Wilson Lite Golf Bag

[FromRightToLeft 110]

As I was getting back into golf this year and was unsure that I would be able to actually golf at all due to a back injury, I wanted to get a bag that was inexpensive and light. I like to walk and would be using a push cart so I figured the lighter and cheaper the better (I was wrong). Golf Town had a sale and I picked one of these up for $100 Canadian. 

I played about 8 rounds with this bag, walked them all with a push cart. 

First off, it was indeed light! It weighs only about 4lbs without anything in it. The first thing I noticed though when I put clubs in it and slung it around my back was how unbalanced the bag was. Because it was made so light there wasn't enough weight in the bottom and the top of the bag kept tilting over and my clubs would slide out. Really, really annoying. I tried adjusting the strap but it didn't help much. 

The pockets were actually pretty well done and easy to access. The cooler was fairly small but big enough to fit a couple of bottles in. The ball pocket was large enough and so were the sides. You can get all your gear in there that you need. The Umbrella hook was pretty much useless and the tee pocket was pretty small. Otherwise the storage was very good.

The club divider was a complete disaster. It's a 14 way divider and it seems the devil himself designed it. My clubs would snag, every...single...time I tried to pull one out. I broke off 3 game golf tags trying to get clubs out. As you can see my clubs look more like that tin in your kitchen where you shove all the big spoons and spatulas into. Clubs were banging into each other constantly and there was immediate regret buying the bag, mostly because of this.

There was a nice handle for grabbing the bag though and it is easy to load in and out of your car. 

Weight: 7/10 (loses points because it's so unbalanced when carried)

Looks: 5/10

Functionality: 5/10

Overall 5.5/10 

If Wilson could fix the terrible divider and balance issue they'd have a pretty good bag here. I have recently bought a Ping Pioneer to replace it. I will review that soon!

[MaxEntropy 6,771]

Nice review! Seems kind of strange to me that a light bag, presumably designed with walking in mind, doesn't have the double strap. I would think that could also help with the balance issue. 

[Kenny B 25,150]

I find it interesting that we all want a light carry bag, for obvious reasons, but wonder how a manufacturer is supposed to do that and get it to balance when most of the weight of clubs is in the heads.  Lightweight graphite shafts makes it worse.  Do the straps need to be longer??  

I don't carry my bag anymore (except from car to range), but my Wilson Staff Nexus bag carries OK, not great, but that's only because of all the weight added to the bottom in the form of balls, personal items, water bottle, and a bag of quarters that I have won off my buddies.  

[russtopherb 6,241]

Sharp looking bag, but it's too bad it didn't work out for you. My W/S bag looks a lot like yours, however it's a much older model and has the double straps and has never been an issue. 

[FromRightToLeft 110]

5 hours ago, MaxEntropy said:

Nice review! Seems kind of strange to me that a light bag, presumably designed with walking in mind, doesn't have the double strap. I would think that could also help with the balance issue. 

Yeah I think that would definitely help.

[FromRightToLeft 110]

2 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I find it interesting that we all want a light carry bag, for obvious reasons, but wonder how a manufacturer is supposed to do that and get it to balance when most of the weight of clubs is in the heads.  Lightweight graphite shafts makes it worse.  Do the straps need to be longer??  

I don't carry my bag anymore (except from car to range), but my Wilson Staff Nexus bag carries OK, not great, but that's only because of all the weight added to the bottom in the form of balls, personal items, water bottle, and a bag of quarters that I have won off my buddies.  

You make some very good points and I do have graphite shafts in all my clubs so its likely made worse by that.

You're right, its very tough to make a superlight bag with balance. I had not considered that prior to purchase. I only carry it from the house to the SUV but i had clubs fall out several times. Just really awkward.

[FromRightToLeft 110]

55 minutes ago, russtopherb said:

Sharp looking bag, but it's too bad it didn't work out for you. My W/S bag looks a lot like yours, however it's a much older model and has the double straps and has never been an issue. 

The double straps would help I'm sure.

[Kenny B 25,150]

3 minutes ago, FromRightToLeft said:

You make some very good points and I do have graphite shafts in all my clubs so its likely made worse by that.

You're right, its very tough to make a superlight bag with balance. I had not considered that prior to purchase. I only carry it from the house to the SUV but i had clubs fall out several times. Just really awkward.

