Assuming a stance and grounding the clubhead prior to airmailing the ball to a foreign destination.
Advice
As defined by the rules of golf, "any counsel or suggestion made by one golfer to another about the choice of club, method of play, or means of executing a shot, which contains no more than 5 errors of fact, contradictory statements or harmful recommendations. Six or more such pieces of misinformation or misinstruction shall constitute a formal golf lesson."
Afraid of the dark
What a putt is when it won't go in the hole.
Age Players
Accomplished golfers who have recorded either of two exceptional golfing achievements: playing a round of 18 holes at the end of which they had a score identical to their age, or playing a round of 18 holes during all of which they acted their age.
Air mail
To hit a shot much farther than planned (most commonly over the green.) Amateur
golfers frequently air mail approaches to greens fronted by hazards.
All Square
A term used in match play to indicate that both teams or individuals have cheated on an equal number of holes.
Amateur
A golfer who is happy if, after paying $125 for greens fees and a cart rental, $50 in the pro shop, and $20 at the halfway house, he ends up winning a $5 Nassau.
Approach Shot
A shot which, if it had not caught the lip of the bunker and dropped back into the sand, would have rolled across the green and gone into the water.
Apron
Fringe of low grass surrounding the green from which golfers usually make an indecisive jabbing stroke combining elements of a chip, a pitch, and a putt the produces a shot known as a "chupp," a "putch," or simply, "chitt!"
Away
The player whose ball lies farthest from the hole is "away" and is requred by the rules of golf to make the first shot. If, after the stroke is taken, his ball still lies farther from the hole than any other member of his playing group, the rules permit him to kick the first bag and throwl the first club.
Back Door
The far side of the cup opposite a player's ball on the green. Sometimes a putt will curve around the cup and enter by the "back door," but more frequently it chooses to wait politely on the "back steps," sit down on the "back porch," or go for a nice long stroll in the "back yard."
Back Nine
The second 9 holes of an 18-hole course, a name derived from the fact that by the time you get there, your back aches, your slice is back, play is backed up, and your opponent is about to win all they're money back.
Backspin
Reverse spin imparted to a golf ball that causes it to "back up" on a green after landing, created by the solid contact of the clubface with the back of the ball or the presence of a bunker, a water hazard, or a steep slope directly below the hole.
Backswing
A Distinct and pronounced turn of the hips and shoulders that moves the club away from the ball, usually followed by a shot that produces a distinct and pronounced turn of the stomach.
Bag rat
Caddie
Ball-drop Area
An extremely large divot outlined in white, into which a ball may be dropped to replace one lost in the adjacent hazard.
Ballwasher
Handy noisemaking device located on the tees of most golf holes as a convenience for players who have no car keys or loose change in their pockets to rattle during an opponent's backswing.
Banana Ball
1. Wild slice hit by a would-be gorilla swinging like a monkey. 2. Formal dance at a WASP country club.
Barkie
Achieving a score of par or better on a hole after the ball hits a tree on the
same hole.
Best Ball
Tournament format in which only the lowest score of a foursome needs to be fudged, and rather than cheating individually, all the players team up to cheat as a group.
Birdie
A mulligan, the best of one or more "practice swings," and a 20 foot "gimme" putt.
Bite
1. Descriptive term for the way a ball "sucks back" after hitting a green due to a powerful backspin applied by an expert golfer. 2. Identical term with a different meaning used to describe bad shots hit by hackers which also "bite' and "suck."
Blind Hole
A hole whose green is not visible from the tee, thus requiring the player to rely on senses other than sight, such as the sound of an unseen golfer cursing after being struck by a ball, the smell of trouble, the taste of fear, and the feel of the soft moss during a crawl through the woods.
Body English
Informal term for vigorous leaning or twisting movements that players make to "persuade" a ball to go in the desired direction. If these antics fail to have the desired effect, they are often followed by a series of vulgar hand and arm motions known as body Spanish, body French, or body Italian.
