How Did Vessel Become The Staff Bag Of Choice for So Many Tour Pros?

Imagine you’re a professional tour player and you’re on the putting green on a Tuesday or a Wednesday before a run-of-the-mill tournament. You’re trying to groove your stroke and get a feel for the speed of the greens you’ll be playing when, all of a sudden, some random guy from behind the ropes shouts out a question.

“Hey, how do you like your staff bag?”

As crazy as it may sound, dear readers, that’s exactly how Vessel got started on its journey to being the staff bag of choice among professional golfers.

That was 13 years ago and Vessel founder Ronnie Shaw remembers it as if it were yesterday.

“It was the LPGA Kia Classic in Carlsbad (Calif.),” Shaw tells MyGolfSpy. “I went down there and talked to every player I could. ‘Hey, can I make a bag for you?’”

Shaw did have a little background in golf bags so his question wasn’t as random as it would appear. But that cheeky bit of full-frontal salesmanship put Shaw on the map. It started Vessel down a path that would see its bags used by Tour legends, major winners and Ryder Cup teams.

Shaw, you see, has been around golf bags from about the time he could walk.

From Zonson to Vessel

Ronnie Shaw’s father, David, may be one of the golf industry’s lesser-known pioneers. David’s company, Zonson, was Taiwan’s first golf bag manufacturer and helped establish Taiwan as a global hub for golf equipment manufacturing.

“I was born in a golf bag factory,” Ronnie says figuratively. “At the time, my dad was making staff bags for all the OEMs: TaylorMade, Callaway, NIKE, Titleist and others.”

At one point, Zonson was making about 90 percent of the staff bags on the PGA Tour. That’s where Ronnie cut his teeth in the golf bag business.

“PING wanted us to make their tour bag. They asked who else we made tour bags for. It was a meeting of about 12 people and it was my first time meeting them. I said it was probably easier for me to tell you who we don’t make bags for.

“I was trying to be funny but it was almost not funny. But they did laugh.”

Zonson does hold one record in golf that any OEM would kill for and one that won’t likely ever be broken.

“My dad’s bags won eight grand slams (that’s 32 straight majors, friends) in a row,” says Shaw. “He was making bags for Tiger, Phil and others. In his mind, we won eight grand slams in a row. I had to tell him no you didn’t. Titleist won, Callaway won.”

Back to the Kia Classic

Ronnie set up shop in Carlsbad as a U.S. base for Zonson’s operations. About that time, Zonson started getting requests for custom staff bags.

“That’s how we started Vessel,” says Ronnie. “We started as a custom bag company.”

And that led him to the LPGA’s Kia Classic where he employed Salesmanship 101.

“I talked to players and caddies and asked them questions. ‘How do you like your current bag? What do you hate about it? Is there anything you like done differently? I’d love to make a bag for you.’”

While he was surprised at the level of player input, what he really valued was what the caddies had to say.

“No. 1, they’re looking for lightweight. We believe in balance more so than weight. You can have a heavier bag by a pound or two. But if the balance is better, it carries better.”

Having had some success with LPGA players, Shaw tried his luck on the PGA Tour’s Southern California swing.

“It was hard to talk with players at the Farmers but I was able to at the Genesis at Riviera. Players would say, ‘Come inside the ropes, I need to show you something.’ That’s how it started.”

A fixture on Tour

On any given week on the PGA Tour, 20 to 30 players will be using Vessel bags. Over the years, Vessel has created staff bags for the likes of Tony Finau, Adam Scott, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland, Lucas Glover, Jim Furyk, J.J. Spaun and dozens of others. Virtually every LIV player uses a Vessel.

Then there’s Eldrick T. Woods.

“My dad’s company made Tiger’s NIKE staff bag. When he left NIKE, we went to Tiger and said we’re the same people, we can make a new staff bag for you. Between my dad and me, we’ve been making Tiger’s staff bag for the past 25 years.”

Making a bag for Tiger does come with challenges. Not from Tiger, but from his main bag sponsor, Monster Energy.

“One year we designed a bunch of limited-edition bags for Tiger, one for each major. Red, white and blue for the U.S. Open, green and yellow for the Masters. They go, ‘Ronnie, don’t touch our branding.’

“But this is Tiger Woods. He needs something special.”

So Shaw applied a centuries-old principle: It’s easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

“For Tiger’s bag for the Masters, I added a Roman number IV in green on the water bottle pocket because, at the time, he was a four-time champion. Then I put the years he won on the bottom.

