Life for rangers at Mill Creek Golf Club has become much safer. Nestled on the steering wheel of every cart at Mill Creek in Mebane is a small, electronic device that lets golfers know where they should be on the course. The Personal Ranger pace-of-play system has helped eliminate ranger/golfer confrontations and it has made a drastic impact on speeding up play. The Personal Ranger shows a group’s elapsed time and specifically where golfers should be, such as the 13th fairway. Rangers occasionally check the devices to make sure golfers are monitoring their pace of play. “We don’t have trouble getting rangers now,” Mill Creek head pro Ron Lambert said. “Before you’d get in a fight if you tried to speed somebody up. Now they know these guys are in control and it makes it easier.” In early February, Mill Creek became the third course in North Carolina to invest in the Personal Ranger. Lambert said a foursome is expected to complete 18 holes in 4½ hours, which includes a 10-minute break after nine holes. “We want to make sure people aren’t thinking we’re rushing them,” Lambert said. “When you have the information in front of you and you’re falling behind, you do pick it up on your own.” Mill Creek purchased 70 Personal Rangers, which cost $150 each. If a course wanted to stock its fleet of carts with a more advanced system, such as the Global Positioning System, it could cost more than $300,000. A GPS device gives golfers exact distances on holes and allows them to order meals before a round is complete. Lambert said too much information can be a bad thing.

“It’s awesome,” Lambert said of the Personal Ranger. “I’ve played with (the GPS) and it almost seems like it slows down play because there’s so much going on. One thing that’s killing the game is pace of play. “The expense of (the Personal Ranger) was justified because we were working really hard at improving the pace of play and had not had a lot of success. Personal contact is what makes it hard because people get embarrassed when you ask them to speed up.” Faster play equals more tee times, which translates into more money for a course. Lambert said golfers were hesitant to schedule tee times after 3 p.m. until the Personal Ranger system was installed. “Now we’re booked solid until 4 o’clock,” Lambert said. “It has definitely made a difference.” Quail Ridge Golf Course in Sanford and Legacy Golf Links in Aberdeen also use the Personal Ranger. The devise was invented by Chicago-based On-Course Technologies, which estimates the pace of play has improved by 15-20 minutes on average at courses employing the system. There are more than 35 courses in 14 states that have purchased Personal Rangers. “It’s attacking a major problem throughout the golf industry,” said Ari Edelman, who works for the public relations firm that represents On-Course Technologies. “It’s creating awareness where you’re your own marshall.” The Personal Ranger doesn’t eliminate ignorance, but it does greatly reduce it. Lambert said a few golfers have expressed displeasure about being on the clock at the golf course, but Lambert said 4½ hours is ample time to enjoy a round. “If there wasn’t a personal ranger, then a group that’s way behind would have irritated 80 people that day,” Lambert said. “Our policy is if they start to fall behind, we watch them and warn them. We give them a hole to pick up the pace. If not, we ask them to go where they’re supposed to be.”