Since I play at courses that don't have bag drops I was wondering if when you do encounter one of those do you tip the person who grabs your bag and puts it on the cart? What if you're walking? How much? What about after the round--do you tip the person again? What if it's a different person than you encountered initially at the bag drop? What if the guy at the end of the round runs a rag over 3 of your clubs and expects a tip? I want to tip the people correctly. Thanks.

Personally for me if the kid is nice and greets you properly at the bag drop I will throw him a couple of bucks. After the round my clubs are always spotless because I clean them on my own during the round, but typically someone will jump on them to wipe them down. If the kid takes his time and cleans them properly, even though like I said they're already clean... I will throw him a $5 for the effort. Gotta remember that even though the job isn't tough, basically those kids make next to nothing and work for tips, let alone $5 to them is much more appreciated than it is to me.

I feel its like anything else, it depends on the service you receive if I drop my bag and the kid is pleasant takes my bags to the clubhouse or cart, Ill give a buck or two. You cannot tip everyone you come into contact with at the course, bag drop, beverage cart, club cleaner etc.....at that point we can't afford to golf, rounds are not getting any cheaper. At my club I know the tips are pooled and then split up at the end of the day. I do not know if this includes the beverage cart or not.

I never tip the bag drop person, but will give a few bucks (never more than 5) to the guy who cleans the clubs after a round. Ideally, I carry a wet towel draped on an iron (or around a part of the golf cart) and wipe each club after a shot, then can just tell the guy not to worry about it after the round. They usually walk away asap.

I do the same thing, I wipe my clubs clean after every shot. Whenever I play at these types of GCs, I put on all my iron covers that I use only when I travel from the house to the golf course by the time we get on the 18th teebox ; want to make that clear as I don't want to turn this thread into an "iron covers good or bad?"
Anyway, when the bag boys by the 18th green sees all my clubs covered up, they leave them alone and it saves me the trouble of turning them away.

Maybe I'm just just not playing the right courses, but around here, you carry your own bag to the cart, and if your clubs are dirty when you are finished, you got some cleaning to do when you get home.

The only time I ever had my bag carried to the cart, and my clubs cleaned after a round, was at a corporate membership only club in Jersey.

This is typically found at private courses. Here in Nashville the only place I've experienced it is at Vanderbilt Legends Club (private) where they ALWAYS have a person at the bag drop and a person offering to clean your clubs.

My standard fee is a buck a bag.

I experience this at a lot of the higher end public courses in the Tampa Bay area... there is someone at bag drop to help you with your bag out of the trunk, loading them on a cart, and someone at the end to even run you to your car and help you put the clubs back in the trunk.

Others clubs just have these guys available when loading and returning your golf cart.