A senior citizen is home safe after he went missing for more than six hours on a P.E.I. golf course Sunday evening.

The P.E.I. Ocean View Resort & Golf said it got a call at 4:30 p.m. from the golfer, who is in his 70s, saying he needed help.

Dallas Desjardins, vice-president of the resort, said the man was golfing on the course's twelfth hole alone when his ball went into the woods, but got turned around looking for it and couldn't his find way back to the green.

'He went dark'

He was able to call the course's pro shop on his cell phone, but then lost the signal.

"He went dark so to speak and they couldn't contact him any further. We just knew the woods he was located in, where the boundaries where and we just started looking," Desjardins said.

Staff did a quick search but couldn't find him. The man was able to make contact again around 5:30 p.m., which is when staff were able to tell him to stay in one location.

Search area more than 40 hectares

Over the next six hours, RCMP, Summerside Police, the fire department, and Ground Search and Rescue were called to help look for the missing man.

A search dog was brought in, but sweeps through the 40-hectare wooded area were unsuccessful.

"It was getting dark... it was very dense, and it was not very good condition for the dog to pick up a scent, a good track," said Const. Roman Grygorchuk with East Prince RCMP.

Members of the community were asked to turn on their porch lights in case it helped him find his way out. It wasn't until 12:30 a.m. Monday that crews finally located the man in the woods.

Grygorchuk said the man was assessed by paramedics and went home without injury.