GOLFERS at the Royal Jersey Golf Club are shortly be the first in the Island to use new Global Positioning Systems satellite technology.

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrew’s, in Scotland, sanctioned the use of distance-measuring devices, including GPS-based systems and laser rangefinders, late in September and the Royal Jersey committee gave it the thumbs-up for use on their course just this week.

Called the Caddy, the device is designed to give golfers distances to the front, middle and back of the greens and hazards at each hole.

And it’s so simple to use – you turn it on, select the course you are playing and press start all before you get to the first tee.

Club professional David Morgan is shortly to launch the new GolfPlus Ranger System at Royal Jersey.

Morgan said: ‘It’s an excellent device and I’m sure it is going to be popular.

I’m confident it will help speed the game up and improve golfers’ scores by a couple of shots a round.

‘It’s extremely easy to use, you just turn it on and attach it to your golf bag.

Our course has been mapped out to the GPS Satellite system; there are 16 satellite receivers and our reception is good, with around seven or eight being picked up regularly.

‘The Caddy is the next step on from our 150-yard markers on the course and yardage charts.

It will certainly speed the game up as players and caddies in future will not have to pace out yardage.

‘Basically, it tells you where you are standing throughout your round, there is no advantage on anything else and golfers still have to decide what club to use and take into consideration the wind factor and gradients.’ Jersey based Seniors Tour professional Tommy Horton said: ‘Laser GPS is a thing of the future and if you go to swish exclusive courses like the Sandy Lane course in Barbados they are already on the golf trolleys when you hire them.

‘They are not on the tours yet but they will be next year.

They are accurate to a yard in every thousand so you can rely on them.

‘Wherever you are on the course it will tell you.

It is certainly going to save a lot of time for golfers when they go off the fairways, it’s a case of wheeling the trolley to where the ball is and it will tell you.

‘Stepping out yardage will disappear in the long run, yes they will save time, they are accurate and as the Americans say it’s a win, win, situation so you can’t lose! ‘It’s not the golf of 30 to 40 years ago because then the skill was judging how far you were away and you would do that with your eyes and the feeling you had.

GPS is the next step forward in golf technology.’ La Moye GC are aware of the device but to date it has not been discussed by their committee.

The Jersey Golf Union will be discussing the issue at it’s next meeting.