Plastic Cards for Golf Clubs

Which plastic cards does a golf club need?

Membership cards and bag tags are where most clubs start, usually ordered together from the same membership list. Cards and bag tags are 86 x 54mm, the size of a bank card, and are printed in full colour on both sides.

What should a golf club membership card show?

Pro shops and starters check a member’s playing category before releasing a tee time, and the bar checks it before charging member prices. So the category has to be easy to see. The front carries the club name and crest, the member’s name, their membership number, their category, such as seven-day, five-day, country, intermediate, junior or social, and the year. Where a club works to a central handicap record, the handicap or CDH number usually sits beside the membership number.

1. The category, in a block of colour the pro shop can see from across the counter.
2. The member’s name, embossed, so it stands up from the card like a credit card: an option, not a requirement.
3. The membership number, which ties the card to your membership register.
4. The year, in a colour you change every season.

Hollowmere Golf Club is made up for this page. The barcode is an illustration and won’t scan.

A card in a golf bag lives outdoors for four or five hours at a time, in the same pocket as the tees and a wet glove. The print is sealed under the surface of the 760 micron PVC card, so it can’t scratch or wear off, and rain does it no harm. The golf club membership card examples show designs other clubs have used.

How does a membership card connect to the till?

Golf club tills and EPOS systems identify a member in one of three ways. Ask your system supplier which one yours uses, and the format it expects, before you order: the card has to match the system, not the other way round.

If you aren’t sure what your RFID reader uses, send us its make and model or a photo of an existing card, and we can usually tell you. Our guide to plastic cards and EPOS systems covers what to ask your till supplier.

Golf bag tags

Bag tags carry the member’s name, number, category and season, printed from the same membership list as the cards. Many clubs change the tag colour each season, so starters and marshals can see current members’ bags at a glance.

• The same size as the card, 86 x 54mm, in the same rigid plastic, so they don’t go soft in the rain.
• A hole punched where you want it. We supply the tags; the straps or fittings come from you.
• Next season, send the new list. We keep your artwork on file, so a reorder is the updated spreadsheet and a new colour.
• Societies order them too, from 25 tags, each with a player’s name.

More on sizes and layouts: golf bag tags.

Locker key tags

A locker key that goes missing comes back if the tag on it says where it belongs. A numbered plastic tag with the club’s name and a line asking the finder to hand it in at the pro shop does that job.

• Key fob size is 54 x 29mm with a 4mm hole, and we can supply metal split rings with the order.
• Full size is 86 x 54mm with a 5mm hole, if you want room for your opening hours or a replacement charge.
• Numbers to match your lockers, including split ranges, such as 1 to 120 in one changing room and 201 to 260 in the other.
• Lost tags can be reprinted with the same numbers, but the minimum order still applies, so order a few spares of the most-used numbers with the first run.

Key fob tags start at £98.00 +vat for 25. See locker key tags for more.

Visitors, societies and competitions

Clubs that welcome reciprocal play often order visitor or guest cards alongside the membership cards, in the same design. Running them in the same order is cheaper than ordering them separately. For visitors who pay a green fee on the day, a numbered, reusable visitor pass handed out at the pro shop and handed back after the round tells the course staff who is out there. Give visitors, society players and guests a colour each.

For an open, a pro-am or a hospitality day, event passes at 70 x 100mm show access at a glance: one colour for players, one for caddies, one for hospitality guests, with a number on every pass. They’re punched for a lanyard, and we also sell lanyards.

Pro shop gift cards

A pro shop gift card can buy a named thing, such as a lesson with the professional or a round for two, or an amount of money to spend in the shop. If your till has a gift card feature, the balance is held on the till against a barcode on the card. If it doesn’t, staff write the amount on a write-on panel when the card is sold and record the card’s printed number.

Our gift card printing guide covers the four ways to set gift cards up, and gift card VAT and expiry rules covers how to treat them in your accounts.

Premium cards for a top membership tier

Clubs often want the top tier, or honorary members, to carry a card that looks different from the rest. There are three ways to do it, and they can be combined.

A standard printed card, an embossed card and a metallic base card are three quite different prices, so ask us to quote for the ones you’re considering. See satin black and metallic cards, VIP cards, and how hot foil printing works.

When to order, and what it costs

Most golf clubs run a subscription year that renews in the new year or at the start of April, and cards need to reach members before the first competition of the season. Standard production is 7 working days from proof approval and payment, so allow time to finalise the membership list as well. If you’re short of time, an express service of 3 to 4 working days is available: ask us for cost and availability.

Full colour membership cards and bag tags start at £75.00 +vat for 25, falling to 24.5p a card for 1,000, and RFID cards start at £182.00 +vat for 25. Delivery within Great Britain is included. Barcodes, magnetic stripes, numbering and embossing are priced on your quote, and a colour version for each category costs nothing extra in printing when they’re all ordered as one job.

Not sure? Just askEmail us your category split, rough numbers and the finish you have in mind, and we’ll quote for the set, usually within about 10 minutes, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Our in-house design service can fit your crest and colours to the card for £29 +vat.