Southport Croquet Club Use Technology to Save Time & Attract Volunteers

If you're on a club committee, you already know the problems. The treasurer spends half their time chasing lawn fees and doing banking. And every year it gets harder to find anyone willing to take on these jobs because, honestly, they're tedious.

Southport Croquet Club got fed up with it. They started using an online booking system and a Square card reader for payments to help reduce workload. Nothing fancy.

Expecting Pushback, Finding Relief

The committee expected pushback. Croquet clubs aren't known for early adopters. They figured members would complain, refuse to use the new systems, maybe even leave.

What the committee didn't expect was how much easier their own jobs became. The treasurer isn't counting coins anymore. Bookings come through the system instead of the phone. People actually want to volunteer for these roles now because the work isn't miserable.

"If committee jobs are awful, you can't fill them. Make the jobs reasonable and people will say yes."

The Three-Test Rule

Square readers are about $60. Plenty of booking tools are free. The cost isn't the barrier. The barrier is getting a committee to agree to try something new.

Southport got past that, and it's made a difference. Their treasurer plays croquet now instead of doing admin. Their committee positions get filled. It's simple, but it works.