There are two types of club defined by the British Orienteering (BOF). Open membership clubs and Closed membership clubs.

Open clubs tend to be the largest and most popular clubs due to the lack of restriction on membership. Usually, an open club serves the orienteering needs of a particular geographic community (e.g. Bristol Orienteering Klub). Orienteers are restricted to membership of one open club only. However if their circumstances permit,they are also able to join a closed membership club. For example a student may belong to an open club and their University club simultaneously.

The following open membership clubs exist in the SWOA region: