Why $2K For This Vessel Golf Bag Isn’t As Crazy As It Sounds

Yep, you read that headline correctly. The new Vessel Carbon Collection stand and cart bags sell for $1,999.99 each.

I’m sure you have questions. Those questions might be distorted by incredulity or some other knee-jerk emotion but that doesn’t mean those questions shouldn’t be answered.

The first question is fairly obvious: Who the hell is going to pay $2,000 for a freaking golf bag?

More people than you’d think.

Question Two is the logical follow-up: Why the hell would someone pay $2,000 for a freaking golf bag?

Because they want to.

Question Three is the interesting one: What the hell makes a golf bag worth $2,000?

The answer to that one gets into the very ethos of Vessel as a company.

The Vessel Carbon Collection: What gives?

Vessel was founded 13 years ago by Ronnie Shaw, an electrical engineer by training but a self-proclaimed golf bag geek by nature. Shaw comes by that geekiness honestly, having worked in his father’s Taiwan-based bag company Zonson since childhood.

Shaw opened up shop in Carlsbad, Calif., and started making high-quality bags for OEMs, particularly NIKE. When NIKE exited the golf world in 2016, Shaw had to pivot quickly. Vessel started crafting bags for PGA and LPGA Tour players, simply by Shaw going to tournaments and asking players if he could make them a bag. The original Vessel Player bag soon followed. The rest, as they say, is history.

The whole Carbon Collection thing goes back to 2023. To celebrate Vessel’s 10th anniversary, Shaw released the original Carbon Collection: the first golf bags made with a unique carbon-fiber fabric called Omniflex. Developed by the Washington state-based company Carbitex, Omniflex is a strong, durable and extremely light material used in athletic shoes.

Those first Carbon Collection bags featured 25 percent Omniflex material, specifically reinforcing high-stress areas such as the spine, handle, and strap connection points. This new Carbon Collection, for Vessel’s 13th anniversary, is 75-percent Omniflex.

“With all that carbon-fiber material, it’s just a really, really cool golf bag,” Shaw tells MyGolfSpy. “It’s more weatherproof, it’s a little lighter and it’s going to last a long, long time. That’s why it has a lifetime warranty. If anything breaks down, we’ll take care of it. It’s a bag that’s meant to last.”

The 75-percent solution

The 2025 Vessel Carbon Collection features two bags: a 75-percent Omniflex version of the Player V Pro stand bag and a 75-percent carbon version of the Lux Pro cart bag. The Player V Pro bag features a 14-way top while the Lux Pro bag has a 15-way top. Both bags feature magnetic pocket enclosures (Shaw calls the bags “magnetically luxurious”) and a chrome badge marking Vessel’s 13th anniversary.

“There was no way we could have come out with this product when we first opened,” says Shaw. “Everyone would be like, ‘You guys are crazy.’ People still say we’re crazy but we’ve gained trust over the years. Our customers know that when Vessel comes out with something like this, they know we put our heart, soul and energy into it. I’m very grateful for that trust.”

Nobody buys these things, right?

Wrong.

Whenever something outside of what we’d consider “reasonably priced” comes out, it triggers our price-gag reflex. However, when people will buy a Montblanc Jimi Hendrix Limited Edition fountain pen for $4,300 (seriously, it’s a thing), two grand for a golf bag isn’t so crazy.

“The last time we did this, it was for fun,” says Shaw. “I was like, ‘Who is going to buy a $1,600 golf bag?’ For the first month we had it out, it was our best-selling product. There are people who want something no one else can make, that they can’t get anywhere else.”

The Vessel Carbon Collection will be a permanent, small-batch offering in the Vessel catalog. Think of it as a concept car, a space for Vessel to load up a bag with all of its latest innovations. Following the 10th-anniversary bags, Vessel started adding Omniflex carbon-fiber strips to its standard offerings to make high-stress areas more durable.

“There’s not a lot of innovation in the golf bag space,” says Shaw. “There are a lot of copycats. It’s easier for people to follow than to lead, so there’s not a lot of innovation. We want to stay in the forefront of that.”

The recent rise of synthetic-leather premium golf bag sellers bears that out. Today, you can find plenty of bags similar to a Vessel at a lower price point. That’s simply the way of the world which is why innovators rarely stand still.

“I’m always looking forward to what’s next,” says Shaw. “As soon as the Player V was launched, I was already geeking out over getting to work on the Player VI and pushing what’s possible.”

The Vessel Carbon Collection: Two grand is a matter of trust

Vessel has spent the better part of a decade building trust in its products. For some, Vessel remains a too-expensive solution to a problem that can be solved for half the price or less. For others, it’s a 10-year solution that they’ll enjoy owning.

Different strokes, different folks.

“When I was in manufacturing with my dad, I helped companies make bags that came out of the gate for $1,500,” says Shaw. “People loved the bags but they didn’t trust the company enough to spend $1,500. We’ve been around for 13 years now and we’ve built that trust.”

Business 101 dictates that you can’t just throw open the doors on Day One and say, “Here’s my $2,000 golf bag,” and expect people to reach for their credit cards. It doesn’t work that way. To spend that kind of cash, customers have to know who you are, and you have to build a certain level of brand gravitas.

Which, apparently, takes 10 to 13 years.

The 2025 Vessel Carbon Collection is for sale starting today. Each bag comes with a limited-edition 20-inch Vessel 13th-anniversary magnetic golf towel as well as a Lux Carbon Embosse headcover.

The headcover can also be purchased separately for $245.

For more information, visit the Vessel website.

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