The 2026/27 IJGT season begins on 26 September with a Par 3 pairs day in Dubai — here is how to prepare for it.
The 2026/27 Infinity Junior Golf Tour season begins on Saturday 26 September on the Par 3 course at Arabian Ranches Golf Club in Dubai. It is the first of seventeen fixtures that run through to late April, and it is deliberately the gentlest one on the calendar. If your golfer is new to tournament play — or if you have been meaning to enter for a season and never quite got round to it — this is the day designed for you.
A pairs day, not a points day
The opener is an IJGT Fun event rather than an Order of Merit counter, and it is played over a single round on the Par 3 course. That matters for how you approach it. Nothing your golfer shoots on 26 September will follow them into the season standings, and the fixture carries neither Emirates Golf Federation status nor World Amateur Golf Ranking recognition. The season-long points race starts a week later, on 3 October at Al Hamra Golf Club in Ras Al Khaimah.
Par 3 days are also the one format on the tour that is not entered golfer by golfer. Entry is per pair, and the tour bills it as a parent-and-player day: one flat fee covers the green fee for two people and a finger food buffet dinner afterwards. For a parent who has spent previous seasons watching from the path, it is a rare chance to be inside the ropes rather than beside them.
Which division your golfer plays in
The tour runs five age divisions — 7 & Under, 8–9, 10–11, 12–14 and 15–18 — and boys and girls are ranked separately in every one of them. The detail that catches families out at this particular fixture is the cut-off date. For events that are not WAGR-recognised, a golfer's division is set by their age on 1 October of the season, not by their age on the day they play. The opener falls five days before that date, so a golfer with a birthday in late September is already in the older division when they tee off. Check the date rather than the birthday cake.
At regular tour events the two youngest divisions play nine holes and everyone from 10–11 upwards plays eighteen, with entry fees priced accordingly — the nine-hole divisions pay less. Every event follows USGA rules with a ten-stroke maximum per hole, which keeps groups moving and keeps a difficult hole from ending a young golfer's day.
Joining the tour before you enter
Each golfer joins the tour with a one-time IJGT Lifetime Membership of USD 30, paid once from the parent dashboard. It includes the welcome goodie box, handed over at their first tournament, and it covers their entire first season. From the second season onwards, returning golfers pay a USD 25 season fee, which this year comes with the season goodie bag. No handicap is required to enter, and the tour is open to boys and girls from five to eighteen.
To get started, create a parent account, add your golfers, and enter them from the season calendar — you pay the entry fee right after entering. Event fees are shown on the calendar before anything is charged.
On the day
Pack clubs, balls, tees, a water bottle and sun protection, and dress for the course: collared shirt, tailored shorts or trousers, golf shoes. No denim, no trainers.
Caddie rules are worth reading in advance. Players aged 11 and under may have one caddie, and a parent is welcome to take the bag — the caddie must be 16 or over, must walk, and may mark and replace the ball. From age 12 there are no caddies at all. For golfers aged 10 and under, a parent, guardian or nominated adult must be at the venue for the whole event. Watch as much as you like from the paths, but do not offer advice during play: under the Rules of Golf, that penalises your own child.
Entries and full fixture details for the season are on the season calendar.
