Patent ID: 8581727

Claim:
A system for alerting a golfer when one or more golf clubs are misplaced from a group of golf clubs comprising: a) a peripheral unit associated with each golf club of the group of golf clubs having a limited range and operative to transmit signals and detect signals throughout the limited range and a memory operative to store a unique identifier, wherein each peripheral unit associated with a golf club transmits a unique identifier; b) a base unit having a limited range and operative to transmit signals and detect signals from each peripheral unit throughout the limited range, a memory operative to store one or more unique identifiers transmitted by the one or more peripheral units, and a processor operative to perform periodic inventories of the group of golf clubs, wherein a golf club is identified as absent from the group of golf clubs when the peripheral unit of the golf club is outside the limited range and thus its associated unique identifier is not received by the base unit, the processor further operative to compare the most recent inventory with the previous inventory to determine which golf clubs have been recently removed from the group of golf clubs or returned to the group of golf clubs, initiate a removal timer when a golf club is removed from the group of golf clubs, initiate a return timer when a golf club is returned to the group of golf clubs, and determine an absent golf club to be misplaced if and when the removal timer and the return timer have expired; and c) an alarm operative to alert the golfer when a golf club of the group of golf clubs is determined to be misplaced.