Club glossary
What Is a Chit at a Country Club?
The itemized slip a member signs to charge food, drinks or merchandise to their house account instead of paying — the record behind each statement line.
A chit is the itemized slip a member signs to charge a purchase to their house account instead of paying at the time. At a private club, a member finishing lunch in the grill room, buying a sleeve of balls in the golf shop or picking up a drink at the halfway house typically signs a chit rather than handing over a card. The word comes from the Hindi chitthi, a note, and entered English in the late 18th century.
What a chit shows
A chit records the transaction in enough detail that the member can recognize it on their statement weeks later:
- Club and outlet — grill, bar, golf shop, halfway house
- Date, time and check number
- Member name and member number
- Each item and its price
- Subtotal, service charge if any, tax and tip
- The member's signature (or, on a digital chit, their approval)
- The server or cashier who rang it
How it works
The server rings the order on the point of sale and selects the member's account as the tender. The member reviews the chit, adds a tip if the club allows one, and signs. The charge posts to the member's account and appears on the monthly statement, and the chit is kept as the record supporting that line.
For decades chits were paper, filed by date in the accounting office. When a member questioned a charge, staff pulled the box and searched for the signature. Digital chits replace that search: the itemized chit is attached to the statement line itself, so the member can open it from their statement and see exactly what they ordered.
Why it matters at a private club
Chits are the backbone of the member charge experience. They let members use the club without carrying a wallet, and they give the club a signed record for every dollar on the statement. Where chits are hard to retrieve, disputes take longer to resolve and members lose confidence in their bill. Chit spend also counts toward any food & beverage minimum, so accurate categorization matters.
Related terms
For how clubs design and run chit programs, see the club chit system guide.
In Bubs: the register produces an itemized digital chit for every member charge, the member can approve a charge on their phone from the club app, and every chit opens from its line on the member's statement. See point of sale and member billing.