At $299, This Cart Bag Blew Me Away

When MGS Headquarters asked me to review the new Ben Hogan golf bags, I wasn’t expecting much. Frankly, Hogan wasn’t the first name I would think of when it comes to golf bags. It wasn’t even in the top 10.

I did have a Callaway-era Ben Hogan stand bag that served me well. That, however, was nearly two decades ago. Since then, Hogan has shut down and resurrected three times.

Let’s just say I wasn’t giddy with expectations.

Just goes to show that sometimes we golf writers don’t know what we think we know, y’know?

Hogan sent me three bags to look at and I gotta tell you that all three should rank very high on most anyone’s personal price-value matrix. The one that knocked me over, however, is the $299 Ben Hogan Signature Synthetic Leather Cart Bag.

And I don’t even like cart bags.

Ben Hogan Signature Synthetic Leather Cart Bag

Given the choice, I’ll walk 18 every time. That makes cart bags mostly useless to me unless they fit on my push cart. Even then, I still prefer a stand bag to bring to the range.

Hogan’s current bag lineup wasn’t available in time for MyGolfSpy’s 2024 testing. However, after trying out the BH Lite Stand Bag, the Eau No Waterproof and Signature Synthetic Leather cart bags, keep an eye on them for 2025.

What impressed me about the Hogan Signature Synthetic Leather cart bag is the attention to detail, especially at the $299 price point. It’s plush where it needs to be and the compromises needed to get to $299 are ones most golfers could easily live with.

Yes, we’ll discuss the $299 price in a minute.

In simple, if not cynical, terms, the new Hogan bag is a Vessel wannabe. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you want high-quality, luxury materials and impeccable attention to detail, Vessel is hard to beat. However, at $479, a Vessel Lux XV 2.0 isn’t in every golfer’s budget. The Hogan Signature Synthetic, however, gets you most of the way there in terms of luxury, quality, features and detail but at two-thirds the price.

Details, details …

“Artificial leather” can be traced back to the 1800s but what we know as “synthetic leather” was introduced at the DuPont pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair. Its most common form is a synthetic fiber covered with a soft polyvinyl chloride (PVC) layer. The result is a material that’s soft, pliable and easy to keep clean.

The Hogan Signature Synthetic Leather bag features quilted side panels with understated branding. The material is water-resistant and cleans easily. The side pockets have plenty of space, although I’ve used cart bags in the past with more. Each side also has what Hogan calls a “fur-lined” valuables pocket. “Fur-lined” is a bit of an overstatement. At best they’re felt-lined but it’s one of those areas where you have to compromise to hit a price point.

Zippers and zipper pulls, however, are never a place to compromise. The Ben Hogan Signature scores very highly here as each zipper feels solid and should last at least as long as the bag. There’s an ample ball compartment along with a deep insulated pocket that holds a couple of water bottles or several cans. It also has eyelets at the bottom so melting ice can drain. If that pocket isn’t enough for your hydration needs, two partially insulated drink pockets fold into either side of the ball compartment.

There’s also a large magnetic pocket at the top of the bag for your rangefinder or anything else you might need to store. It also serves as a cart strap pass-through. The assembly hinges at the top so you don’t have to thread the strap through. It’s held in place at the bottom with Velcro.

A usable 14-club divider

As much as I don’t like cart bags, I really don’t like 14-club dividers. The Ben Hogan Signature Synthetic Leather cart bag makes a doofus of me here, too. I play mid-size grips and with most 14-way club dividers, the grips usually snag in the too-small openings. The Hogan Signature Synthetic, however, features a large, 10.5-inch-wide top. The openings (with full-length dividers) are big enough to handle mid-size grips with no binding.

If you like putter grips the size of Alabama, there’s more good news. The Hogan Signature Synthetic also features a humungous, three-inch-wide putter well. It’s more than enough to handle the fattest grip you can stick on a putter.

Interestingly, the Hogan Signature Synthetic has 14 openings plus the oversized putter well, just in case you view the USGA’s 14-club rule as more of a guideline than an edict.

Fitting on a pushcart is always a concern with any golf bag. I can’t speak for all carts but the Hogan Signature Synthetic fit very comfortably and securely on my Motocaddy. Club access was easy and, as mentioned, there were no issues with my mid-sized grips.

About the price …

Can you find an exceptional cart bag for less than the $299 Hogan is asking for its Signature Synthetic Leather bag? Absolutely. The Hogan BH-Lite cart bag, for instance, has nearly all the same features and is a relative bargain at $199.

The $299 price becomes attractive when compared to other synthetic leather cart bags. The Vessel Lux XV is the Mercedes of the category, coming in at $479. The Sunday Golf Big Rig S-Class is also an excellent bag for $349.99. While both offer several color options, you can get the Hogan Signature Synthetic in any color you want, as long as it’s black.

As with anything in golf, whether the Hogan Signature Synthetic is worth it depends on what you want and what you can spend. There are always less expensive options but within the synthetic leather category, the Hogan Signature Synthetic represents a solid and more affordable option. It doesn’t skimp on quality and the features are well thought-out.

Hogan Signature Synthetic: Not your bag?

We did get to check out two other Hogan bags. The aptly named Hogan Eau No cart bag is waterproof (eau – French for water, get it?) and is as feature-rich as the Hogan Signature Synthetic. Like the rest of Hogan’s lineup, it’s priced competitively at $249.99. Surprisingly, there’s no waterproof stand bag at this time but we can always hope.

The Hogan BH-Lite stand bag is $149.99 and comes in at just under four pounds. With light stand bags, there’s a fine line between thrifty-light and cheap-light. The BH-Lite falls on the sturdier side of that line but make no mistake, when you go this light, you’re not getting a luxury bag. What you want is light without being flimsy.

As with the rest of the line, Hogan didn’t cheap out on the zippers and zipper pulls. The material is quite thin and the strap system is functional but basic. The stand mechanism extends easily with a solid, albeit light, feel. The five-way top is roomy and features full-length dividers.

The classic Hogan sunburst logo above the ball compartment is the chef’s kiss.

As mentioned, the BH-Lite cart bag is almost identical to the Signature Synthetic, only it’s not made from faux leather. It runs $199.99.

Hogan also offers a Signature Synthetic Leather stand bag for $269.99.

For more information, visit the Ben Hogan website.