Membership cards for bowling clubs, minus the reprint.

What is a digital bowling club membership card?

A digital bowling club membership card is a pass in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet that shows a member's name, membership type and number, with a barcode the club can scan. It suits a lawn bowls club (the local bowlo) with a social membership, a pennant squad and a bar, and it suits a ten-pin centre running leagues or a frequent-bowler scheme. Members add it from a link or QR code with no app involved.

How it works for a bowling club

• Issue: create a membership template for each type you run, such as playing member, social member and junior. Put the signup QR code on the bar, at the green gate and in the newsletter, so people add the pass while they are already at the club. Existing members can be issued passes in bulk through the REST API (Growth and above).
• Check-in: at the bar or on the green, staff open the Scan page and scan the pass or search by name or phone. For a ten-pin centre, a points card works as a simple visit counter: add one point per game or session and the player sees the total on the pass.
• Update: renewals are the main job. Move the expiry date when a member renews, or set the status to expired when they do not. The change reaches the pass without a replacement card in the post.
• Push: tell installed passes about a green closure, a rained-off roster, twilight bowls or a presentation night. Messages go only to members who have installed the pass.

Wallet pass, app or plastic card?

Many bowling clubs run on a volunteer committee, which makes the plastic card cycle expensive in time: designing, printing, handing out, replacing. A club app needs someone to maintain it and members to install it. A wallet pass is designed once in a browser, issued by link and kept up to date from the dashboard. It does not run your rosters or take fees, so keep those where they are. For the wider picture, see replacing plastic membership cards.

If the club also holds social events or fundraisers, the events page covers passes for one-off days, and clubs and associations covers the rollout for any member body.

A first month at the club

1. Week one: build the playing, social and junior cards and add a test pass to your own phone.
2. Week two: show the pass to the committee and the bar staff, and scan it a few times so everyone has seen the Scan page.
3. Week three: put the QR code on the bar and the green gate, and announce it in the newsletter.
4. Week four: send the first message, such as the twilight roster, and see how many members have installed the pass in the dashboard.

Keep a small stock of plastic cards for the members who prefer one. Over a season, most clubs find that the number of cards they need to print falls without anyone being forced off them.