A golf club booking system requirements checklist is one page, written by the committee before anyone sits through a demo, that says what your club needs the software to do. Agree the list first, send the same page to every supplier, and you compare their answers against your club instead of against each other's sales pitch.
Without one, three demos in three weeks leave a committee comparing whatever each supplier chose to show. The captain remembers the app, the treasurer remembers the payouts page, and nobody can lay the three side by side. Twelve lines, agreed in one meeting, fix that.
Why write requirements before comparing booking systems?
Because the club should set the questions, and the supplier should answer them. The Golf Club Managers' Association says the same in its February 2024 guide to tee sheet software: "it is important to consider thoroughly what you want your system to do, in as much detail as possible, and then compare your options."
The same guide singles out one question every club should settle early: whether you want visitors to book tee times and pay online. That's a good example of a requirement. It's a decision about how your club runs, and once the committee has made it, every supplier either meets it or doesn't.
A written list also protects the decision later. When a member asks why the club chose the software it did, the secretary can point to the page the committee agreed and the answers each supplier gave.
Who should write the requirements list?
The secretary or club manager holds the pen, and each person who runs part of the club adds their lines. Ask each of them two questions: what do you do every week, and what goes wrong today?
- The pro shop. Phone and walk-in bookings, taking payment at the desk, checking golfers in on a busy Saturday.
- The captain or competition secretary. Entries, the draw, start sheets and results.
- The treasurer. Where online payments land, how takings reach the accounts, refunds.
- The membership secretary. Membership categories, what each one can book and when.
- The greens team, if you close for frost or course work. How golfers hear about a closure and what happens to their money.
An hour with each is enough. The secretary then turns their answers into one list, in plain sentences, with no supplier's name or feature name on it.
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What should a golf club booking system requirements checklist include?
These twelve lines cover the booking basics for a UK members' club. They work whatever software you end up choosing. Copy them, cross out what doesn't apply and add your own.
Requirements for [club name] ([number] courses), to be live by [date].
- Members book tee times online, on a phone or a computer.
- Members can book further ahead than visitors, and each membership category can have its own booking window.
- We can keep set times for members only, such as weekend mornings.
- Visitors book and pay online when they book.
- Online, phone and walk-in bookings all go on one tee sheet the moment they're made.
- The pro shop can book, move and cancel any golfer, and record a payment taken at the desk.
- Cancellations and refunds follow our cancellation rules without staff working them out by hand.
- Members enter competitions online, and the draw and results come from the same member list.
- Online payments land in the club's own account, and the treasurer can match each day's takings to the bank.
- The club owns its data, and can export members, bookings and payments at any time, including if we leave.
- The supplier moves our members, prices and future bookings across, and we check everything before going live.
- We know who to contact when something goes wrong on a Saturday morning, and how quickly they reply.
Add if your club offers it:
- Society days: organisers book and pay for the group online.
- Juniors: a junior green fee by day and time.
- Guests of members: members book a guest in with them.
- Lessons: golfers book the pro and pay when they book.
- A waiting list for full tee times, so a freed tee time goes to the next golfer in line.
- Course closures: golfers are told, and the club can refund the bookings affected.
- An accounts package: each day's takings reach it without re-keying.
- Competition entry limits that use each member's Handicap Index.
Keep each line to one requirement. "Members renew online and pay their subscription by Direct Debit" is two lines, and a supplier can meet one without the other.
How do you split must-haves from nice-to-haves?
Mark a line as a must-have only if the club can't run a normal Saturday without it, or the committee has already voted for it. Everything else is a nice-to-have.
Aim for five to eight must-haves. If every line is a must-have, the list stops helping, because every supplier will miss something and you'll be back to comparing sales pitches.
A simple rule works well:
- A supplier that misses a must-have is out, however good the rest looks.
- Nice-to-haves decide between the suppliers left.
- A must-have the supplier promises for later counts as missing until you can see it working.
Write the marks on the list before it goes to any supplier. If you mark lines after the demos, the supplier you liked best tends to get the most ticks.
How do you use the checklist with suppliers?
Send the same list to every supplier before you book a demo, and ask for a written answer to each line. Then use the demo to see the must-haves working, with your own club's examples.
A few habits make the answers easier to compare:
- Ask for yes, no or partly, with one sentence of explanation. A paragraph of marketing on line 7 is a partly.
- Bring a real Saturday. Ask the supplier to book a member's fourball at 08:00 with a guest, move it to 08:10 and cancel one golfer, on screen.
- Ask to see the pro shop view. The members' app is only half of it. The desk is where the club works all day.
- Score straight after each demo. Put each supplier's answers next to the list in a two-column table, line by line, while the demo is fresh.
If you'd like a shorter set of questions to send ahead of a demo, our guide to golf club booking software has six you can copy.
What should you leave off the list?
Leave off anything that isn't about how your club runs. Screen colours, menu layouts and the supplier's other customers are things to judge in the demo, and they make poor requirements because every supplier can claim them.
Also leave off features nobody at the club has asked for. A line goes on the list because someone in the pro shop, the office or the committee needs it. If you can't name who, cross it out. You can always add it to the nice-to-haves.
How does Tuvabook answer the checklist?
Here's where the main lines on the list live in Tuvabook.
| Requirement | In Tuvabook |
|---|---|
| Member booking windows | On each course's Settings tab, and on each membership category |
| Members-only times | Members' times on each course's Settings tab |
| Visitors pay online | Golfers pay when they book, into your club's own Stripe account |
| One tee sheet | Phone and walk-in bookings from Bookings › New booking, on the same tee sheet |
| Competitions | Entries, Draw, Scores and Results tabs on each competition |
| Takings to the bank | Each day's online takings post to Xero or Sage, if your club connects one |
| Your data | Export members and bookings any time, and take everything if you leave |
| Moving across | We import your members and set up your prices and tee sheet with you, and nothing goes live until you've seen it |
At the desk, staff choose Pay on arrival, Send payment link or Paid externally, and for a golfer who has already paid they record how: cash, the card machine, bank transfer or a member's account. We aim to have you live within three weeks of signing.
For the questions committees ask us most, from what changes for members to who owns the data, read our answers to 20 switching questions.
What happens after the committee chooses?
You give notice to your current supplier, ask for your exports and set the first Saturday members book on the new tee sheet. Our eight-week plan for changing your golf booking system counts back from that Saturday and covers what to ask your supplier for, bookings already made and telling members.
Keep the requirements list. Lines 10 and 11 become your checks during the move, and the whole list is the page you'll want the next time the committee reviews its software. More on moving across is in the switching guides, and how switching works shows what we do.
Common questions
What should be in a golf club booking system requirements list?
How members book, how visitors book and pay, how the pro shop takes phone and walk-in bookings, how competitions run, where the money goes and who owns the data. Write each as a plain sentence about your club and mark it as a must-have or a nice-to-have.
Who should write the requirements for new golf club software?
The secretary or club manager, with a line or two from the pro shop, the captain or competition secretary, the treasurer and the membership secretary. An hour with each is usually enough.
How many must-haves should the list have?
Aim for five to eight. Mark a line as a must-have only if the club can't run a normal Saturday without it, or the committee has already voted for it.
Should we send the requirements to suppliers before the demo?
Yes. Ask for a written answer to each line before the demo, then use the demo to see the must-haves working with your own club's examples.