What's the difference between the Membership Application/Renewal and "Create an Account" under the Member Login section in the left column?

A lot actually.

First, the Membership Application must be completed annually. It is the tool the Club uses to create it's membership list, keep track of dues and includes a liability waiver. The "Create an Account" is strictly a website function. It offers those that sign up for an account to directly submit articles to the website, view information that is in the "Members only" part of the website. It, also, automatically creates an email list that can be used to broadcast email messages to the membership.

Secondly, they represent entirely different functions within the website. Each is created by entirely separate programs and stored in different places on the site.The Membership Application/Renewal information is stored and encrypted in a different location of the website. The "Create an Account" of the Member Login, while secure, is not stored as a database.

Thirdly, the two programs do not "talk" to each other. Consequently, they don't share information.