At this time of year every golfer knows that their ball can disappear into a soggy plug even on the odd occasion it lands on the fairway. Not any longer, if a spin off from the US Star Wars weapons system is expanded.

In Australia, a golf club has fitted the Global Positioning System (GPS) to its buggies and golf balls in order to help players locate their wayward shots. Developed in the early 80s by the US Defence Department to track Soviet nuclear missiles and latterly used by airline pilots and sailors, the £25 billion system has now been applied to golf equipment for finding balls, telling players how far they are from the hole and what club to use.

The system works by interpreting signals from 24 satellites orbiting 15 miles above the earth. It is accurate to the nearest metre when calculating latitude and longitude and when fed into an aerial map of the course, hey presto, there's the ball.

The Hope Island Golf Complex, designed by former British Open winner Peter Thompson and situated on Queensland's Gold Coast in one of Australia's most exclusive resorts, has begun to use the buggies. And all because of Ronald Reagan paranoia.