Bogey
The number of strokes taken on a hole recorded by a golfer of average skill and above-average honesty.
Borrow
The amount of break in a putt, which can be decreased by repeatedly lifting the ball from the green, marking it and replacing it closer to the hole in the process known as the "steal."
Bounce
A sudden kick or rebound made by a ball that is either totally and completely unfair or just exactly what you intended.
Brassie
Old name for the 2-wood, which often had a brass sole-plate. The 3-wood was once known as a "spoon," the 4-wood as a "baffie," and the 7-iron as a "mashie-niblick." A club wrapped around a tree is a "smashie." If its flung into the water hazard, it is a "bashie." And any club allegedly used to score a hole-in-one is a "fibstick" if it's an iron or a "fablespoon" if it's a wood.
Burried Lie
Descriptive term for a ball sitting down so deeply in the rough that it is almost impossible to get a shoe on it. see Foot Wedge
Carry
The distance a ball needs to travel to cross a hazard, either in the air or in a pocket or the palm of a hand.
Chip-and-Run
A low approach shot in which a ball is hit in the air about one-third of the way to the pin and then permitted to roll the remaining twelve-thirds of the distance to the hole.
Chip Shot
A delicate run-up shot with a flat trajectory that gets a player into positon for one or more missed putts.
Choke
1. To grip down on the shaft of a club. 2. To blow a lead after being needled by an opponent. 3. To grip down on his neck.
Cup
The metal or plastic cylinder fitted into the hole in the green. Strictly speaking, it is only the liner of the hole, but everyday golf usage players will often say "cup" when they mean "hole," much as they frequently say "just in bounds" when they mean "out of bounds," "Oh, here it is" when they mean "I can't find it," and "five" when they mean "seven."
Delay of Game
When a player takes more than 1 minute to tee off. Or when a player takes more
than 1 address stance. Player will be marked back 5 yards.
Dimples
Telltale patterns of tiny circular hollows on the covers of the golf balls that gives them aerodynamic lift and helps players identify a ball in deep rough as theirs even if it has changed its brand, number, and logo.
Divot Rule
When a players divot flies farther the ball. The player may play the next shot
from divot position.
Dogleg
A hole with a sharply angled fairway which, depending on whether it turns to the right or turns to the left will immediately cure a slice or instantly eliminate a hook.
Dog track
Derogatory term for a golf course that is not well maintained.
Do-Over
A first shot that a player inadvertently hit second.
Double Bogey
Two strokes over par, or, for a glfer who ended up with a 7 on a long par 5, a back-to-back birdie and eagle that happened to score on the same hole.
Downswing
The portion of the golf swing during which the club is swept down towards the ball, which most players execute just after addressing the ball but well before the beginning of the backswing.
Draw
Term commonly used by golfers to describe a snap-hooked ball they were actually able to find. see Fade
Dress
Although clothes in a variety of styles are acceptable on a golf course, a few general pointers are worth keeping in mind when selecting an outfit:
It should be visible to an individual with normal eyesight looking out the window of a spacecraft in orbit.
It should require dry cleaning and should dissolve or disintegrate if washed.
It should be composed of no fewer than eight separate colors or shades and should have at least four distinct emblems.
Its should make the wearer look shorter and fatter.
Drive
The shot that comes after the whiff and before the mulligan.
Driver
Wood club with the longest shaft and least loft that is carried by most golfers solely for the purposes of making the slightly shorter and marginally deeper-faced 3-wood seem easy to hit.
Driving Range
A place where golfers go to get all the good shots out of their system.
Drop
The act of replacing a lost or unplayable ball in which a golfer holds a ball at arm's length and lets it slip from his hand while simultaneously letting the penalty stroke slip from his mind.
Dropkick
A drive in which the clubhead hits the ground before the ball, producing a shot that barely makes it to the 50-yard line before it is whistled dead.
Duffers
A golfer who is much more likely to shoot his own weight than his age.
