Jones makes the best carry bag in golf by leaving things off it — no legs, no cart strap, no panelling to break the surface — and has been doing that from Portland, Oregon since 1971. The founding story is better than most because it is small. George Jones was a forty-year-old taxi driver who sewed the first bags in his basement and sold them out of the trunk of his cab. Jones still tells it that way on their own history page, and finishes the thought with a line that is hard to improve on: “Who could have known? George Jones, that’s who.”
What their site skips is the middle. George sold the company in 1990, and the new owners tried to make a Jones bag compete with the big manufacturers by making it less like a Jones bag. By the early 2000s the brand was effectively gone. The Lemman family and Chris Carnahan bought it in 2011, and what they bought was almost nothing: no patterns, no inventory, no factory. Matt Lemman, asked later what came with the deal: “Just the name, that was all.”
They reverse-engineered it from the bags that were still around Portland. Carnahan has said they gathered old ones from family and friends, and there were plenty to gather, because the bags last. They rebuilt to the original specifications in modern materials, which is why the Original still looks like the photographs from 1975 and weighs 2.9 lbs.
The current line runs from the $125 Original through the F-35 ripstop stand bags, the Rider cart bag, eighteen officially licensed school versions and the collaborations with PAYNTR, BEAMS and Lusso Cloud. One correction to something you will read elsewhere: Jones does not claim anywhere on its own site to have invented the single-strap carry bag.
The 1971 Bag, Still MadeThe Original is the shape everything else came from — 2.9 lbs, three-way divider, unstructured spine. Jones claim only to have been making them since 1971, which is a narrower and more defensible thing to say. Prices run $125 to $215 on material alone.
Where the Patent LivesJones call their stand system patented and say it “remains the gold standard.” All of these are built in F-35 recycled ripstop and rated water resistant, from the four-pound Short Course, sized for ten clubs, up to the Utility X and its insulated cooler pocket.
Structured Spine, and the One You Ride WithThe Players Series is the Original with a structured spine and a two-way divider instead of three, and Jones say the Olive and Sonoma ripstop is woven from 100% PET single-use bottles. The Rider is the only cart bag they make.
Shoes, Slides and a Japanese FiftiethJones work with more partners than most brands their size. The PAYNTR shoe landed in May 2026 and put the name on footwear for the first time, and the BEAMS capsule marks the Japanese retailer’s fiftieth in a bronze canvas made for it.
Eighteen Officially Licensed SchoolsEighteen schools carry an official Jones licence, from Arizona to Wake Forest, and the licence carries a markup. A Trouper is $315 in the standard line and $385 in school colours; a Rider goes from $520 to $555. Know that before you shop.
Headcovers, Packs and a 1951 Outerwear LabelThe Circa ’71 headcovers take their name from the founding year. Forrester’s looks like a collaboration and is nothing of the kind — Jones own the heritage outerwear label and revived it, and their own copy dates it to 1951.
George Jones, in Portland, Oregon, in 1971. Jones’ own history page describes him as a 40-year-old taxi driver who began sewing bags in his basement and selling them out of the trunk of his cab. Their line on it: “Who could have known? George Jones, that’s who.”
Jones does not make that claim. Their own site says only that the company has crafted single-strap carry bags since 1971, and that its stand system is patented and “remains the gold standard.” Chris Carnahan, one of the current owners, told Golf Digest in 2017 that George Jones was “the innovator behind the stand and the straps that are now ubiquitous in golf” — that is his characterisation, not a documented first.
George Jones sold the company in 1990. Sports Illustrated reported in 2020 that the new owners changed what made the bags distinctive in order to compete with larger manufacturers, the strategy failed, and the company declined. The Lemman family and Chris Carnahan acquired it in 2011. Matt Lemman’s description of what they bought: “Just the name, that was all.”
By finding old ones. Carnahan told Golf Digest there was no inventory and no production facilities, but “being in Portland, a lot of our family and friends had the old bags, so we were able to gather them and rebuild the Jones bag to the exact specifications but using modern materials.”
Not waxed canvas, despite the look. The stand bags use what Jones call F-35 recycled ripstop, rated water resistant. The Graystone line is a 300d recycled ripstop with a wax-effect top coating. Heritage colourways use vegan leather, the Stripeshow and Bomber use leather-look vinyl, and some Players Series colours use a ripstop Jones says is woven from 100% PET single-use bottles. There is no real leather in the current line.
Jones is based in Portland, Oregon, and states that customisation and embroidery are done in house there. The company does not state a country of manufacture for the bags themselves on any product page, and the University of Oregon’s 2021 profile refers to overseas manufacturing relationships without naming a country.
Because they are officially licensed, and the licence carries a markup. A Trouper is $315 in the standard line and $385 in school colours. A Rider is $520 standard and $555 licensed. Eighteen schools are covered.
Jones names one player on its own site: James Nicholas, a brand ambassador on the Korn Ferry Tour who Jones say won in Bogotá, Colombia in February 2026. Beyond that they make no tour claim. Carnahan told Golf Digest the company does not pay players: “They buy it because they want it, not because we’re paying them to carry it.”
