Drive, Chip and Putt Qualifying: 2026-27 Rules and Status

This is what the organizer's own pages said on October 11, 2026.

• Registration: closed. The organizer's registration page reads “Registration is currently closed.” It gives no reopening date.
• Cycle finishing now: 2026-27. Its ten Regional Qualifiers are dated September 12 to October 11, 2026. Each Regional division winner advances to the National Finals on April 4, 2027.
• Next cycle: not announced. The organizer's home page, registration page, rules page and FAQ gave no registration opening date, no age-determination date and no qualifier dates for a cycle after 2026-27. The rules page still carried the rules for the April 4, 2027 National Finals.
• Where it will appear. The registration page tells families to “monitor your email and drivechipandputt.com to receive updates regarding registration and upcoming qualifying events”. The age date and any rule change will be on the Rules and Regulations page.

For the 2026-27 cycle, the organizer announced on January 27, 2026 that registration was open, with Local Qualifiers starting on May 2 at 353 sites. That is a past fact about that cycle. The organizer has not said the next cycle will follow the same dates, so do not plan around it.

A cycle is played across two calendar years, which is where the confusion starts. The 2026-27 cycle, as the organizer announced and listed it:

• Local Qualifiers: May 2 to August 2026, at 353 sites.
• Subregional Qualifiers: July and August 2026.
• Regional Qualifiers: September 12 to October 11, 2026, at ten sites.
• National Finals: Sunday, April 4, 2027, at Augusta National Golf Club.

The organizer's site lists this cycle under the heading “2027 Qualifying Events”, and the first events on that list are Local Qualifiers dated May 2, 2026. So “2027 qualifying” can mean two different things: the cycle that ends in April 2027, which is closed to new entries, or the Local Qualifiers a family hopes to enter during 2027, which belong to a cycle the organizer has not announced.

Under the rules the National Finals field is the Regional champions, and a place at Subregional or Regional comes only from advancing. A player who was not in a 2026 Local Qualifier has no route into the April 4, 2027 National Finals.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt, Registration Now Open for Drive, Chip and Putt Qualifiers (January 27, 2026); 2026-27 Regional Qualifying; Rules and Regulations, Entries 4 and Schedule of Competition 1 to 6.

Drive, Chip and Putt is a free skills competition. It tests driving, chipping and putting rather than a round of golf. The organizer describes it as a joint initiative of the Masters Tournament, the United States Golf Association and The PGA of America.

The 2026-27 cycle uses four age bands for boys and four for girls: 7 to 9, 10 to 11, 12 to 13, and 14 to 15. Division is set by the player's age on April 4, 2027, the date of the National Finals. A player who is 6 may enter if the player turns 7 on or before that date, and a 15-year-old who turns 16 on or before that date is not eligible. The date for the next cycle is not published.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt Rules and Regulations, Eligibility 1 to 3.

The age divisions guide works through the April 4, 2027 date and the age-six exception in full.

These are the entry rules for the 2026-27 cycle, whose registration is now closed. Recheck them when the organizer publishes the next cycle.

• A parent or guardian completes the entry online.
• There is no charge to enter.
• A player may enter one Local Qualifier. Competing in more than one means automatic disqualification.
• Entries are taken first come, first served, and the organizer keeps no wait list for a full Local Qualifier.
• Entry closes at 4 p.m. EDT five days before that Local Qualifier.
• Onsite entry is not accepted.
• To change the site or date, or to withdraw, the guardian uses the account on drivechipandputt.com. A player who is not withdrawn before 11:59 p.m. EDT the day before the competition is marked “Did Not Show” and is ineligible until the next qualifying season.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt Rules and Regulations, Eligibility 5 and Entries 1 to 10; Frequently Asked Questions.

If this is a first competitive day, the first golf tournament checklist covers general preparation. Our guide to a Local Qualifier day covers tee times, what to bring and the rules a parent meets on site.

1. Local: up to three advance in each division, and the allocation may vary.
2. Subregional: the top two advance.
3. Regional: the champion advances.
4. National Finals.

Scores restart at every stage. Local advancement depends on participation and the number of events, so treat three as a ceiling rather than a fixed number.

The rules give the timing only in general terms: Local Qualifying is “generally conducted throughout May, June and July”, Subregional “throughout July and August”, Regional “throughout September and October”, and the National Finals on the Sunday before the Masters Tournament. Those are not dates for the next cycle.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt Rules and Regulations, Schedule of Competition and the advancement provisions.

At Local, Subregional and Regional each shot is worth up to 25 points, for a maximum of 225. At the National Finals each skill ranks the ten finalists in a division from 10 points down to 1, and a player earns an extra half point for each shot completed in 40 seconds or less.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt Rules and Regulations, Local, Subregional, & Regional Scoring; National Finals Scoring.

A player may enter one Local Qualifier, so the choice is a logistics decision for the family:

• The date, and whether it clashes with school.
• The distance and the travel burden of getting there.
• Whether registration is still open at that site.
• That entry closes at 4 p.m. EDT five days before that Local Qualifier.
• Where it leads. The Subregional and Regional sites are pre-determined by the Local site, and a player who advances must compete at the assigned location. The organizer's FAQ says a family that wants a different Subregional has to choose its Local site accordingly before competing.

Source: Drive, Chip and Putt Rules and Regulations, Entries 4 and 5 and Schedule of Competition 1; Frequently Asked Questions.

These rules establish eligibility, entry, scoring and advancement. They do not establish ranking credit, recruiting value, or developmental outcomes.