Sounds like your club is a bit on the disorganized side.

Which, all in all, is about normal. It's worth keeping in mind that, for the most part, this is an all-volunteer system, where people work as long as they feel like it, then drift off to do other things. It's not at all uncommon for clubs to go though cycles of organization.

For example, a club might have a dynamic, active, organized leader-type who whips the instruction program in to shape, sets guidlines like you describe, and really works hard to train students. 3 years later, they are a bit burned out, or move out of the area, but generally can't maintain the effort. It wouldn't surprise me if the club had a "beginners night" in the past, but doesn't now. The club is left with the rules for being "soloed", but the spark of organization has left the building, and for whatever reason no one else picks it up with the same energy. So things go to a more disorganized "call and make your own arragements" way of things. Maybe sometime in the future another "organizer" will come along and "fix it". Maybe that's you. .

Anyway, it does suck for a student to come in at that point, but don't take it too hard, and don't take it out on the club or it's current members. All small clubs/organizations live and die on a small core of dedicated individuals going the extra mile, but they universally can only do it for a limited period of time.