Drive, Chip and Putt vs. PGA Jr. League vs. U.S. Kids Golf

If you typed "Drive, Chip and Putt vs PGA Jr League", you may be trying to decide where to spend a season. That framing does not quite hold up, because Drive, Chip and Putt is not a season-long program in the first place. It is a single free skills day, drive, chip, and putt, repeated at each round of the qualifying ladder if your golfer keeps advancing, and nothing more. It does not occupy the same slot as a program that runs for a whole season.

The real season-long decision is between PGA Jr. League, U.S. Kids Golf, and First Tee, and our full comparison of those three sets out what each organizer publishes about format, ages, experience and fees, with the questions to ask the local program. This guide is about where Drive, Chip and Putt fits around that decision, not instead of it.

Drive, Chip and Putt is free to enter at every stage, from local qualifying through the National Finals. Its rules open it to boys and girls ages 7 to 15, in four age categories. Age is counted on the date of the National Finals, not on the day of the qualifier: a 6-year-old who turns 7 by then may enter qualifying, and a 15-year-old who turns 16 by then may not. Qualifying is scored as a skills contest, three drives, three chips, three putts, rather than a stroke-play round. It asks for no season-long enrollment and no team commitment. Advancing runs through a ladder from local qualifying up to the National Finals at Augusta National, covered in full in our Drive, Chip and Putt qualifying guide.

Because there is no entry fee and it asks for one day at a time, it can fit around whatever else your golfer is doing that year. Its rules do not exclude a player for being in another program. A player may enter only one local qualifier, and entry closes five days before it.

These three are ongoing programs, and they are built to teach different things:

• PGA Jr. League is team golf: a two-person scramble format across 9u, 13u, and 17u divisions, run as a season with an annual national membership plus a program fee set by the local PGA Coach. Its own explainer says no prior golf experience is required. Eligible 13u and 17u players can go on to its All-Star Season, covered in our PGA Jr. League All-Stars guide.
• U.S. Kids Golf is individual stroke play scaled to age, starting as young as 5, run as a Local Tour of six to eight one-day tournaments in a season. Its registration page lists a tour membership plus an entry fee for each tournament, and says both vary by Local Tour.
• First Tee is group golf lessons with a life skills curriculum, run by local chapters. Its programs page lists age groups from 7 to 9 through 14 and up, and its FAQ says ages 5 to 18, so ask the chapter. The national site lists no fee, and the FAQ says chapters offer full scholarships or reduced-fee programming for those who need it.

Our PGA Jr. League vs First Tee vs U.S. Kids Golf guide breaks each of these down in full, with a side-by-side table and the questions to put to each local program. It gives no prices, because the totals are set locally.

For the three ongoing programs the total is set locally, by the PGA Coach, the Local Tour or the chapter, so confirm the current price with the local program before enrolling.

If you are choosing a season-long first program, use the short answer table and the steps in our PGA Jr. League vs First Tee vs U.S. Kids Golf guide to match the format to what your family wants. Separately, and regardless of that choice, you can enter a Drive, Chip and Putt local qualifier: there is no entry fee, it asks for a single day, and it needs no ongoing enrollment.

Check the calendar before you plan around it. Drive, Chip and Putt's rules say local qualifiers are generally held in May, June and July. Its list of 2027 qualifying events is for the season that ends at the National Finals on April 4, 2027, and the local qualifiers we read on it were held in May 2026. When we checked on October 11, 2026, Closed was the only registration status that list offered, and every event we read on it was marked closed. The site gave no date for the next season's registration.

Nothing on the pages we read limits a golfer to one of these in the same year. For a young golfer just getting started, our Foundations stage guide covers what actually matters at this age, program logos aside.