Eagle
usually low score on a hole achieved by a golfer with an exceptionally good drive and one or two exceptionally good follow-up shots, or by a golfer with an exceptionally poor memory.
Elephant's ass
A poorly struck shot that is "high and stinky." Usually applied to a popped-up
drive that is higher than it is long.
Equipment
According to the rules of golf, equipment is "anything that can be thrown, broken, kicked, twisted, torn, crushed, shredded, or mangled, either under its own power or by means of a transfer of momentum, into underbrush, trees, or other overgrown terrain, or over the edge of a natural or artificially elevated area, or below the surface of any body of water, whether moving or impounded."
Etiquette
The rules of behavior in golf. The most important are::
Don't talk on your own backswing.
Don't sneeze into a borrowed glove.
Don't needle your partner.
Don't cut in on the middle of a par 3.
Don't write in ink on the scoreboard.
Don't give range balls as Christmas presents.
If your opponent is new to the course don't spoil the surprises.
Fade
Term commonly used by golfers to describe a wildly sliced ball that somehow managed to stay in bounds.
Fairway
A narrow strip of closely mowed grass that separates two groups of golfers looking for lost balls in the rough.
Fan
To miss the ball completely. The air moves, but nothing else does.
Fat
To hit the ground behind the ball first so that the shot has no spin and does
not achieve the desired distance. Results usually become the "divot rule".
Flagstick
Long, flexible metal pole with striped markings along its length and a numbered flag at its top which would have marked the position of the hole if the previous playing group hadn't left it lying on the green.
Flight
The intended path a ball would have followed through the air if delays, bad weather, or unexpected mechanical problems hadn't caused it to be diverted to another destination.
Fluff
A shot that is too weak to be registered by conventional scorekeeping equipment.
Follow-Through
The part of the swing that takes place after the ball has been hit but before the club has been thrown.
Foot Wedge
The 15th club every golfer takes onto the golf course. Used to secretly tap your ball out of a
fairway divot when no one else is watching.
How to use.
Scan your surroundings for other players.
Place foot to obscure current ball location from onlookers.
Rotate foot edge so it is perpendicular to your target.
Gently slide your foot wedge to push ball. Do not kick the ball, as it is easier to judge
speed with a push.
Cough audibly during shot and mutter something about winter rules.
Proceed with game.
Fore!
The first of several four-letter words exchanged between golfers as one group of players hits balls into another.
Forecaddy
A caddy sent ahead on a hole so he can immediately signal that he doesn't have a clue where an errant drive ended up instead of wasing five minutes pretending to know where it landed.
Four-Ball
A match in which four golfers each play their own balls until they have lost every one of them, at which point play shifts to a "no ball" format and they head to the clubhouse for a round of drinks.
Front Nine
The first half of an 18-hole golf course. A golfer who, by the end of the 9th hole, has shot with a few strokes of par for an 18 is entitled to skip the second half of the course and head directly for the 19th hole.
Give-Give
Slang term for the equitable mutual arrangement between two players in which each concedes to the other a putt that both of them had an equally minuscule chance of making.
Golf
The derivation of the word "gold" from its Celtic and Middle English roots is obscure. Some possibilities are: gilf (an incurable madness), gylf (a notorious liar), gullf (to beat a shrub with a stick), golve (under; beneath; lost; blocked; submerged; obstructed), galfa (my god!; oh, no!), goulfyl (to cry; to weep), and gaelfu (I quit).
Golf Accessory
A gadget whose purchase improves players' games primarily by eliminating bulk from their wallets, thereby reducing excessive trouser friction and allowing a smoother hip movement in the swing.
Golf Bag
Portable fabric or leather sacklike container designed to hold clubs between throws.
Golf Course
A place where people who are cooped up in the office all week go to get a chance to lie and cheat outdoors.
Golf Trip
A playing holiday spent in a place where no one can ever remember when it got so hot so early, or snowed so late, or rained so much.
