Is a Custom Vessel Bag Worth It?

There is a lot of cool gear in the golf equipment world that doesn’t always fit neatly into Most Wanted Tests or Buyer’s Guides. You still want to know how it performs. In our We Tried It series, we put gear to the test and let you know if it works as advertised. 

What We Tried:

Vessel’s golf bag customizer. This bespoke program allows you to fully customize nearly any bag in Vessel’s lineup. I went with the Player IV Pro, the newest stand bag. 

Who Tried It:

Connor. Director of Soft Goods Testing and resident sneakerhead. The growing number of golf bags at my house is outnumbered only by the shoes in my closet. Even still, my wife doesn’t seem to think that “but this one is really cool” is a good enough excuse to pick up another golf bag. (Guess what? I did it anyway.) 

Clearly Custom

Keep in mind that this article is not intended to be a review of the Vessel Player IV Pro bag itself. If you’re interested in my take on the Player IV Pro, you can read that here. 

Instead, the scope of this piece is to walk you through the customization process so you can determine if creating a one-of-one Vessel bag is right for you. Note: the customization process offers a hefty upcharge, with the least expensive bag starting at $815.

With that in mind, here are my thoughts on the Vessel customization program. 

Design Inspiration

Before we go further, I’ll get you up to speed on the design inspiration for my custom Vessel golf bag. I patterned and colored this bag based off one of my all-time favorite sneakers, the “Maui Wowie” NIKE Dunk SB High. The sneaker, currently in my closet, is covered in Hawaiian flora and features a host of bright orange accents.

I’m of the mindset that a good custom product is only as good as your design inspiration. 

Trust The Process

The entire process, from ideation to the physical bag showing up at your door, can take quite a bit of time. The standard option takes up to 88 days. The rushed option (which costs a bit extra) brings that down to 58 days.

That seems like a lot of time. It is. But I implore you to trust the process if you end up going this route. In my experience, the finished product was well worth the wait. 

Speaking of process, this is how it’ll work if you decide to order a custom Vessel golf bag. 

Hand in Hand

Creating a fully custom bag can seem a little daunting. Vessel did a great job working one-on-one with me to find a design I was happy with. After selecting my bag choice (Player IV Pro) I was sent a color palette and told to pick primary and secondary colors as well as colors for the accents and zippers. 

Once I selected my colors, Vessel sent me a mock-up of what the bag might look like. From here, you can decide to switch things up or just roll on through if you like it. 

I wasn’t quite satisfied with my first mockup so I sent over a vector file for a pattern I wanted to add and had them rework the color layout a bit. Once that was done, I was sent an updated mockup. This time, I was completely satisfied with the overall design and color scheme. 

Keep in mind that this process happens over a period of days or weeks. It really all depends on your ability to communicate exactly what you want your bag to look like. 

Once you’ve signed off on your custom bag, the plans are sent to Vessel’s factory to be made. Once finalized, you’ll be given an ETA. 

Bag in Hand

After a lengthy wait, my custom Vessel Player IV Pro showed up a few days before Christmas. Everything from the colors to the print came out very well. When compared to my mockup, the bag looks nearly identical. That is to say that nothing came out differently than I was expecting it to. 

Again, I won’t speak to the performance of the bag in this piece (read HERE if you’re curious) but the quality and craftsmanship on my custom Vessel golf bag are on par with what we’ve come to expect from Vessel. 

That is to say, it’s dang good. 

The Elephant

When I started this article, I set out to answer the question of value. Is a custom Vessel golf bag worth your money? That largely depends on what you’re willing to spend and what you deem valuable. 

As I alluded to, a custom Vessel bag starts at $815 depending on your bag choice. That makes it one of the more expensive golf bags out there.

Personally, there are a lot of things I might buy instead of dropping $800-plus on a golf bag. That’d get me a lot of Diet Coke and a few more shoes that I couldn’t afford in high school.

But if you think of it like a custom driver, the price doesn’t seem all that bad. If you get fitted into a driver with an upgraded shaft, that can easily eclipse the $1,000 mark.

All of this is to say that if you think a custom golf bag is worth the upcharge, you’ll pay for it. If you don’t have a problem with a standard retail bag, you won’t. 

I’ll leave you with this: like a Subway sandwich, if you don’t like your custom bag, it’s your own dang fault! You built it, afterall!

If making a custom golf bag sounds like your kind of thing, you can start your one-of-one piece now at Vessel.