On Saturday nights in the summer, why is it that I can never get into the system until 20 minutes after the hour?

There are 16 phone lines and 25 Internet connections, which go into the system in the evenings. There are 5,o00 Patron members who have the opportunity to make tee times seven days in advance.

RECOMMENDATION: If your weekend schedule allows you to be flexible, call the day closer to the day you want to play. Players are asked to alter their tee times 48 hours in advance of their tee times. As other players plans change and they cancel their tee times, you can take advantage of those recently opened times.

I requested an 8:30 a.m. tee time; the system gave me 7:32 a.m. Why can't the system give me what I ask for?

The telephone system is specifically programmed to search backwards and forward one hour from the original time requested and then to search forward until a tee time can be offered. Without this feature, you would miss getting a tee time that was close, but a little earlier than what was requested.

In the summertime, I got into the system at 9:04 p.m. and requested St. Andrews for a weekday morning at 7:30 a.m., I got 10:30 a.m. Is there something wrong with your system?

On the telephone system, the average length of the call into TTRS is 1 min., 20 seconds. (The fastest you can push all the buttons and reserve a time is 40 seconds, if you follow all the prompts and listen to the entire message, it's 2 minutes and 35 seconds.) The average Internet connection takes approximately 65 seconds (depending on your Internet Service Provider). With 16 incoming lines and 25 Internet nodes, by the time this caller connects with the system, more than 100 have already had their tee time requests confirmed. There are seven available tee times each hour at each course. The first selection by players is normally St. Andrews, followed by South, North and then Westlinks.

I'm calling, trying to get a tee time at 9 p.m. You are closed. When I have problems who can I call for help?

There are troubleshooting tips on the information line prompt on the TTRS line, 913/341-8100. In addition, the Overland Park Golf Club, 913/897-3809, is open until dark, and the St. Andrews Golf Club, 913/897-3804, is open until 10 p.m. during the golf season. Either of these locations will be glad to help you with specific problems.

The same people get the good tee times week after week. Is the system rigged?

The system is not rigged, nor do some people or groups get preferential treatment. We invite anyone to review our tee sheets for accuracy and integrity.

The people who get the same times each week work at it. For example, every Saturday evening at 9 p.m. the five players in a group call and all five of them get a tee time for the next Saturday morning. Later in the week, they compare the times, choose the best, and cancel four of the times. That group has four more chances of getting a better tee time than you do.

If you have questions, comments or concerns, and not just about TTRS, let us know by e-mailing Sandy Queen, manager of golf course operations, at sandy.queen@opkansas.org, or call 913/897-3805.