Encouraging Friendly Competition through Disc Golf Bag Tags

Bag tags are a wonderful way to encourage friendly competition on a disc golf course, all the while creating revenue for your club. Courses typically put in a small investment to purchase a determined amount of bag tags, and then sell them to players for $20-25. The revenue created from the bag tags helps with course finances or growing the sport in a local community. While the money raised typically goes towards course upgrades, the spirit of bag tags fosters a friendly, competitive environment for players to challenge one another throughout the season.

Numbered bag tags should be visibly clipped onto bags, encouraging friendly competition through spontaneous challenges.

While the number of bag tags at a local course is determined by how many the disc golf club purchases, a fair number is usually 25 tags. When you originally purchase a bag tag, you get the number given to you — let’s say for this example you are #15. Now the main rule of bag tags is pretty simple: you can challenge any bag tag holder at any time. The purpose of bag tags — besides encouraging friendly competition and creating revenue for your club — is to obtain a higher number bag tag throughout the season, ultimately ending the year with #1.

Bag tags rules are generally the same from course to course, but the common rules are:

1.) The higher number bag tag challenges the lower number bag tag.

2.) The challenged player must give the challenger multiple times to defend their bag tag, or they must forfeit it to the higher number. If the challenger can’t make it, the challenge is void.

3.) The challenged player picks the course, tees and format to defend their bag tag.

4.) All challenges must be accepted.

5.) Bag tags must be displayed at all times.

Disc golf bag tag leagues are a great way to raise funds for your course and win some end of the year prizes as well!

Bag tags come in all shapes and sizes, so have fun with the design of your tags. Some courses offer different shapes for different numbers, but other courses have 1 thru 10 in gold, while 11 and up are the stock colors — nothing too fancy, but still more incentive to get that higher number! While the majority of players at your course may not participate in bag tags, it is something that every club should look into. The presence of bag tags helps establish friendships and create new groups of disc golfers — a stark contrast to the same foursome playing by themselves every round. It also gives a sense of “tournament atmosphere” as you are constantly on the lookout for a higher number, or in defense of your tag.

Pricing for bag tags varies in terms of complexity and quantity purchased, but a fair number for you to wrap your mind around is $5 per tag. Disc golf clubs can easily sell tags for $20-25, leaving a nice source of revenue creation if enough players participate. Bag tag challenges typically run during a pre-determined period of time — say March thru October — but it’s really up to each course and how they choose to lay out the format. As some matches get a little intense, players are reminded to ad hear to the code of conduct synonymous with spirit of competition. These tags are a terrific way of not only creating friendly competition, but introducing you new layouts of courses you may not know, or creating friendships with players whom you may have never met.