I am taking my son today for a round of golf and a course that has all the extras. Last time I played there they have a young kid meet you in the parking lot and load up your cart and then when you return he or another will wipe off all your clubs and put everything back in your vehicle.
Seems like last time I gave then a $5 tip, is this ok or should it be more or less??
I wouldnt tip anything at all. DOnt let em touch your clubs before your round, and dont let em try to clean them after ( which is useless with the little wett rag they use)
Posts: 390 | Location: joliet il usa | Registered: July 17, 2004
Wow. I'm shocked. How much do you spend on a cigar? $20? $25? Maybe less? And on a round of golf at a decent course...$50? $200? And you're wondering what to tip?
OVER-tip. No. WAY, WAY, WAY overtip. These guys make absolutely nothing...unless they're a head pro at a cush course and have a piece of the action at the pro shop where brisk business is done...or make a load on lessons. Usually, these courses are in nice areas... Where do think these guys make the money to be at your beckoned call, arriving at 6 a.m. rain or shine so that they can carry your clubs out of your car while you go in and have a bloody mary...they take your shoes, you grab a few handfuls of tees and ball markers...clip your Romeo y Julieta Churchill and congratulate yourself on the free time you have for a golf outing? Tips.
So you go to a restaurant. What do you tip the waiter? 15%? 10%? What time does he or she show up? Do they carry your clubs? Is their work at all related to the tip amount? Or is that just automatic?
Tip the starter; tip the pro; tip the caddie; tip the cart guy...tip EVERYBODY! You can afford it. Don't be so stingy.
TSF and cash...I bet you guys make LOTS of friends on the golf course. Do you even ever bother to pay your bets? Probably not!
If someone who is hired as an apprentice who doesn't even make minimum wage is nice enough to hustle to and from your car shlepping your bag and shoes and other equipment back and forth, and does wipe down your clubs so that they're clean for the next use, you SHOULD overtip. And you must be some sort of hack that a wet rag isn't sufficient to clean your clubs...!
Wow...these responses are quite amazing.
___________________ Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER (not Ann)! VIVE CPD! Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go...(Oscar Wilde)
Posts: 10327 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
Originally posted by TSF: Seems a tad generous. Look at it this way:
A busy course will have maybe 6 tee times per hour lets say from 8:00 to 2:00 - 6 hours with 2 carts per tee time.
If he got a $5 from every cart he would make $360 a day.
But, then again, your generous tip is only a buck or two away from an average tip. That's not going to kill you I am sure.
You make it seem as if 1 guy attends to every single player. Get real! If there are 5 of these kids running around busting their hump to enhance the experience of the round of golf so you don't have to touch your clubs unless you're playing, even at $360 a day for 3 days a week, 3 weeks a month, 7 months a year, divided by 5 or more given the fact that tips are shared among all attendants, that isn't exactly a whole lot of money.
___________________ Santa Cabilla...patron saint of Quericæstan. VIVE COULTER (not Ann)! VIVE CPD! Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go...(Oscar Wilde)
Posts: 10327 | Location: Avenida de las Nalgas, Quericæstan | Registered: May 02, 2002
$5 for the cart boy (assuming he takes the clubs out of your trunk and puts them on the cart), $5 for the club cleaner. If you have a caddy, at least $25 on top of the caddy fee. If getting on is difficult, tip the starter as well. $20 will get his attention.
If yer lookng to go cheap, play at your muni (where tipping the starter is even more necessary).
The risk of kicking butt is you get some crap on your shoe
Originally posted by ryj7x47: TSF and cash...I bet you guys make LOTS of friends on the golf course. Do you even ever bother to pay your bets? Probably not!
If you think my suggesting that a $3-$4 tip is average makes me the type of person that would not honor a bet, fine. It seems to me to be a bit of a stretch of logic however.
I found this excerpt from the linked article..
