Arizona Daily Star file photo

Other articles by Shelley Shelton:

Soda-can tabs add up for ailing kids Red Rock: bliss in the booniesRed Rock is growing up Community notes Caring for little ones is a big job Marana lauds two long-timers Budget gets council's OK, but not without some cuts Public is welcome here Town puts in place new ethics policy Community notes

Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Finance and Accounting
Charles E. Gillman Company
Accounting Specialist Administrative & Professional
Tucson Urban League
CEO/President Administrative & Professional
Jorgensen Brooks Group
Counselor Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps

If you use a city of Tucson resident identification card to make golf reservations at city courses, you might want to hold onto your receipt next time you pay for a round.

The golf department's new computer system prints golfers' account numbers on receipts now — and in some cases that number is the golfer's Social Security number.

That means potentially several thousand Tucson golfers need to head to their nearest municipal golf course to have a new card issued if they don't want their Social Security numbers printed on their golf receipts.

When city cardholders — about 25,000 currently in the database — registered with old software system that dated back to 1996, they were asked for a nine-digit number of their own choosing, or the system could assign a random number, said Steve Moors, golf operations superintendent.

A lot of people chose their Social Security numbers because they were easy to remember, he said. "Back in the late '90s, identity theft wasn't nearly the issue that it is now," he said.

The number never surfaced anywhere after a person registered and was used by golfers only when scheduling a tee time using an automated phone system, Moors said.

The new system, provided by Chicago-based EZLinks Golf Inc., was implemented Jan. 31 after a bid process at the end of 2007.

The system includes software that links with the cash registers and tracks inventory in the pro shops, as well as a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week live reservation center to replace an automated phone system.

When the department changed to the newer system at the end of January, nobody realized it would automatically print a person's account number on the slips, Moors said.

Initially, it appeared that EZLinks would be able to correct the issue, but it later became apparentthat it could not make the fix without a major programming change, he said.

The city pays EZLinks in tee times — two daily at each course — that the company then sells via a Web site.

Moors said he had no idea how many of the 25,000 records imported into the new database include a Social Security number, but said, "Shot in the dark, 10 to 20 percent of those golfers may have their Social Security number as their membership number."

One of those who still did on Wednesday morning was Rick Finch, who presented his resident card to play a round of golf at Silverbell Golf Course on the West Side.

The receipt Finch got back on Wednesday had his Social Security number as well as that of the person who was golfing with him that day. He had handed over both ID cards when he paid for the round.

He said a friend had mentioned to him that the receipts show your Social Security number now, and he said he's "not real happy about it," adding, "You want to be more careful with them (receipts) now."

Finch said he planned to get a new card after his golf round.

Paul Noonan, Silverbell head golf professional, explained to Finch about the new computer system and invited him to get a new card at the pro shop.

Most cards issued in the last five or six years don't have the Social Security number because people have become increasingly aware of identity theft, Noonan said.

In 2007, Arizona again ranked No. 1 in the nation for ID theft, with more than 8,000 complaints, according to a report released last week by the Federal Trade Commission.

Federal privacy laws govern when and how government agencies can ask for Social Security numbers, but since golfers volunteered their numbers, it's unclear whether those laws would apply.

Golfer Carl Christopherson elected to have a number randomly assigned when he registered for his card several years ago, he said before heading in to play at the Randolph Golf Complex Friday morning.

But he said he knew about the problem already from a friend who had discovered it on his own receipt. "A lot of people are really unhappy about it," Christopherson said.

Replacing the cards is something Tucson City Golf is happy to do, free of charge, said Moors. New cards normally cost $20, with a $10 annual renewal fee, while replacements for lost cards cost $10.

"We recognize that it's a bad situation that we're trying to make right for our golfers," he said.