AndrewWoo:
I mainly play on mobile platforms, so it may be a bug there.
When I level up and earn the upgrade through playing, the level up animation shows and then I get the rental options.
If I'm playing the one-hole head to head matches (where you can do the sponsorships), and choose to watch a video after playing for additional XP, I won't get the rental options OR the level up animation.
I went into the pro shop to see if there was a free 2 hr rental on the newest level clubs, but no luck. This would be great to have fixed.
I had a very similar error when attempting to acquire the 2 hour rental where I leveled up and I received an error that I was unable to rent because I didn't meet the level requirement.
Following that, I went to the pro shop and attempted to purchase the same very club and I received the same error.
It wasn't until I played another round that it actually registered that I was at that level.
Edit/Update: I tried another method when I leveled up to see if I could avoid the error. When I'm close to leveling up, I avoid playing multiplayer sponsor games and stick to more of a single player game mode. It seems to have worked so far.
I worked with customer service on the issue and the outcome is basically this: if it does happen they say to contact them right away and let them know you were unable to rent the club. Don't go rent it yourself and don't go buy it, but be sure you let them know the issue. Once you reach out to them and let them know, they can make the club available for you to rent. At that time, if you want to purchase the club after the rental period is over, you then have the option to buy it just as you would if you had rented it following leveling up.
It makes me wonder if the multiplayer game mode runs on a different server than where the main accounts are stored, so it likely doesn't sync up until certain actions are performed, which cannot happen while you are in the rental screen. Which makes sense as after I performed an action outside of multiplayer and obtained XP, I was then able to acquire the club. I don't know that to be 100% accurate, but it's the only theory I could come up with and it seems logical, even if it's not correct. :-D