The Ringer Fantasy Football ShowHas developed a brilliant way to do exactly this type of mental indexation. In an episode that has become an annual tradition, Danny Kelly, Danny Heifetz and Craig Horlbeck take the end of every fantasy football season to hand them out Remembrance Tattoos – or the painful lessons they would tattoo in themselves to remember the following year. The episode is a nod to The 2000 Christopher Nolan filmin which the raised protagonist character himself with its autobiographical information tattoos tattoos, but also as a kind of serves My feeling of guilt For the public, an opportunity to learn collectively from individual pain.

In 2025 I learned an unusual collection of sore lessons from Golf. I have spent large parts of the past six months on the road, by crossing the United States (with golf clubs usually in tow) in the pursuit of the best golf stories. I spent mornings on Jim Nantz’s Backyard Par-3, afternoons in Arnold Palmer’s Barnyard Storage Facility and in the evening on cliffide par-3 tracks. I have submitted stories from a trailer park with questionable heating and a flat with a doubtful sanitary facilities and an apartment in the middle of nowhere with doubtful WiFi. Along the way I picked up a number of things about traveling and golf and life that I think could help some people at home. And so, with the spirit of the Remembrance Tattoo in mind, here are the 11 lessons you need to know.

My 11 Golf Remembrance Tattoos for 2025

1. You can survive with much less than you think

I find many travelers – and specific, golf Travelers – are the victim of a kind of travel anxiety: they fear that they will not have the required amount of clothing/clubs/equipment, and therefore grab too much to cover for all cases.

If there is a single lesson that I have learned from five years of traveling at Golf, it is that you can survive far Less than you think. Never forget a belt, a toothbrush, socks and underwear. Everything else? You can probably cut and survive your packaging list in two without anyone noticing.

Also useful? Neutral basic principles, such as white shoes and non-logo shirts and pants for men (I love Buck Mason For this), which can be interchanged for many different looks!

2. Your golf bag weighs more than you think

I might be able to tattoo this on my forehead, Because it might be the only way to effectively remind my idiotic lizard brain that a checked golf bag is not a license to pack unlimited extra clothing and shoes.

Here is the reality: with your bag, some golf balls and a few spikes, you have to weigh almost 35 pounds. Most airlines have imposed a strict limit of 50 pounds on luggage (23 kg if you travel through Europe). That is not much space!

(I am also nursing with the idea of taking only half a set of golf clubs with you next time to lose the luggage weight, but cannot decide whether that makes me an unbearable hipster.)

3. Leave space for items that were obtained during your journey

But JamesYou may think If your golf bag weighs 35 pounds, this means that you still have 15 pounds for other things. Yes, that’s true, but do you have any idea how easy it is to add 15 pounds of shoes, clothing or drone equipment to your golf bag? (Very easy!)

And do you have any idea how easy it is to do those things unknowingly on you go out Flight, where you omit the very real possibility that you can obtain souvenirs or securities from your new, distant golf destination? And do you have any idea how difficult And embarrassing It is to find other places to save your new luggage weight while you are in a busy airport for a long, meandering luggage line for your return flight? And do you have any idea how easy luggage handlers use the orange “Heavy” Tag as a license to prevent your bag from reaching the intended location?

No, you don’t do that. So be smart and bring your golf bag (what a light standing bag should be as stated below), three golf balls, an umbrella and two pairs of shoes (a pair of golf pikes, a pair of nicer, simple white shoes).

View Product

4. You need less clothes than you think

Here is my (now and forever) official packaging list for seven days in the UK for the Open Championship:

That’s it! You don’t need more than this in Ireland or Scotland for seven days. You not More needed than this. And if you do that, it means that your equipment cannot be laid and must be replaced.

5. You need a global access

I am not a gatekeeper, but if I was Global access Would be the first thing I would hide from the public. If you arrive and choose a plane more than twice a year not To gain access worldwide, I will discuss you forever, both mentally weak and mild sadistic – and that is if I feel charitable!

6. You should never pack a toilet bag …

A few years ago I realized that the dozens of small objects shuffled between my toilet bag and medicine cabinet, so that I lost an impressive amount of my common sense.

Finally, after a little too much intrusive thinking, I had enough. I went on Amazon and invested around $ 100 to buy duplicates from my entire daily toilet collection. The result? I travel everywhere with the comfort of the creature of home (my usual electric toothbrush, Cologne, moisturizing cream, etc.), and I am never worried about leaving anything behind.

(If you think I’m insane here, break the news (beautiful) at James.colgan@golf.com.)

7. Always travel with two, separately located forms of ID

I have a friend we will call ‘Connor’ (because that is his legal name). Connor lost his wallet during a recent broadcast and learned in the hard way that even in the America of Jeff Bezos it can be very difficult/impossible to ‘send a passport or second form of identification to a location.

Connor finally arrived at the airport in Detroit with his passport lost in the post and his wallet on the way to New York. He was able to board his flight after one exhaustive TSA search help helped by an empty evening on DTW, but his life would have been much easier (and his safety line is waiting much shorter) with a second form of ID somewhere in his backpack. The TSA list with acceptable forms of ID is surprisingly expanded And you can store real headache in the case of a disaster.

8. SPF, brother

Not to sound like your mother, but I recently learned that SPF is the only FDA approved product as ‘anti-aging’. And even if you don’t care about porcelain skin, sunscreen will remain a nice product to own as long as Golf is largely enjoyed outside and during the day. The key is to get a good stuff in quantities near (but not beyond) the TSA liquid limit. Below are a few that I tried, but everything with enough SPF will work.

La Roche Posay Antihelios Facial SPF 60

The gold standard.

Sunscreen

Great products all -round, but this invisible gel fits nicely in the golf bag.

9. Stiffly

I was surprised to learn from a handful of friends that stiff arms are not seen as necessary components of golf trips. In my thoughts they are as valuable – and necessary – as every piece of luggage.

And talking about luggage: I travel religiously with a Victorinox duffel that I am sure is indestructible (except the zippers) and protected by a lifelong warranty, a CaddyDaddy Golf Travel Bag very is certainly indestructible, and a Patagonia -backpack that I am complete Is certainly indestructible. They cost more than your standard-spent role-bag, travel bag and backpack, but a headache today is better than a few of them tomorrow.

10. AirTags

Just like a defibrillator or an Epi pen, an airtag is an item that you never hope to use, but you should do that never Leave the house without.

Ok, it is clear that the deployment here is lower. But for $ 25 your peace of mind is worth the costs.

Apple airtag

A must for every flight traveler.

11. Speaking of lost luggage …

Never, never, under no circumstances, you have to take a flight with a short connection in Heathrow and expect to arise with your luggage.

I have seen enough horror stories, read enough angry tweets and generally experienced enough bad vibes from members of the wave industry who have fallen victim to these ailments to talk to absolute authority about this subject. If you see the flight, stay away.