Junior Disc Golf Tournaments: The 2026 Youth Operations Playbook

Junior disc golf is the pipeline for the next decade of the sport. Done right, a junior tournament is a great Saturday for families. Done wrong, it's a group chat apocalypse. Here's the 2026 playbook.

Age divisions by year of birth

Junior divisions are by age at the end of the year: U19, U15, U12, U10, U8. Publish the year-of-birth cutoff so parents know which division their kid belongs in before they register.

Parent-first registration

Parents register juniors, not the other way around. Collect junior PDGA number, parent name and cell, emergency contact, and photo consent in a single form.

Short tees by division

U19 plays Gold tees, U15 plays Blue or White, U12 plays Red or Kids tees, U8 plays in a modified format (9 holes, short tees, no penalty strokes). Publish the tee assignments in advance.

Parent SMS is mandatory

Parents don't check websites. Every round assignment, tee time, weather update, and finish notification goes by SMS. A text is 3 credits and a credit is a cent, so reaching all 40 junior families costs about $1.20 a message.

Payouts: merch only for juniors

PDGA rules require junior payouts to be merch-only (discs, bags, apparel, gift certificates). Never hand a junior cash. Your platform should generate the merch-voucher payout sheet automatically.

Safety and weather

Juniors come off the course at the first sign of lightning. Your weather-hold protocol should include an SMS to parents and a designated shelter location on the scorecard.

Why junior TDs use SignUpGo

SignUpGo handles PDGA integration, parent SMS, merch payouts, and photo consent in one system. SignUpGo itself is free on the Free plan; you pay a fee only on entry fees you collect, and nothing on free signups.