Good
Familiar term for a putt short enough to concede. Such putts usually measured in inches, like a 6-inch putt, or a 12-inch putt, or a 24-inch putt, or a 96-inch putt, or a 144-inch putt.
Grain
The direction the grass on a putting green grows, which produces a deviation in the roll of the ball that would have caused your putt to miss the cup by several inches if the slope hadn't already sent it 10 feet past the hole.
Green
Roughly circular expanse of tightly mown and smoothly rolled grass approximately three putts long and four putts wide.
greens Fees
The charge for playing a round of golf. When paying thsi sum, mediocre players should keep in mind the fact that whereas golfers who routinely shoot par are shelling out as much as $2 for every shot they take, a hopeless duffer often pays less than 50 cents a stroke.
Ground Under Repair
Marked portion of the course undergoing restoration or alteration from which players may move their ball from a bad lie without penalty, an action that is normally possible only in Ground Not Currently Under Observation.
Half-Shot
A shot made with a partial swing that ends up exactly the same distance short of a hole as a full shot with less club.
Handicap
An allocation of strokes on one or more holes that permits two golfers of very different abiltiy to do equally poorly on the same golf course.
Hanging
A lie where the ball is above the golfer's feet.
Hazard
An obstacle on the course, either a bunker or a water hazard. It is against the rules for players to "ground" their clubs in a hazard by allowing the head of the club to touch the sand or water before making their shots. However, prior to taking a stroke, a player is permitted to hang his head, bury his head in his hands, and, if it does not unduly delay the match, lightly and repeatedly pound his head against a tree.
Head
1. The part of the club designed to hit the ball. 2. The part of the player designed to make it next to impossible to hit the ball.
Hole
The small, circular hollow cut into the green that is the objective of play and the only deep, steep-sided piece of ground on the course into which a ball will not immediately roll if it lands anywhere near it
Hole-in-One
A ball hit directly from the tee into the hole on a single shot by a golfer playing alone.
Hole Out
Archaic term for the quaint, antiquated custom of completing a hole by actually sinking, rather than picking up, the final short-to-medium-length putt.
Home Course
A place where your chief handicap is that everyone knows exactly what it is.
Honor
The privilege of being laughed at first on the tee.
Hook & Slice
To hit a shot that for a right-hander curves sharply left (hook) or right (slice). Players who do one or the other consistently should consider changing the way they stand, grip the club, or make their swing. Players who do both should consider changing the way they spend their weekends.
Hosel
The socket on the clubhead where the shaft goes into the neck of an iron and the shank goes into the middle of the woods.
Impossible Lie
The position of a ball that is both completely obstructed by an immovable object and continously observed by an incorruptible player.
In the Pocket
Phrase used to describe a situation when a player has picked up his ball once a high score has taken him out of a hole, or when, due to the presence in his pocket of a ball identical to the one he has been fruitlessly searching for, a player is about to miraculously get back into a hole.
Iron
One of about a dozen bladed-shaped metal-headed clubs with progressively greater lofts that are designed to hit the ball 10 yards short of the green or 20 yards past it.
Junior
a golfer who attributes his or her poor play to the fact that he or she lacks the experience of a mature golfer.
Kick
A bounce of the ball in an unfavorable direction, usually followed by a somewhat delayed but much more favorable second kick.
Knife
The one iron. The toughest club to hit. If you carry a knife in your bag,
you're either a real player, or phony who wants to look like a real player. A few swings with the knife will
reveal the true you. See Chuck Oliver.
Ladies' Tees
The place from which women hit their drives and men hit their second shots.
Lag
The first quarter of a 4 putt.
Lateral Shot
Polite term for a shank, the only golf shot you can immediately master simply by watching someone hit any golf ball.
Lay-Up
A shot that would have stopped safely short of a hazard, a line of trees, a ravine, or some other trouble on a hole if you hadn't used a nice easy swing that knocked the ball 30 yards farther than you ever hit that club in your entire life.
