The Titleist Ultra Lightweight is, as you would expect, the lightest stand bag in the Titleist lineup, tipping the scale at 4.9 pounds (as tested with the rain hood). Note, however, that this is only about average in terms of weight among the carry bags that we have tested, although we admittedly focus on lighter bags. The feature set is relatively limited, with a 3-way full-length club divider, an apparel pocket, double straps, and a beverage sleeve. Oh, and in keeping with the idea that more options are better, Titleist offers the Ultra Lightweight in a whopping 8 color combinations. The $160 suggested retail price is in line with that of competitive lightweight bags.

The Titleist Ultra Lightweight will appeal to those seeking a light dual-strap bag who don’t care that it only has three dividers for the club storage area (although they are full-length) – many bags that we test have 5 or more. Our preference is for 5-7 club storage sections, which lessens the time poking around to find a specific club.

Retail price: $160
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Editor’s note: This review is for the 2014 version of the Titelist Ultra Lightweight. Manufacturers generally make minor changes to bag models each 1-2 years.

For those who are willing to take “lightweight” to an extreme, there is the Titleist Premium Carry bag, a collapsible bag that weighs under two pounds, but that lacks most of the features of a more full-featured carry bag, such as structure, legs, dual straps, and multiple pockets.


SCORE
88
GRADE
B+
Club Storage
86
Legs/Base
95
Straps
86
Pockets/Storage
86
Rain Hood
94
Carrying Impressions
87
Style
92
Innovation
86
Cost/Value
90

We appreciate the light weight of the Titleist Ultra Lightweight, which, at 4.9 pounds with its rain hood, is generally in line with the stand bags that are marketed as “lightweight.” We weren’t as pleased, however, with the paucity of padding on the shoulder straps, which isn’t where we’d choose to cut back to trim weight. The 4-point shoulder straps, which are increasingly common on new bags, were easy to adjust. The back padding on the bag is adequate, although it’s definitely not as plush as on some of the heavier bags.

We found the bag to be very stable when set down, with the leg mechanism extending the feet to a nice wide base. When the bag is picked up, the legs pull nicely flush with the bag, which keeps it from getting caught on your pants or towel. The downside is that the mechanism to extend the legs protrudes about an inch from the base, which can cause the base to catch on the base of driving or push carts if you aren’t paying attention. Though you can’t fold the plastic foot mechanism into the bag, the Ultra Lightweight does provide a Velcro strap to help lock the legs even more tightly against the bag when using a cart or when traveling. To pick up the bag there is a hand grip molded into the top rim of the bag and the ubiquitous rubber handle on the spine.

The Ultra Lightweight only has six pockets:

The Titleist Ultra Lightweight includes an umbrella loop and strap on the right side of the bag, and a circular Velcro patch to attach a glove. One nice innovation is that the ring for attaching towels and GPS devices actually opens like a carabiner, so you can attach items without requiring a separate carabiner or clip. There are no additional slots for tees or scorecards.

Titleist Ultra Lightweight

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We had the pleasure (?) of testing the rain hood in a downpour and had no complaints. There are four loops that secure the Velcro scraps on the rain hood to the bag, plus two additional Velcro straps that wrap around the shoulder straps where they attach to the bag to further secure the hood. The rain hood was easy to attach to the bag and kept the water out, and was big enough to enable easy access to clubs. The hood can also be peeled back during temporary breaks in the rain.

The Titleist Ultra Lightweight isn’t a flashy bag (excluding select color combinations described below). Other than the familiar Titleist logo, there isn’t much to catch the eye, which, depending on your personality, can be either a good or a bad thing. Our test bag was black (enabling us to stay in stealth mode as ball after ball is polished into the fescue), but there are eight different color combinations:

The Titleist Ultra Lightweight doesn’t bring anything revolutionary to the game, and “ultra lightweight” means something different to Titleist than it does to us, but at least they’re moving in the right direction. It’s priced competitively, and works just fine, but the sacrifice of shoulder and back padding, club storage sectors and pockets was disappointing, as other bags of approximately the same weight (and price) are able to deliver these features.


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