How do you prefer to tip?

[Kyle Harris]

John,

I was a bag room attendant for 2 years, and a caddiemaster for another two.

I was a waste of money, and felt useless.

All those tasks are really doing nothing for the experience. Do clubs REALLY NEED bag rooms? I NEVER would store my bag because I know what happens in bag rooms.

[Kalen Braley]

JKM,

Can't speak to club rooms, but the club room in the back of my FJ works just fine, although they do get a little jostled when I'm going off-roading.  

As for Home Depot and other retail stores I've also offered tips on occasion and been refused as its against thier policy.  I figure a few dollar bills won't be much good to them if they are soon out of a job...  I do agree that thier policies should change to allow them to take tips because this is where I often get the best service.

[Kalen Braley]

All those tasks are really doing nothing for the experience. Do clubs REALLY NEED bag rooms? I NEVER would store my bag because I know what happens in bag rooms.

See Kyle, there you go again...you can't just say something like that and not elaborate!!   

[TX Golf]

There is also a difference between tipping the bag boy who knows your name, your wife's name, where your clubs are in the bag room, can ask you how you are hitting your new Callaway irons, and can give you a nice greeting. The burger flipper at MDs doesn't ever interact with the customer.

[Matt OBrien]

I was a bag room attendant also and I think it is horrible when a member drops his clubs and says "Clean these SON" and walks away. At that point i put them away dirtier then when he dropped them off. People these days are so cheap when it comes to tipping. If your a member at a country club I dont think its too much to ask when it comes to giving a kid 5 bucks. That kid is working tryin to make a living the same way everyone else is. On the other hand I hate when the caddy master gets the tips and hands the bag off to the bag room to clean and doesnt split tips. At that point the caddy master is useless and a jerkoff. I think bag rooms are a good thing to have for the golfer that doesnt play any other course but I dont think they need to be as big and elaborate as they are these days.

[TX Golf]

When I am 70 years old and hopefully a member of a club there is no way in hell I was to be loading and unloading my clubs from my car every time I go to play. I'll leave them in the bag room. I work as a bag boy a few days a week and know what happens in bag rooms. Yes clubs get tossed around a little, but it is never the clubs of guys who leave a 20 for me or give me a little Christmas present even though there is a no tip policy.

[Matt OBrien]

I do agree that thier policies should change to allow them to take tips because this is where I often get the best service.

I think you hit the nail on the head. If i knew that the harder I worked the more tips I would make I would be hustling like crazy to do the job. If I knew that no matter how hard I worked I wouldnt get tipped I would be the laziest SOB out there. I will admit that on a few occasions I knew I wasnt getting a tip so i hid in the back of the bag room when someone came. I wouldnt do that now as i realize its immature but I did that a few times. I think knowing that you get better tips for better service makes people work harder.

[Kyle Harris]

When I am 70 years old and hopefully a member of a club there is no way in hell I was to be loading and unloading my clubs from my car every time I go to play. I'll leave them in the bag room. I work as a bag boy a few days a week and know what happens in bag rooms. Yes clubs get tossed around a little, but it is never the clubs of guys who leave a 20 for me or give me a little Christmas present even though there is a no tip policy.

So, if you received no tips - you're getting paid by the club to do your job in a half-assed manner?

[Matt OBrien]

Kyle,
Put it this way. everyday you went out there to cut greens,spray, whatever the job may be. IF you were told that if you do a great job you would get a tip or bonus at the end of the year. Would you not work a little harder and try and go above and beyond to make sure you got that tip?
Same applies here. If you hustle and do a goood job you expect a tip. You dont get one and your upset and the next time theres no incenteive to work hard or hustle.

I think the same rule applies to those who get work bonuses every year. You meet the quota or whatever it may be and they turn around and dont give you your bonus. How would you feel?  I know this is a larger scale but its the same principle

[TX Golf]

No.... I do my job in a manner that I should and is in my job description. What I am getting at is that when there are members that take special care of you, you take special care of them. Its not like I am throwing members' clubs around, but I make sure the members that have always been nice to me have their clubs sparkling clean, and up front as soon as they ask. I still take care of the other members in a very professional manner. Some just have priority over others.

Also.... having worked for three years and not ever having received a raise has me a touch perturbed... but that is just me. In a business where new people are hired on a weekly basis and have no idea as to who the members are, I feel like I offer a better product than the newbies and should be payed for it. Just my opinion.

[Chip Gaskins]

better answer to at least a few of these situations is to take what Alistair Tait wrote to heart a few days ago...

1) Don't have a bag drop.....park in the lot, open the trunk of your car, pick up bag, and WALK with it to the clubhouse.

2) Have a simple bucket of water on the range with a brush in it.  Clean your own clubs if you want to, if you don't, then don't worry about having to tip for something you didn't want in the first place

[Kyle Harris]

Kyle,
Put it this way. everyday you went out there to cut greens,spray, whatever the job may be. IF you were told that if you do a great job you would get a tip or bonus at the end of the year. Would you not work a little harder and try and go above and beyond to make sure you got that tip?
Same applies here. If you hustle and do a goood job you expect a tip. You dont get one and your upset and the next time theres no incenteive to work hard or hustle.

I think the same rule applies to those who get work bonuses every year. You meet the quota or whatever it may be and they turn around and dont give you your bonus. How would you feel?  I know this is a larger scale but its the same principle

Not quite Matt.

Here's why: if I DIDN'T work to my fullest or didn't put in that effort - guess what, the golf course would suffer. And the golf course is the whole reason people are coming to the place anyway. I'm not scrubbing clubs or making sure bags are on the right cart, I'm dealing with equipment and chemicals that are both hazardous and take skill to operate.

