MARK WAITE / PVT Don Phinney looks up the information on the monitor in the golf cart while Dennis Archer hits his approach shot to the green on the 18th hole at Willow Creek golf course. Advertisement

Dennis Archer didn't have to search for a marker to tell him the yardage to the green, on his final approach shot on the 18th hole at Willow Creek golf course.

From Las Vegas, Archer confidently grabbed his six iron, after noticing the monitor, hanging in front of the driver's side of the golf cart, read '153 yards' to the green.

Willow Creek owners AMI Management LLC have made an ordinary game of golf high tech, installing a Global Positioning System on cart monitors in late September to help players do things like judge their location. It also allows the pro shop to keep an eye on their progress as well.

The readout on the screen gives the golfer not only the distance to the center of the green from each location, but also shows the layout of the hole, the par and handicap.

By pressing another button, golfers can request a new cart, report a lost or found golf club or request a ranger.

"Most of the high end country clubs and golf courses have this. We're trying to improve the conditions of the golf course and the players experience," Willow Creek General Manager Mike McNeely said.

The time of day is projected on the screen along with the pace of the round of golf. When golfers reach the ninth hole, it asks whether they want to order food from the grill.

"We can program it for traffic control if we don't want people on the fairways," McNeely said. "If you're in an area where you're not supposed to be, your cart will shut off."

Golfers will have a warning if they drive into an area where, for example, wildflowers have been planted. An alarm will sound, giving them 30 seconds to leave.

Willow Creek employee Connie Leist, in the pro shop, was watching a monitor which showed the location of different golfers on different holes of the course.

If play is getting slow, the golfer's location pops up in a different color, she said. That isn't usually a problem at Willow Creek, where there hasn't been a backlog of golfers. Leist said business is picking up with the return of the snowbirds and the increased costs of annual memberships at Mountain Falls Golf Club.

"It's a security and safety thing. If someone has a heart attack they can punch 9-1-1," McNeely said.

The pro shop can even send out a warning to golfers if bad weather is approaching Pahrump, Leist said.

Golfers can punch in their scores for each hole on the monitor. McNeely said that would help in the event of a tournament that has many players. All the scores would be instantly recorded at the clubhouse.

The GPS monitors also save the cost of maintaining the markers showing the distance to the green, McNeely said.

AMI plans to make more improvements to the GPS devices in the future, he said. Soon the GPS monitor will be able to tell golfers if the pin is in the front of the green, in the back or to the side.

"The new owners are dedicated to the integrity of the golf course and making improvements. They're spending money on the course which prior management didn't," McNeely said. AMI Management LLC took over Willow Creek last May.