Equipment
October Golf Gear bags show military-inspired compartmentalization, customization
The new golf bags from October Golf Gear, at least according to company founder and CEO Romeo Filip, is merely the natural evolution of adjustability and customization in golf, all thanks to some military-inspired efficiency.
The October Golf Gear bag system is one borne out of personal practicality, Filip says.
“I just noticed that my bag didn’t have certain pockets that I needed, whether it was enough space for water or a place to store my sunglasses,” he said. “It was really more of a personal need than it was ‘I really want to get into the golf business.’”
Filip’s solution is a collection of golf bags that come with more than a dozen optional accessory pockets that can be clipped to a central back rail. A former Marine, he says the idea is based on the military’s compartmentalized carrying system known as MOLLE, or Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment.
October Golf Gear offers four standard “kits” (stand bag, cart bag, staff bag and Sunday bag), and each comes with a number of standard pocket options (five on the stand bag, seven on the cart bag and two on the Sunday bag, for example). But bags can be assembled (and reconfigured) in any way a player chooses, thanks to the 15 optional components offered on the October Golf Gear menu. Among the accessories that can be clipped to the bag are pouches for cigars, crush proof watch case, rangefinders, water packs, speakers and even a tablet, as well as various sizes of ball, apparel and other storage pockets.
“My main concept when I first thought of the bag was to just go back to my military gear that I wore,” said Filip, who based the name for his company on the month he and his wife met, got engaged and were married. “We had all these different types of utility belts that I could exchange magazine pouches for grenade pouches or extra canteens or another compass.
“Our system still looks like a golf bag but it has the flexibility of the military system. It kind of serves both the golf and the modular system without looking like some kind of spaceship on the golf course.”
The October Golf Gear bags start at $80 for the Sunday bag kit ($200 for the stand bag, $220 for the cart bag and $280 for the staff bag). Attachments range between $12 and $35.