The fact is, there is a disproportionate amount of money going to a service which adds little to the overall golf experience. Assistant Superintendents who work 50-60 hours per week in the peak season and make 35,000/year do much more for the golf course than any bag room attendant and MOST caddies.

That's under $10.00/Hour when factoring for overtime, by the way.

[Tom Walsh]

this is where I worked as a teenager and in to college. Sometimes the ladies would give me a quarter, the men a dollar folded when we shook hands. Most did not. I don't hold it against them. I have fond memories of the ones who would, however.

[Kalen Braley]

I think the real issue is starting to bubble to the top.... and that is expectations.

My first job in the real world was my junior year of high school working as a janitor for a small warehouse.  I emptied garbage cans, swept floors, cleaned windows and toilets, and did every other low man on the pole job.  Did I ever once expect a tip, even though I was single-handley responsible for making everyones life better with a clean and safe work premises? No. Did I have some dastardly and dirty tasks?  Hell yes....but I worked my butt off and did every last thing I was told...all for minimum wage.

The difference is I had no expectations or sense of entitlement for above and beyond the compensation I received in the form of my weekly paycheck.  At the end of the day, if I didn't feel like the pay matched what was required for the job, I could always just quit and work elsewhere.

This seems like such a simple concept to me and I don't understand why bag room boys feel like they deserved tips for simply doing their jobs in an efficient manner.

[TX Golf]

I don't feel like I deserve a tip one bit.... I have worked for three years no and very very rarely ever get them. I do feel like I should have received a raise, but that is a different issue.

While I don't expect a tip, when I do receive a tip from someone I make sure to go above and beyond every time I see them in the future. This is obviously a different situation than the public/resort course where you give the bag boy money and never see them again.

Also, the people who occasionally do give me a tip are the people that I prioritize anyways because they are the ones who treat me well and actually show a genuine interest in me. Its more the fact that they are nice people than the fact that they also happened to give me a tip.

[John Mayhugh]

A one of our esteemed employes once remarked, "The Members break every rule in in the book, except the NO TIPPING RULE."

bOB

Is that mispelling/bad grammur virus catching?   

[Matt OBrien]

Ok so for all of you that leave your clubs at the bag room at your country clubs. When you drop them off after a round do you expect them to be cleaned? If you expect them to be cleaned do u leave a tip? If you just drop them off to be stored then you dont have to tip but if you expect them to be cleaneds then you should tip. Thats my theory.

[Kyle Harris]

So, for all you minimum wage bag attendants out there...

...how many of those tips do you claim on your 1040A?

[TX Golf]

I actually claim all of them...... as I want to make sure that I can contribute the full amount into my Roth IRA..

[Mark Chaplin]

I agree with Sean the UK way is best! Pay your staff fair wages and expect good performance. My club has a Christmas fund that members can pay into, other than that I often buy the server in the halfway hut a "drink". As I say we pay good wages.

I have experienced good and bad service the world over, only in the odd place in the US have I experienced "false" service with a smile. Maybe the Brit accent puts servers off thinking we tip badly.

[Bob_Huntley]

A one of our esteemed employes once remarked, "The Members break every rule in in the book, except the NO TIPPING RULE."

bOB

Is that mispelling/bad grammur virus catching?   

John,

It shoor is.


Bob

[J_ Crisham]

I have no problem tipping my caddie generously for a job well done. My gripe at public courses is the guy waiting off the 18th green with his wet rag to clean your clubs. At KP this year at Pasa, this occurred and I was tempted to ask the young man not to touch either my clubs or my cart partners. By paying them I feel as though I am encouraging a practice I don't believe in. As an aside at public courses I generally have a wet towel to keep my clubs clean thru the entire round. Just a personal thing that gets under my skin.                       Jack

[Sean_A]

I agree with Sean the UK way is best! Pay your staff fair wages and expect good performance. My club has a Christmas fund that members can pay into, other than that I often buy the server in the halfway hut a "drink". As I say we pay good wages.

I have experienced good and bad service the world over, only in the odd place in the US have I experienced "false" service with a smile. Maybe the Brit accent puts servers off thinking we tip badly.

I don't know about these folks Chappers.  They remind me of the car salesman who asks how much do I want to spend?  My only response to a knucklehead question like that is NOTHING.  Where do salesmen learn this crap and why do folks worry about how they give their money away?  Its like a bad scene in Gulliver's Travels!

Ciao

[Tom Birkert]

I always find it a nightmare visiting the US. I'm never sure who to tip, or how much to tip, and I'm very wary of the stereotype of the Brit who is a cheap tipper...

I've played at courses which have a no tipping policy and have followed that. I've had caddies and have either asked my host what is the done thing or made sure I added on 20%.

The one thing I don't like in the US is the people who want to take my clubs from the car - I can do that myself and I want to check I have everything I want in my bag which I can't do if you grab it straight away.

Finally, my club here has a no tipping policy except for the changing room attendant who polishes shoes and he gets between £2 and £5 a go from me. We have a bag store but I, and pretty much everyone else, take their own clubs into the club store and place them in your reserved place. We are also encouraged to contribute to a staff fund at Xmas, an idea I like.

[tlavin]

As a person whose job once upon a time depended upon tips, I tip early and I tip often.  In terms of golf, I tip pretty much everybody at the club, with the exception of the manager and the golf pro, who I try to give ballgame tickets to.  Most of my leisure time is spent around the game of golf and I always try to give back to the people who make my time enjoyable.  In fact, my habits gave me the idea to name my two favorite waitresses at Olympia, "Tip" and "Overtip". 

All in good fun, gentlemen.