This feature is available for the following products:
Note: If you are a Golf Genius TM Club Premium customer and would like this feature enabled, contact your Golf Genius Account Manager.
Some associations need to verify a player's eligibility, documents, or board approval before a membership takes effect. Pending registration adds a review step to membership program signups. When it is enabled for a program, a player who signs up has their card held (authorized) but not charged, and they are placed on a Pending Members list instead of becoming a member right away.
A Manager then reviews the list and decides how to handle each player:
Confirm and charge: The card is charged, and the player becomes a member.
Confirm without charge: The player becomes a member now, and the fee stays due to be collected later.
Cancel: The card hold is released, and nothing is charged.
In this article, we will discuss how to enable pending registration, what players see when they sign up, how to review and confirm players, and what happens when an authorization expires or a payment fails.
Before Enabling Pending Registration
Keep the following in mind before enabling pending registration for a program:
Payment gateway: Pending registration requires a Stripe payment gateway.
Renewals: A program can use Renewals or pending registration, but not both. While one option is turned on, the other is disabled.
All applicants are reviewed: When pending registration is enabled, every player who signs up for the program goes through review.
Enabling Pending Registration
Pending registration is turned on for each program individually and is off by default. To enable pending registration, follow these directions:
From the Customer Center, navigate to Directories & Registration > Membership Programs.
Click the "Actions" dropdown for the program and select "Edit," or click "New Membership Program" to create a program. For details on creating a membership program, Click Here.
Check the "Enable pending registration" box (as shown below).
Click "Save."
Note: Pending registration cannot be turned off while the program has players on the Pending tab.
Once pending registration is enabled, the program's row on the Membership Programs page shows a Pending Members count, and the "Actions" dropdown includes a "Pending Members" option (as shown below).
How Players Sign Up for a Pending Program
Players sign up for a pending program the same way they sign up for any membership program. The program is marked "Pending" on the registration page. When the player checks out:
Their card is held for the full amount (fee plus tax), but it is not charged.
They see a message that their registration is pending review, and their receipt shows the "Submitted for Approval" status.
They receive a pending registration email, and the program's Managers receive a new pending applicant email.
They are placed on the program's Pending tab. They are not a member yet.
Players should also be aware of the following:
Duplicate applications: A player who is already pending for a program sees "Already in pending list" and cannot apply again. A player who was canceled or whose authorization expired can apply again.
Checking out with other programs: A pending program and a regular program can be checked out together only when the payment is split into separate transactions. Otherwise, the player is asked to check them out separately.
Credit Balance: "Use Credit Balance" is disabled at checkout for pending programs. Any Credit Balance is applied when a Manager confirms the player. For details, see the Credit Balance section below.
Reviewing Pending Members
To review players waiting for approval, follow these directions:
From the Customer Center, navigate to Directories & Registration > Membership Programs.
Click the "Actions" dropdown for the program and select "Pending Members."
The Pending Members screen has three tabs (as shown below):
Pending: Players waiting for review, with their name, email, ID, handicap, amount, sign-up date, and when their authorization expires.
Confirmed: Players who have been confirmed, with the Amount Paid and any Amount Due.
Canceled: Players who were canceled, whose authorization expired, or who were unsubscribed.
Use the search box to find a specific player on any tab.
Confirming or Canceling Players
You can confirm or cancel one player or several players at once. To confirm or cancel players, follow these directions:
On the Pending tab, select the player(s).
Select an option from the "Move selected golfers to" dropdown:
Confirm and charge: Any Credit Balance is applied first, and the rest is charged to the card. The player becomes an active member, and their membership starts at the time of approval. The player moves to the Confirmed tab with the amount under Amount Paid and receives an approved email showing the amount charged.
Confirm without charge: The player becomes an active member immediately, and nothing is charged. The player moves to the Confirmed tab with the full fee under Amount Due and receives an approved email saying their card has not been charged.
Cancel: The card hold is released, and nothing is charged. The player moves to the Canceled tab and receives a declined email.
Click "Go."
