If you want to play a city course, call the Chicago area. A firm there books reservations on courses like Randolph North, above.

rob o'dell / arizona daily star

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Complaints about outsourcing typically involve discontent over manufacturing jobs moving to countries such as China or India.

In Tucson, the complaints are about the city outsourcing its golf reservation system to a private company based in Illinois.

"We are losing jobs in Tucson," said Tucson golfer Richard A. Hitlaw. "To outsource to Chicago I thought was really ridiculous."

The city put a new reservation system in place three months ago to replace an automated system.

With the new system, golfers making reservations talk to a real person, but that person is working for a company near Chicago.

The new program immediately had problems: The system printed some golfers' Social Security numbers on their receipts because of a glitch in the system.

That was a "fiasco," said Mike Hayes, deputy parks director for golf operations, who added the problem was quickly fixed.

Hayes said the city switched programs because the system it had used was phased out when the company that made the program was acquired by another company. The city put the reservation system out to bid, and EZLinks Golf Inc. of Chicago won.

While there were other quirks to the system, such as problems converting golf points for freerounds and dispatchers in Chicago unfamiliar with particulars of Tucson's golf courses, Hayes said that all in all, the system has functioned well.

"It's just something different," Hayes said. "The first month we had a lot of kinks."

Still, Hayes said he felt people would prefer to speak to a real person rather than a computer.

Hitlaw disagreed, contending, "I like the old system better. It was a lot simpler."

He said he was also concerned about the cost of the new system versus the old one.

Hayes said the cost is actually lower because the city doesn't pay cash to EZLinks. Instead, the city gives the company a golf foursome tee time every day to auction off at its Web site, www.ezlinks.com.

While there is a monetary value the city gives up in decreased revenue from losing that foursome to EZLinks, Hayes said not having to pay cash to the vendor makes the system more workable for the city.

— Rob O'Dell