All bags seem to be the same.  Maybe they aren't, but I don't think the manufacturers make the straps long enough to correctly balance a bag, particularly with graphite shafts.  I guess they think that only golfers with heavy steel-shafted clubs carry.  My bag works OK but just barely; longer straps would be better.  I have steel-shafted irons, but they are light-weight steel... 84 grams, so not much different than most graphites.

[cksurfdude 8,277]

I'd picked up a Wilson Cart Lite bag on the cheap with the goal of reducing weight on my push cart (most rounds are walking).

The bag was definitely very light, ~4.25 lbs, but the trade-off was in rigidity .. as in the bag twisted on the push cart during a round. Tightening the top cart strap didn't help as the bag is unstructured and it just compressed and squeezed the clubs in front...

So now it's in the basement serving as a caddy for extra clubs.

[BIG STU 7,672]

Great honest review---- Now IMHO looking at the design of the pockets that bag seems to be more of a cart bag than a pure caddy bag. And I can see your point on the 14 way dividers. 14 way dividers and even 6 way dividers run me batty. I like the good old 3 way dividers. One of the reasons I went with an old school Jones Classic. Another reason I went with it was because all the modern nylon bags the cart attendants here tend to squeeze the living crap out of them. I am not able to walk that much anymore. I do not leave my stuff at the bag drops because I get to the course early and take my time getting ready so I just walk up and that Jones is light enough. It is also sturdy enough that it does not get squeezed on the cart. If sometime I walk a few holes I only carry 8 clubs and I will use my old school Ping Hoofer which IMHO (again)  is the best carry bag ever. Due to the bag drop problems I had darn near went back to one of my staff bags. A friend of mine on WRX turned me on to the Jones Bags and I bought a used one non stand off the bay super cheap. Since the seller was about 100 miles away in Eastern NC shipping was super cheap. Like my friend says grab and go. I do not carry a lot of stuff anyhow around 6 balls some tees glove cigars and a range finder. I travel light. Yesterday there was a cart attendant that could not figure how the Jones bag went. He was an older guy too. I failed to see the complications because it is a simple bag with no belly pocket or funky strap. I told him just throw the darn thing on and strap it. He said he had never seen one. I told him it was a Jones and he scratched his head. BTW I did not tip him either. I think my style of Jones would work well for you

[FromRightToLeft 110]

18 hours ago, BIG STU said:

Great honest review---- Now IMHO looking at the design of the pockets that bag seems to be more of a cart bag than a pure caddy bag. And I can see your point on the 14 way dividers. 14 way dividers and even 6 way dividers run me batty. I like the good old 3 way dividers. One of the reasons I went with an old school Jones Classic. Another reason I went with it was because all the modern nylon bags the cart attendants here tend to squeeze the living crap out of them. I am not able to walk that much anymore. I do not leave my stuff at the bag drops because I get to the course early and take my time getting ready so I just walk up and that Jones is light enough. It is also sturdy enough that it does not get squeezed on the cart. If sometime I walk a few holes I only carry 8 clubs and I will use my old school Ping Hoofer which IMHO (again)  is the best carry bag ever. Due to the bag drop problems I had darn near went back to one of my staff bags. A friend of mine on WRX turned me on to the Jones Bags and I bought a used one non stand off the bay super cheap. Since the seller was about 100 miles away in Eastern NC shipping was super cheap. Like my friend says grab and go. I do not carry a lot of stuff anyhow around 6 balls some tees glove cigars and a range finder. I travel light. Yesterday there was a cart attendant that could not figure how the Jones bag went. He was an older guy too. I failed to see the complications because it is a simple bag with no belly pocket or funky strap. I told him just throw the darn thing on and strap it. He said he had never seen one. I told him it was a Jones and he scratched his head. BTW I did not tip him either. I think my style of Jones would work well for you

Thanks man but I think you missed the part where I mentioned I use this bag on a push cart. I don't carry my bag other than to the SUV and back.  It was annoying to carry even for that though as mentioned hah. That Jones bag sounds great for carrying though.

[BIG STU 7,672]

19 hours ago, FromRightToLeft said:

Thanks man but I think you missed the part where I mentioned I use this bag on a push cart. I don't carry my bag other than to the SUV and back.  It was annoying to carry even for that though as mentioned hah. That Jones bag sounds great for carrying though.

Actually my Jones would be good on a push cart---- It is solid has braces etc. Most of these newer nylon bags have no support to help lighten things plus plastic or nylon zippers---- IMHO what you save on weight you give up on durability with the run of the mill nylon stuff. I think my bag weighs in at around 4.5 lbs empty