A Moving golfers dialog shows the progress of each player and then the result. Each player is processed separately, so if one fails, the others still go through. When everything succeeds, the dialog shows "All charges were successful" (for charge actions) or "All golfers were moved." When some players fail, it shows how many charges failed or how many players could not be moved.
While a player is being processed, their row shows "Processing…," and the screen updates when it finishes.
Note: Free ($0) programs have nothing to charge, so confirming a player simply makes them a member.
Collecting the Fee After Confirming Without Charge
When a player is confirmed without charge, the fee stays as Amount Due on the Confirmed tab. You can collect it later in one of two ways:
Charge credit card: Charges the card that was held at signup. This option is only available while the original authorization is still valid. Any Credit Balance is applied first.
Pay: Charges a new card for the full amount due. Credit Balance is not used.
Editing the Amount or Card
While a fee is still unpaid, you can update the following for a player:
Edit Amount: Change the amount due. The amount cannot be higher than the amount that was authorized at signup.
Edit card: Update the card on file, for example, after a declined charge.
Moving Players Back to Pending
Confirmed players can be moved back to the Pending tab. This removes their membership, and any amount they have already paid stays as it is. Canceled players cannot be moved back to Pending. To rejoin, they must apply again.
Authorization Expiry
A card hold cannot be kept indefinitely, so each authorization is valid for 6 days from signup. When an authorization expires:
The Authorization column shows "Authorization expired," and the player is skipped if you try to confirm them, with the message "The authorization has expired. Ask the member to enroll again."
Until the daily expiry check runs, you can use "Edit card" to place a new hold (which restarts the 6 days) and then confirm the player, or cancel the player.
Every morning, the system cancels players whose authorization has expired, releases the hold, and sends the player an expired email. These players must apply again.
Note: Players who signed up for free ($0) programs never expire.
When a Payment Fails
If a payment cannot be completed, the system handles it as follows:
Card declined: The player stays on the Pending tab, and no membership is created. Any Credit Balance that was applied is returned. A warning icon appears on the player's Amount Due with the message "The card could not be charged. Ask the member to update their card." Use "Edit card" to update the card, which clears the warning, and then confirm the player again. The player does not receive an email about the decline. The same warning appears on the Confirmed tab if "Charge credit card" fails.
Failure after the card was charged: If something fails after the card is charged, such as creating the membership, the charge is refunded automatically and any credit is returned, so a player is never charged without becoming a member.
Row stuck in "Processing…": The row is released automatically after one hour.
Credit Balance
Players can use their Credit Balance toward a pending program, but the credit is applied when a Manager confirms them, not at signup. The player's balance at the time of confirmation is used. If the credit covers the whole fee, nothing is charged, and the card hold is released. Canceling a player or an expired authorization does not affect their Credit Balance.
For complete details on how Credit Balance is applied to pending membership programs, Click Here.
Emails Sent During Pending Registration
Emails are sent to players and Managers at each stage of the pending registration process.
Emails Sent to Players
Pending: Sent when the player signs up.
Approved: Sent when the player is confirmed. It shows the amount charged, or says their card has not been charged if they were confirmed without charge.
Declined: Sent when the player is canceled.
Expired: Sent when the player's authorization expires.
Unsubscribed: Sent when a Manager unsubscribes the player after they were confirmed.
Emails Sent to Managers
New pending applicant: Sent to the program's Managers when a player signs up.
Additional Details
Transaction History: Pending entries appear as "Card Authorization" in a separate table in the Transaction History, outside the totals. A receipt can be printed only after the fee is charged.
Roster Activity Log: Entries are recorded when a player joins the pending list, is confirmed, is confirmed without charge, is declined, is moved back to Pending, has their fee changed, or expires.
Unsubscribing: When you unsubscribe a confirmed member, they move to the Canceled tab and receive an unsubscribed email.
Archived programs: The Pending Members screen is read-only, and no actions or edits are available.
PGA of America billing: For PGA of America sections, the billing record is created when the fee is actually charged, not while the card is only being held. For players confirmed without charge, it is created when the fee is collected later.