do you tip for bag drop? do you tip for cleaning your clubs at the end of your round?

[WUTiger]

Overbuilding of fancy semi-privates and the Recession has pretty well squelched such things in our area.

You still have the bag drop and clubs and shoe cleaning at high-end private clubs, but the privates normally have a no-tipping policy..

At the semi-privates, they cut back the amenities like that, just as they have cut back food service to a snack bar. You can get the course caterers to fix a nice meal for an event, but day-to-day is sandwiches and bratwurst off the grill.

Bag drops are mainly used at scrambles, and normally the people handling the bags are volunteers who will also be playing in the tournament.

So in our area, not much of a chance to tip.

[saevel25]

Here's the thing. If they are washing my clubs to assume they would get a tip, that is a bad assumption. They should go into that line of work assuming tipping is just a perk, not a certainty. So any employee who gets upset about it, that is a them problem, not the tipper problem.

[flintcreek6412]

Since this ugly thread was revived by the drunken troll........

As many have said, almost all public and muni clubs don't have guys that do this service.

Almost every private club I play does have guys that do this but tipping is not allowed.

The only few places I've otherwise seen it used are destination resort type courses.  And almost every single time it's been a retired guy stalking you on the 18th.  He washes clubs while group putts out.  He kind of sneaks up while you are on the green and you don't even have a chance to say no.  I usually give him 2-3 bucks but it pisses me off because he does an awful job cleaning them.  A 45 second wipe down doesn't do squat.  IMO, either do a good job or don't do it at all.  I take pretty good divots and usually take a brush and bucket to my clubs otherwise you won't get them clean.  Now if they offer as we pull up in the cart and actually take the clubs out of the bag, dip in bucket, brush and dry I'll give you $5-10 for actually cleaning a club.  I figure $5-10 on a $100-250 green fee is about right.   But they might have to spend 3-4 minutes on that.

If it is a very nice course with good views we will have him take a group photo with our phones that gets him a $5 tip if he can frame it and not be shaking too bad....LOL.

[phan52]

I belong to a private club and the policy is that tipping is encouraged, commeasurate to the service you receive. Needless to say, the service is very good.

And I go to a lot of private clubs where there are no-tipping policies and, while the staff don't have their hand out, they will almost always take the discreet handshake.

[jsgolfer]

Where I play, they have a bag drop but I rarely use it, as I walk and the range is on the other side of the parking lot.  So I park and take my bag to the range and the walk over to the first tee.  After playing, when I'm walking, rarely does anyone come up and try to clean my clubs, I too carry a wet towel and clean my clubs through the round, so I don't need anyone to clean them.

However, in the infrequent times that I'm playing at a course where I will be riding, I usually tip $2 to load my bag and the same if someone gets to my bag to start cleaning before I have a chance to tell them not to do it.

I'm also with a couple others where I almost never have cash, so I try to remember to bring some ones with me if I'm playing somewhere else just in case.