A protective golf bag system includes a golf bag a removable protective cover. The cover is supported by a protector fitted into a top opening of the bag. The protector includes a divider with a plurality of arms spanning across the sides of the bag and adapted to attach to the sides. These arms form areas for inserting of a number of golf clubs. At the bottom of the bag is a plate to which is releasably anchored an extensible tube with a top portion and a bottom portion centrally positioned in the golf bag with a handle extending through a center of the divider. A button on the handle releases a connecting member at each of the top and bottom of the extensible tube that fixes the relative position of the top and bottom portions of the extensible tube.