Twenty-eight golfers at £45 each, and on the Monday before the day twelve of them still haven't paid. If you look after golf society bookings at your club, you know that week: the organiser rings to ask if the numbers can change, the kitchen wants a final count, and the deposit cheque from February is still the only money in the bank.
The fix is to take each golfer's entry fee when they sign up. Every name on the list has paid, the list is the catering count, and the pro shop works from it on the morning. Below is how that runs, and how to set the first one up before the society season fills your diary.
The day as it runs now
It starts with a phone call in January. A society secretary wants a Thursday in June for 28 players, bacon rolls before and two courses after. You pencil in the date, agree £45 a head and ask for a deposit. A cheque arrives a few weeks later, or a bank transfer with a reference nobody can match.
Then the organiser becomes the bank. They collect £45 from each of their golfers by transfer, in cash, or by promise. They keep the names in a spreadsheet and send you a version of it every few weeks, each one slightly different. You copy the latest into your own file for the kitchen.
The week before, the chasing starts. The organiser chases the golfers and you chase the organiser. Somebody drops out on the Wednesday and wants their money back from a pot that hasn't reached you yet.
On the morning, 25 turn up. The pro shop ticks names off a printout, two of the golfers in the car park aren't on it, and someone has to settle the balance with the organiser after the meal, when everyone's in a good mood and nobody wants to talk about the £135 for the three who didn't come.
Take the entry when they register
The same day runs differently when each golfer registers and pays for their own place. In Tuvabook, a society day is an event in your club's app. The organiser tells their golfers where to find it, each golfer registers in the app and pays the entry fee, and Stripe pays the money into your club's own account.
That changes the week before the day:
- One entry list. Every name on it has paid, so there's no spreadsheet to reconcile and no version three.
- The organiser holds no cash. They aren't sitting on £1,260 of other people's money, and nobody owes them a transfer.
- The kitchen's number comes from the same list. Count the entries and you have your covers.
- A no-show has already paid. The three who don't come have settled their £45, and the club's takings stand.
Golfers never pay a booking fee, so the £45 you set is the £45 they pay. The money is in before the first minibus arrives.
Set the day up in one form
Open Events in the dashboard and click New event.
- Give it a name, a start date and time, and the entry fee. Choose Society day as the event type.
- Add the location, a description golfers will see, and a max places limit if you've agreed a number with the society.
- In Organiser and logistics, add the organiser's name, email and phone.
- Add the dress code, the catering notes, and the prize fund if there is one. Golfers see all of these, so the conversation about denim in the clubhouse happens once, in writing.
- Put anything staff-only in Internal notes: the room you've set aside, the minibus due at 8:15, the fact that the organiser prefers a call to an email. Golfers never see these.
- Decide on Visible to all golfers. Switched on, the event shows in the app for every registered golfer. Left off, it stays out of the public list for a more private day.
- Click Create event.
The event starts as a draft, so you can fill it in during January and come back to it. Once you're ready for the society to sign up, click Publish to open registrations.
The organiser sends one message
The organiser's job shrinks to one message to their society: download the club's app, find the day, register and pay. Your club's app is on iOS and Android, with your name on it.
From there the organiser sees what every golfer sees: the date, the entry fee, the description, the dress code, the catering notes, the prize fund and their own name as the contact. They don't keep a list of who's paid, because paying is how a golfer gets on the list.
If they want a number, they ring you and you open the event. The entry list shows who's in against the places limit. Once the places are full, click Close entries. If the society finds two more players in May, click Reopen entries and they can sign up again.
If you co-ordinate a dozen visiting societies a season, it's the same routine for each of them: one form, one message, one list.
The pro shop works from the same list on the morning
The society day sits on the tee sheet alongside every other booking and event, so whoever opens the pro shop at 7:00 sees it in the day's view before anyone arrives.
With the society's starting times on the tee sheet, open Tee sheet and choose Arrivals. Search by the lead golfer or a guest, and expand a booking to check players in one at a time, or click Check in group when a whole fourball walks in together. If someone ticks the wrong name, Undo puts it right. A group that's all here shows All checked in.
Check-in records who has arrived. It doesn't take money, and on a society day it doesn't need to, because every golfer paid when they registered. Nobody has to ask for £45 at the counter at 7:45 with a queue behind them.
After the day, click Mark complete. The entry money shows under Competitions and events in your revenue report, so the treasurer sees the society's takings next to tee times and lessons without a separate spreadsheet.
Send us next season's society calendar
January is when the phone rings with next season's dates. Send us your society calendar for 2027, with the dates, the societies and the entry fee each one pays, and we'll set the first society day up with you so it's open for registrations before the organiser has rung round.
If you're not on Tuvabook yet, it's £149 a month for a single club, with no setup fee, month to month. We move your tee sheet, prices and members across for you, and you're live in three weeks, which lands you well before the first society of the year. Book a demo and we'll show you a society day in an app with your club's name on it, or read what the £149 a month covers. For visitors and members booking their own tee times, we've written up how to take payment for tee times online without upsetting members, and if you're weighing systems more widely, our guide to golf club booking software for UK clubs sets out what to look for.
Common questions
How does a golf society book and pay for a day?
Each golfer registers for the society day in your club's app and pays their own entry fee there, so the list and the money arrive together. Set the day up as an event, not a competition: events are for group days with no scoring at your end, and competitions are for scored play with a leaderboard and results.
Do society golfers need the club's app to book?
They sign up for the day in your club's app on iOS or Android, which takes a minute, and the entry fee you set is all they pay: golfers never pay a booking fee.
What can the society's golfers see?
The date, the entry fee, the description, the organiser, the dress code, the catering notes and the prize fund. Anything you put in internal notes stays with your staff.
Where does the entry money go?
Into your club's own account. Stripe pays it in and we never hold your funds. Your revenue report shows event entry money under Competitions and events.