“You can’t see the difference if you’re not looking for it. Tiger didn’t miss it, though. He posted it on his social media.”

When Tiger won in 2019, Shaw changed the IV to an XV for fifteen majors. The X is in black and the V, for five Masters, is in green.

“I still haven’t gotten permission to do that. But I haven’t gotten an angry email about it, either.”

Just when you think your bag is perfect …

… Someone will let you know it isn’t.

“A complaint isn’t just a complaint. It’s an opportunity,” says Shaw. “It’s the complaints that keep us in business.”

As we mentioned, Shaw takes what caddies have to say to heart since they’re the ones who do the actual carrying. Caddies have asked for handles on the top for easier handling and wider strap padding for greater comfort.

Sometimes, improvement is inspired by competitors who ultimately become collaborators.

“I don’t like snaps,” Shaw explains. “I don’t like anything on a bag that’s not necessary. We took the snaps off our rain hoods and Tour players weren’t happy. A bunch of them switched to the Seaforth rain hood. It’s lighter, waterproof and has snaps.”

Vessel quickly pivoted and put snaps back on its rain hood. Ultimately, however, Seaforth reached out to Shaw and asked if he could help make their rain hoods even better.

“Theirs uses Velcro and you know how much I love magnets. I changed all the Velcro to magnets. Imagine it’s raining and you’re in your backswing when someone opens up their hood and you get that Velcro sound. The magnet is a better experience.

“It’s now our Tour Rain Hood. We launched it at the U.S. Open.”

Vessel has had its share of oddball requests. One celebrity, who shall remain anonymous, asked for a bag made out of horsehair. Shaw politely declined.

“I don’t need environmentalists speaking out against Vessel,” he laughed.

Several Tour players have asked for a little TV monitor for their bags.

“The bag is the biggest piece that people can see on TV. If you had a little monitor on the bag, you could scroll advertisements from, like, Bank of America, then AT&T and then Gatorade. It’s revenue for the players.”

Vessel’s “Cups” runneth over

As you’ve no doubt seen, Swag is the official bag of this year’s U.S. Ryder Cup team. What you may not know, however, is that Vessel is actually making the bag.

“We have a really good relationship with Swag. Swag earned the Ryder Cup partnership and has the license. We have a friend at Swag who asked if we were interested in making the bags.”

Shaw can now add the Ryder Cup to his major event list. Vessel is this year’s official bag of the Open Championship. It also made bags for the last three Solheim Cups and Presidents Cups, as well as the last two Walker Cups.

“We have to pay a royalty for the Presidents Cup but we do get to sell replica staff bags, stand bags and head covers.”

Additionally, Vessel has been a major supplier of Olympic team bags since golf’s return to the games in 2016.

“For some of those countries, their players were already using Vessel bags. Sometimes the request comes from a country’s Olympic committee but most of the time it’s because the players like our bags and trust us.

“They’ll reach out and say, ‘Hey, I just got on the Malaysian Olympic team. I need you to make our team bags.’”

Vessel has made Olympic bags for the US, Great Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, France, Israel, Germany, Ireland and more.

Oh, and if you want some serious product placement, this one will be coming your way in just a couple of weeks …

Should Vessel’s Tour presence matter to you?

Let’s face it, Tiger Woods’ staff bag or Justin Rose’s Olympic bag mean about as much to your game as Tiger’s 9-iron or Rose’s 3-wood. The bag’s job is to carry clubs around and it has no idea whether it’s doing it at a local muni or Augusta National.

“When you make a bag for a Tour player, that bag is in the elements over 300 days a year,” explains Shaw. “You learn about wear and tear and you learn how athletes use it on a day-to-day basis.

“The question is how much of that learning can you trickle down into your stand bags and cart bags?”

The biggest trickle-down, the one that probably matters most to you, has been in materials. Vessel can rightly lay claim to starting the synthetic leather “luxury” bag market. Everyone offers one now, ranging from relative bargains from direct-to-consumer brands to Vessel’s Player-series bags.

“We validated and legitimized the category and now everyone’s coming into the market,” says Shaw. “At the time our original Player bag came out, no one was using synthetic leather. Just visually, there’s a huge difference between a quality synthetic leather bag and a wrinkly nylon bag.”

How you view your golf bag is an entirely personal decision. Cost is a factor for many while others will prioritize features or overall quality. As the old joke goes, you can pick any two.

“It just goes to show, if it works on Tour, there’s a reason,” says Shaw. “Translating that into your everyday line makes a big difference.”