...Ask Garry Lang, a retired plastics salesman who now cleans and racks clubs at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., for $2.20 an hour, golf privileges and tips. "I'd say 60 percent of the people give us a buck," says Lang. "About 15 percent are generous; maybe they give $2 to $5. The rest give nothing." Shockingly, Lang reports that he and his crew would be thrilled if they averaged $1 a cart. In a five-hour shift, his team services 240 carts and shares $150 in tips "on a good day."..
I worked at a great course in the NW burbs of Chicago (very prestigous course) for about 12 years as a Cart Attendant, Valet, and Caddy. I would suggest a few bucks for sure. Most of the time depending on the course the employee's are paid minimum wage or a few bucks more. The perks are the free golf and tips. Lots of times people threw us golf balls, cigars, and a few extra brews. :-)
Depending on the way the operation is ran, throwing a 5 spot is always appreciated. If we made 2 bucks from everyone we had a fun and good day. We were required to clean peoples clubs and help them get them out of their car. We did not expect tips and we always said thanks.
So a few bucks here and there if you can afford it goes a long way. Not everyone can hand out 10's or more.
Matt
"My mind works like lightning, one brilliant flash and its gone!" Unknown
Originally posted by ryj7x47: Wow. I'm shocked. How much do you spend on a cigar? $20? $25? Maybe less? And on a round of golf at a decent course...$50? $200? And you're wondering what to tip?
OVER-tip. No. WAY, WAY, WAY overtip. These guys make absolutely nothing...unless they're a head pro at a cush course and have a piece of the action at the pro shop where brisk business is done...or make a load on lessons. Usually, these courses are in nice areas... Where do think these guys make the money to be at your beckoned call, arriving at 6 a.m. rain or shine so that they can carry your clubs out of your car while you go in and have a bloody mary...they take your shoes, you grab a few handfuls of tees and ball markers...clip your Romeo y Julieta Churchill and congratulate yourself on the free time you have for a golf outing? Tips.
So you go to a restaurant. What do you tip the waiter? 15%? 10%? What time does he or she show up? Do they carry your clubs? Is their work at all related to the tip amount? Or is that just automatic?
Tip the starter; tip the pro; tip the caddie; tip the cart guy...tip EVERYBODY! You can afford it. Don't be so stingy.
TSF and cash...I bet you guys make LOTS of friends on the golf course. Do you even ever bother to pay your bets? Probably not!
If someone who is hired as an apprentice who doesn't even make minimum wage is nice enough to hustle to and from your car shlepping your bag and shoes and other equipment back and forth, and does wipe down your clubs so that they're clean for the next use, you SHOULD overtip. And you must be some sort of hack that a wet rag isn't sufficient to clean your clubs...!
Wow...these responses are quite amazing.
I think you misunderstood, no caddie's just someone meets you at the car and loads your clubs onto a cart.
I gave that guy $5, this time when we finished our round we just drove the cart back to the car, they did not have anyone there doing that this time plus they were very busy.
When I was a kid back in the 60's, I caddied on weekends and during the summer. My average tip for caaddying back then was $4, some gave me less, some more. So, for a kid who "valets" your clubs today, $5 is very reasonable. Regardless of what anyone says, tip whatever you feel like tipping, if you didn't mind giving that kid $5, then great, I'm sure he appreciated your generosity.
Posts: 570 | Location: Tiger Country USA | Registered: August 06, 2008
My first semester of college was spent caddying for tips, and I honestly have to say that doing that has given me a greater understanding of the importance of tipping. I got paid $3.00/hr (we had to claim tips, so after tax we only got 3/hr regardless of how much actual tip money we made) and in an 8 hour shift maybe made $20-30, MAYBE. We also had "tip-share" which meant that no matter how many tips I got I still had to split them with all the cart washers and the tee-boys and everyone else that wasn't carrying clubs in the heat. The benefits of working there were free lunch, free golf, and sometimes some of the chummier old rich folks would tip one of us with a cigar (usually a cheaper Ashton or a Rocky Patel, although I did recieve quite a few A. Fuente Cuban Coronas, mmmm). However, proper etiquette (IMHO) is to tip between $3-5 bucks. Drop em a little cash or a cigar, just something to let them know you appreciate them.