Lesson Tee
The place where players go to convert a wicked slice into a nasty hook.
Lie
1. Where the ball comes to rest after being hit by a golfer. 2. The number of strokes it took to get it there, as reported by that golfer.
Links
Traditional seaside golf course consisting of 18 holes that play into the wind and located in the middle of a 200-acre unplayable lie.
Lip
1. Perimeter of grass surrounding he hole. 2. Remarks made by fellow golfer when your putt stops there.
Loft
The angle of a clubface and the corresponding steepness of the shot it will produce. Loft angles range from the relatively shallow ones used for long, unobstructed shots (12 degrees for a driver, 10 degrees for a fairway wood, 30 degrees for a 5-iron) to the much steeper ones needed to clear obstacles (47 degrees for a 9-iron, 58 degrees for a sand wedge, 75 degrees for the tip of the golf shoe, and up to 100 degrees for the throwing arm).
Loose Impediments
Natural and legally movable objects that interfere with play, such as dazed or disoriented reptiles or mammals, stunned birds, pulverized stones, flattened bushes, uprooted shrubs, severed branches, and felled trees.
Mallet
Heavy-headed putter that many players prefer because it seems to help control the yips, and if it fails to do so, it can be thrown twice as far as a conventional blade putter.
Marker
Any small, flat, round object, such as a coin, used to indicate a spot on a putting green approximately 6 inches closer to the hole than the position from which the ball was lifted.
Match
A hole-by-hole golfing competition in which our skill is pitted against your opponent's luck.
Medal Play
A golfing competiton whose outcome is determined by the total number of strokes forgotten during an entire round.
Mind Game
The 90% of golf that is mental as opposed to the 10% that is physchological.
Muff
To mishit a shot. Not to be mistaken for the muff term used during college.
Mulligan
An additional ball or balls a player is permitted to hit, without penalty on the opening hole of a round, based on the sound principle that the first tee is an extension of the driving range, and the line to be crossed between "practice" and "play" lies approximately 200 yards out in the middle of the first fairway.
Nassau
Probably the most popular form of golfing wager. It's a three-part bet with the
front nine, the backnine, and the total match being equally weighted wagers. The name comes from Nassau
Country Club in New York, where the bet is said to have originated.
Nineteenth hole
1. The bar and grill you visit after your round. 2. This is the place where most golfers find their best lies. 3. The only hole on which players do not complain about the number of shots they took.
Obstructions
Golfers may move their ball away from or remove any artificial obstacles not part of the course such as torn and crushed hats and other discarded articles of clothing; chewed scorecards; ripped instruction books; halved golf balls; discarded golf clubs; demolished handcarts; and overturned and burning golf carts.
Offsides
Teeing up the ball past the tee box markers.
A player will be penalized 5 yards for the infraction.
One a side
When your sandbaggin opponent insists that his handicap is two strokes higher
than yours, you'll have to give him two strokes to make your match even. So you give him a stroke on the
most difficult hole on each nine.
One-Putt
To send the ball into the hole with one stroke of a putter after taking 11 shots to reach the green.
Out of Bounds
Beyond the boundary markers, A shot hit O.B. ("oh-bee") may not be played, but exceptions are often made for a bal that ends up J.A.L.O.B. ("jah-loh-bee" - Just A Little Out of Bounds), or I.T.O. - W.Y.CK.I.B.I.B. ("itoh-wicki-bib" - In the Open Where You Can Kick It Back In Bounds), or W.O.B.I.S.B.Y.B.I.L.L.N.O.H ("woh-bee-isby-bill-noh" - Way Out of Bounds In Someone's Back yard, But it Looks Like No One's Home).
Par
Score achieved by a golfer who had only a few great shots on an entire round but somehow managed to hit them all on the same hole.
Penalty Stroke
One or more strokes added to a golfer's score as punishment for conspicuous, excessive, brazen, or shameless displays of honesty, fair play, and sportsmanship.
