Any of the best golf bags are just a place to throw your clubs, balls and other necessities on the course, right?
Not at all! A golf bag can significantly impact your enjoyment on the course, and I tried one of the most technologically advanced golf bags I've ever seen. It makes playing golf even more enjoyable with its solar panel, Bluetooth speaker and a phone slot that keeps your phone upright for recording your swing.
I can't think of anything that the MNML MR2 golf bag (from $319) needs to be a more well-rounded carry bag. Now that I've spent a round playing with it, I'm thoroughly impressed.
Game improvement golf bag
That little pocket on the top of the MR2 golf bag is a game improvement tool. How can a small diagonal pocket improve your golf game? It turns out that it's not diagonal when the bag's legs are opened. It sits perfectly straight up and down, allowing you to put your phone in and record your swing.
If you have an easy way to improve your swing, you can look at what's wrong with it, either on your own, with a teacher, or through one of the many AI golf swing analyzers like 18Birdies.
With the MR2 bag, the pocket is larger than that of the MR1, allowing for bigger phones to fit. I have an iPhone 14 Pro Max with a fairly bulky kickstand case on it, and it fits, but it's right up to the edges of the pocket.
It seems like a simple feature, but it's one of the coolest aspects of the bag if you want to improve your golf game; seeing your swing is a great way to achieve that goal.
How much tech can you put in a golf bag?
The MR2 bag is designed to appeal to the tech-savvy golfer. The first thing you see when you look at the front of the bag is the solar panel. While it's not a huge panel, it's powerful enough to give your phone some emergency juice on the course or squeeze out a few more songs on the Bluetooth speaker.
As for that speaker, it's available as an optional add-on for $39. It won't make the best Bluetooth speaker list, but it sounds decent, and it resembles part of the bag.
Integrated into the MR2 bag are wires that allow you to connect your smartphone or the speaker. There's also a wire tucked into the side of the bag that will enable you to charge the power bank, perfect for those times when the sun isn't out and you still want to keep your phone topped up.
When you add the aforementioned phone holder, you have a golf bag with lots of tech-savvy features that will draw the attention of your fellow players.
A fantastic bag with one small drawback
The MR2 is made with 100% recycled rip-stop material, so it doesn't contribute to the world's waste. It also features replaceable legs, so if they break, you can replace them instead of purchasing a new bag.
That material brings me to my only issue with the bag: it attracted and retained a significant amount of dirt and grit from the course. The slightly textured material seemed to grip the dirt, and it didn't brush off as easily as it would from a traditional golf bag. It's not a deal breaker by any means. But because this is such a gorgeous golf bag, I hate to see it dirty.
On the plus side, I also think it's cool that none of the pockets have zippers. They're all locked closed with strong magnets. Since zippers are one of the main components that break on a golf bag, removing them eliminates that point of failure.
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