As a golfer, I have total sympathy for your situation. I'm leery of airlines getting my luggage to me (AA lost checked bags when I flew to New Orleans for my niece's graduation from Tulane and Southwest once managed not to deliver my clubs on a non-stop MCO-ORF flight for which I had arrived two hours early), so I generally pack a small bag, such as a Red Oxx Extra Small Aviator that is 34 linear inches, with several changes of clothes, a small bag of toiletries, a golf glove or two, any range finders or golf GPS device I'm carrying, and a change of shoes.
Although my second set of shoes is not a set of golf shoes, they're generally good walking shoes and can be used if my golf shoes don't get to me. My current favorite is a set of waterproof Rockports with grippy soles. With the current generation of Ecco, Adidas, Ashworth, and FootJoy shoes looking so much like street shoes, I've never been asked to change my shoes at any golf course, including at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland when I played there a couple of months ago.
This isn't ideal, and because passengers can't take golf clubs on planes, you still have to make arrangements to rent clubs and buy balls, but it tends to reduce the hassle, especially in having to make an unplanned shopping trip to buy clothes, shoes, and a piece of luggage to carry your newly purchased belongings. I have not used this company,
http://www.golfgearhire.com/, but it has come highly recommended, and, especially for a short trip, might be useful. Not as good as having your own clubs, but at least you could play with the same set of golf clubs for the entire trip, instead of switching from Titleist to Callaway to Nike over the course of three days.