Pin
Familiar term for the flagstick. A ball that lands on the green parallel to the hole but off to one side is "pin high." A ball that lands right next to the hole, leaving a very short putt, is said to be "stiff to the pin." Such putts are almost always conceded, but some players insist on putting them anyway. These players are known as "pinheads."
Pitch -and -Putt
A short par-3 course, also known as a pitch-and-moan, a yank-and-yip, a shank-and-stab, or a sclaff-and-lip.
Play it as it lays
One of the three fundamental dictates of golf. The others are "Wear it if it Clashes" and "Steal it if it has Stopped Rolling."
Playing Through
A display of courtesy on the course in which a group of golfers who have stopped to search for lost balls conclude that they are causing a delay and, anxious to spare the players behind them a wait of several minutes on the tee, stand aside and invite that group to hit their drives so they will be able to profitably use the period of time before they can resume play in a lengthy search for their own lost balls.
Practice Green
Warm-up putting surface that is twice as slow or three times faster than any actual green on the course.
Practice Tee
Sometimes known as the range. Mysterious place found on most golf courses where for some unknown reason players who are incapable of hitting 97 shots in under 5 hours can easily hit 100 balls in less than 10 minutes.
Professional
A player who believes that if you're going to have a miserable time on a golf course you might as well get paid for it.
Pro Shop
The only place on a golf course where players fervently hope they won't end up breaking a hundred.
Provisional Ball
A second "back-up" drive knocked deep into the woods just in case the first ball yanked into the high rough can't be found.
Putt
One or more gentle tapping strokes made with a short club with a flat face used to roll the ball toward the cup, and a cavity back employed to scoop it up off the green when it gets close enough to the hole that a fellow player would be more embarrassed to make you putt it than you are to pick it up.
Putter
Specialized club used on the green that differs from the other golf clubs ina player's bag in that it always produces shots that just trickle along the ground a few feet before stopping.
Rake
Implement used for smoothing sand in bunkers whose handle deflected your ball into a set of deep footprints a few inches from where its head is resting.
Recovery Shot
A challenging shot successfully played from a difficult lie or unfavorable position to a place from which it is possible ot three-putt.
Relief
Unusual situation when, thanks to the rules of golf, a player is actually able to improve his lie without counting a penalty stroke while another golfer is watching.
Re-Tee
To make a second drive. Because the tee shot requires intense concentration, a player is almost always permitted to hit another ball, without penalty, providing the original mishit was caused by some obvious interference like clicking of another golfer's shoelaces together, or the sudden wingflash of a passing butterfly, or the nearby impact of a subatomic particle.
Reload
To hit an errant tee shot and tee up a second ball. A term also used each time
the beer cart apporaches, as in "Let's reload."
Rescue Club
A specially designed utility club, often a lofted fairway wood or hybrid iron-wood, that allows players who would normally have to chip out into the fairway from a terrible lie on one side of the hole to hit the ball into another terrible lie 200 yards away.
Rim
The edge of the hole. A ball that goes around the cup without falling in is said to have rimmed the hole, or to have ringed, skirted, lipped, lapped, or looped it. It may also be said to have curled, circled, or rolled around it, or to have done a tour, a circuit, a round trip, an orbit, or a buttonhook. There are one or two terms for a ball actually going into the cup, but they are used so seldom that it seems like a waste of space to include them.
Rough
Unmown, naturally wild area bordering the fairway and sometimes separating the fairway from the tee. There are three basic types of rough: Low rough, a narrow strip of 6-inch high grass where the ball may be easily playable; high or deep rough, where the ball may be lost and, even if found may be obstructed or otherwise unplayable; and U.S. Open rough, where the ball may be eaten or stolen and used as an object or worship by primitive peoples.
Round
Eighteen holes of golf, played in their proper sequence, followed by one or more rounds at the 19th hole.
