Club glossary
What Is a Point of Sale System at a Club?
The register software and hardware a club rings sales on — golf shop, grill, bar and halfway house — charging house accounts or taking card and cash.
A point of sale (POS) system is the register a club rings sales on — the software, the terminals and the card readers in the golf shop, the grill, the bar, the dining room and the halfway house. At a private club the POS does more than take payments: its main job is charging members' house accounts accurately, with an itemized chit behind every charge.
What a club POS needs to do
- Charge to member. Look up a member by name or number, check their charging privileges, and post the sale to their account.
- Handle every payer. Members charge; guests, visitors and outside event clients pay by card, and cash where the club accepts it.
- Run tabs and tables. Open checks at the bar, seat tables in the dining room, split and transfer checks, and course a meal.
- Send orders to the kitchen. Route items to the kitchen display or ticket printer for each station.
- Apply club pricing. Member and non-member prices, service charges, and different terms for a banquet than for the grill.
- Track retail. Ring golf shop merchandise against inventory, with sizes and colors.
- Keep working offline. Golf course buildings often have weak connectivity, and a register that stops taking orders when the network drops is not usable.
- Post to accounting. Every sale should reach member receivables and the general ledger without re-keying.
Club POS vs. restaurant POS
A restaurant POS is built around card payments and walk-in guests. A club POS is built around the member account: charging privileges, household sub-accounts, food & beverage minimums and a monthly statement. A restaurant system connected to club billing through an export usually leaves the office re-keying or reconciling charges at month-end.
Example
At 12:40 on a Saturday a member orders lunch for four in the grill. The server opens the table on a tablet, sends the order to the kitchen, adds a round of drinks from the bar, and closes the check to the member's account. The member approves the chit, adds a tip, and the charge appears on their statement — counted toward their F&B minimum — without anyone in the office touching it.
Why it matters at a private club
The POS is where most member charges begin. If it is slow, members wait; if it is wrong, statements are wrong; if it goes down, outlets stop selling. It is also where the club's pricing rules and outlet reporting live.
Related terms
For why connectivity matters at a club, see offline POS for clubs.
In Bubs: one register runs the golf shop, grill, bar and halfway house, charges member accounts with an itemized chit, takes card and cash from guests, and keeps ringing sales when the connection drops. See point of sale.