Rules of Golf
The 34 basic rules of golf, as opposed to the 92 exemptions, 148 major modifications, and 1,146 special exceptions.
Sand Bagger
Golf hustler with a fraudulent handicap who wins matches by pretending to be a poorer player than he really is. It can be hard to spot these con men, but here are a few warning signs.
How to use.
A tee tucked behind the ear.
A nervous habit of bouncing the ball on the face of a 5-iron.
Rotate foot edge so it is perpendicular to your target.
A set of banged-up clubs without headcovers, with a 1-iron, four wedges, and a putter that looks like a fireplace tool.
A hat with the logo of a manufacturer of motor oil.
A bag tag from a golf club in Waco, Texas.
A towel stolen from a motel.
Running shoes.
Sand Trap
A deep depression filled with sand filled with golfers in a deep depression.
Sand Wedge
Remarkably versatile iron with a high loft, a heavy clubhead, and a deeply flanged sole used to hit tricky shots from sand or deep grass around the green anywhere from 5 to 275 yards.
Sclaff
Onomaopoetic Scottish word for a flubbed shot in which the ground is contacted before the ball is hit. The game of golf's Gaelic originators had dozens of words for specific golf shots, like a shot chunked into water (sloch), a shot popped up into a bunker (footh), a shot snap-hooked into trees (brattle), a shot skulled into tall grass (whirrip), a shot sliced into another playing group (smachdoon), and a shot hit perfectly (a fecking miracle).
Scorecard
A preprinted listing of the holes on the course on which a player records his opening offer prior to the commencement of serious negotiations.
Scramble
Tournament format in which all the members of a foursome drive and then hit successive shots from the ball position of the player with the best lie or the loudest mouth.
Scrambling Golf
Style of play in which a golfer ends up with a respectable score in spite of, rather than because of, the shots he hit.
Scratch Player
A player with a handicap of zero; a par golfer; a rat; a louse; a stinker.
Senior
A golfer hwo attributes is poor play to the fact that he lacks the physique of a younger player.
Sh-nk
One of two five-letter words that it is a far more serious breach of etiquette to utter on a golf course than any four-letter word. The other is Ch-ke.
Short Game
The short shots played around the green (chips, putts, pitches and sand trap blasts) and the cheap shots taken between the green and the next tee (quips, digs, cracks, slams and jests).
Shotmaking
The ability to make dumb luck look like smart play.
Skied Drive
Tee shot with a very high trajectory that often fails to clear a hazard or a waste area. Also known as a ballooned drive, a rainmaker, a moon shot, a test shot, a trial balloon, a canceled shot, a jettisoned stroke, or a rescheduled launch. See Elephant's Ass.
Spin
professional golfers and other accomplished players can apply a variety of spins to the ball to make it curve around obstacles, bore into the wind, stop dead where it lands, or even reverse direction. These shots take skill and practice, but most beginners have a bag of tricks, too. For example, even the rankest amateurs can amaze their playing companions by making a ball run right across the center of a hole without going in, rise straight up into the air, execute unbelievably sharp left or right turns, travel sideways or even backwards, or disappear entirely.
Stance
The placement of a players feet in relationship to the ball and the target line in the brief period just prior to the beginning of the swing while they are still positioned inside their shoes.
Stimpmeter
Device used to measure the speed of the greens on a golf course. Similar instruments include the hackometer, which computes the length of the rough; the inertial slomoscope, which assesses the speed of play; the gas chromograph, which rates the digestibiltiy of the food at the halfway house; the gougegauge, which calculates the markup of the prices in the pro shop; and the asshologram, which appraises the unpleasantness of the club members.
Streak
A score of par on two consecutive holes, or one birdie in a row.
Stroke
Any forward motion of the club that is made with the intention of hitting the ball and is observed by another golfer.
Sweet Spot
The specific place on a clubface that produces maximum accuracy and power and a solid feeling of perfect contact when a ball is struck. This point varies from club to club, but generally speaking it's dead center of the "bland belt", which is very near the "rotten region," in the middle of the "lousy area," and surrounded by the "loathsome zone."
Swing Key
A simple thought, concept, or idea that improves a player's swing for more than 15 minutes or a minimum of three holes.
Swingweight
A measurement of the relationship between the weight of the clubhead and the weight of the shaft used to indicate the "feel" of the club. A separate pair of measurements evaluates the shaft's ability to communicate a fingerstinging shock when an iron is sharply topped on a cold day (stingweight) and the ease with which the club can be thrown (flingweight).
Takeaway
The initial stage of the backswing when any chance of hitting a decent shot is removed entirely.
Tap-In
a putt short enough to lip out with a one-handed stroke or rocket past the hole with a left-handed slap with the back of a putter.
Target Line
An imaginary line from a player's lie to the target which the ball would follow if an imaginary golfer hit it.
Tee
Small wooden peg on which the ball is placed for a drive from the teeing ground. The condition of the tee after the shot provides an indication of whether or not the ball was hit correctly. If the tee flips backwards and lands in one piece a few inches behind the place where it was inserted into the turf, the ball was probably hit well. If the tee breaks into three or more pieces, is driven deeper than 2 inches into the ground, travels farther than the ball, or catches fire, it probably wasn't.
Teeing Ground
A clearly defined rectangular area 2 club-lengths in depth from which players hit shots 20 to 30 dub-lengths directly forward or 5 to 10 flub-lengths to either side.
Tee Off
To drive a ball off of a tee. Players who have made their drives off a tee are said to have teed off, but at this point it is almost always also correct to say that they are teed off.
Texas wedge
Slang term for a putter used to hit a low, running shot from well off the green. Similar terms are "Florida Putter" for a driver used to hit a weak, half-topped shot that doesn't reach the ladies tees, and "Myrtle Beach Driving Iron" for a skulled sand wedge that sends a ball out of a bunker and into the middle of an adjacent fairway.
Tip
A free piece of advice offered by a fellow player, which is the only thing in the entire game of golf that is worth exactly as much as you paid for it.
Titanium
Lightweight superstrong metal used in clubheads whose superior impact power has made it possible for older or less skilled players to hit shots into hazards, fairway bunkers, water hazards, and maintenance sheds they never dreamed of reaching before.
Top
To hit the ball well above its centerline, causing it to hop or skitter a few yards forward, a problem that usually afflicts only beginning golfers and is quickly left behind once a player has learned to master the stub, the fat shot, and the chili dip.
Up & Down
Holing out from off the green in two strokes; an approach shot and a single putt. It is more common for players to go "up, across, beyond, next to, around, and down" or "up, way over, under, into, through, along, onto, beside, and down."
Victory lap
The circle a putt makes around the rim of the cup before falling in.
Waggle
A move employed by many golfers to trigger the swing in which the club is swept back and forth behind or over the ball anywhere from 2 to 500 times.
Water Hazard
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Whiff
Familiar term widely misused to describe a particularly fast and powerful style of practice swing intentionally made directly over the ball. See Chuck Oliver.
Woods
1. Type of club used to hit a ball a long distance. 2. Place where the ball lands after being hit a long distance.
Wrist
In golfers, the swollen joint that connects a sore hand to an aching elbow and a throbbing shoulder.
X
What you put on your score card when you do not finish a hole. A common
optical illusion makes it look like a four or a five.
Yips
Nervous affliction that causes players to miss very short putts which can be cured by using a exaggerated stiff-arm, shoulder-centered putting stroke, or switching to a long-handled putter, or playing exclusively with blind golfers.
You da man
A popular expression among golf's great and unwashed, generally heard in the
millisecond after a shot has been struck and well before the outcome of the shot can be determined.
This is very annoying to da man when his shot lands in a lake.
Zip Code
The roughly rectangular area surrounding the tee within which golfers attempt to confine the flight of the ball.
