-
Albatross -
(aka: "double eagle") a score of 3
under (less than) par.
-
Airmail - a
shot that carries completely over
something. Similar to an 'airball'
in basketball. Example: "I hit
driver, 3 wood and then airmailed
the green with my wedge."
-
Bag Rat -
Caddie
-
Beach - (aka:
"sand trap" or "bunker") any hazard
on the golf course consisting of
sand. Example: "Doug's approach shot
fell short of the green and into the
beach."
-
Beagle - Term used to describe a
score of double par on a single
hole. "Snowman" is an acceptable
substitute on par 4's.
-
Bite - The insane golfer is often
found yelling this word at a ball
that is too stupid to know that a
bladed lob wedge should not travel
160 yards. Rest assured that in the
vast majority of instances, if a
golfer is yelling this word, the
final result will indeed "bite."
-
Brazilian - Just shaves the hole
-
Cabbage - any
type of thick or tall grass, typically found off the
fairway or behind the green.
-
Chili Dip -
when a chip or pitch shot is hit a
much shorter distance than
intended/expected.
-
Cuban
- Needed one more revolution
-
Condom
- Safe, but didn't feel right
-
Dance floor -
The Green. Perhaps the term comes
from the smooth surface and relative
flatness of the green, to convey the
joy that accompanies finally making
it to the green.
-
Dawn patrol -
The golfers who are the first to
play each day, so named because they
start their match around the course
at sunrise.
-
Depth Charge -
a putt that is lagged ever so softly
down a slope towards the hole
allowing gravity and the angle of
the green to work the ball towards
the green rather than the force of
the putt itself. Example: "John was
on the second tier of the green, 8
feet above the hole, so he just
threw a depth charge towards the
hole hoping for the best."
-
Drain - the
act of sinking a putt into the cup.
Example: "Geddy drained a thirty
five foot putt for birdie."
-
Four-jack - To
take four putts on a hole. Only
tolerable for those who can drive
the green on a par five. When asked
how he four-jacked a hole at the
Masters, Steve Ballesteros replied,
"I miss. I miss. I miss. I make."
Well said.
-
Fried Egg -
refers to a lie, usually in a sand
trap, where the ball appears to be
the yolk of a fried egg and the sand
(or ground) around the ball
resembles the whites.
-
Golf widow
-
The wife of an obsessive golfer. She
doesn't know who Jack Nicklaus is, and
she doesn't care. Her husband will
remember Jack's birthday before he
remembers hers.
-
Grocery money
-
Winnings from a golf bet that the winner
pledges to spend on food and drink, or
groceries, usually at the nineteenth
hole.
-
Grow teeth - A
golfer's plea for the ball to stop
quickly.
-
Jar - Clearly the
best term ever used to describe the
hole. Proper usage of this term
include such phrases as, "I jarred a
forty footer to save double."
-
Jail
-
Where a golf ball usually lies after a
hacker hits it. A place from which
escape is nearly impossible. Deep rough,
woods, buried lies, and other unpleasant
places represent jail for a golf ball.
-
Jigger - an old
fashioned short iron wedge that was
used to extract the ball from deep
rough.
-
Juice - (aka:
"backspin", "english", "junk") the
imaginary substance applied to the
ball that causes it to roll or
bounce in a direction other than
that in which it was struck.
Especially when hitting a ball into
a green. Example: "Q: How did you
pull the ball back towards the hold
like that? A: I just gave it a
little juice!"
-
Jungle - (aka:
"jail") a term used to describe a
lie in the middle of many trees or
overgrowth (fescue, thick rough,
etc.) as it might be in the jungle.
-
Lip out
-
A putt that hits the lip and spins out.
-
Nuked - When
you hit a shot that achieves the
absolute maximum distance for that
club - "nuked it"
-
On fire
-
You're on fire when everything you do on
the course seems to work out just as you
planned.
-
Oscar Bravo - These two simple words
are often used after your playing
partner has pumped one into
someone's backyard and asks, "Where
did that go." This sounds infinitely
better than "OB" or "Out of Bounds".
-
Peg - (aka:
"tee") a synonym for a tee (not the
tee box). A small, usually, but not
always, wooden utensil on which a
golf ball is set prior to taking the
first shot of any hole. Example:
"Patrick preferred not to use a tee
on par three holes on which he used
an iron."
-
Postage stamp
- (aka: "postage stamp green") a
green that is particularly small
(i.e. as small as a postage stamp).
Example: "All the greens on that
course are postage stamps - Its
impossible to score well there!"
-
Ready golf
-
In ready golf each player may "fire when
ready," a procedure instituted to speed
up play.
-
Reload - a
slang term meaning that the player
is going to hit a second (or third
or fourth or...) shot from the same
location as he/she just did. Often
used on the tee and even more often
when the first shot was hit out of
bounds. Example: "Curtis, that
shot's long gone. You might as well
reload."
A term also used each time the beer
cart approaches, as in "Let's
reload."
-
Robbed -
Golfers love to complain about being
robbed, usually when a putt doesn't
break when it should have, or when a
putt traveling at Mach 2 doesn't
fall into the hole as it should
have, or when a tee shot forty yards
off line winds up six inches out of
bounds.
-
Sandbagger - a
golfer who understates his/her
handicap with the hope that this
will give him/her an advantage when
playing against other golfers in a
handicapped event. Example: "Sean's
such a sandbagger! I played against
him last week and he said he was a
14 handicap and proceeded to shoot a
79 gross."
-
Shag bag - a
container usually made of heavy
fabric used to carry balls for
practice. May also be constructed so
as to assist with the picking up of
practice balls after they have been
hit. Example: "I brought a shag bag
full of balls with me to the
practice bunker."
-
Snowman - Term
use to describe a score of "8" on a
single hole.
-
Spray - to hit
the ball in any direction other than
that intended. Example: "After
getting off the tee very well during
my last round - I sprayed the ball
all over the place today."
-
Sweet spot -
(aka: "sweet spot", "screws", "nut")
the center of the clubface. The spot
on the clubface where the golfer
intends to contact the golf ball and
off of which the ball is expected to
fly truest. Example: "It sure felt
good to be the first off the with
about 20 colleagues watching and hit
my drive right on the sweet
spot/screws"
-
Victory lap -
The circle a putt makes around the
rim of the cup before falling in.
-
Waggle - the
movement of a player and his golf
club prior to or during the address
position. A waggle is specific to
each individual golfer and may
involve the back and forth movement
of the club head in an attempt to
get comfortable or stay loose prior
to making the anticipated shot.
-
Watery Grave -
Where disobedient golf balls go
every time you try to carry a water
hazard.
-
Wormburner -
(aka: "worm burner") a shot with
such a low trajectory that it skims
the ground such that the ball would
be burning up any worms on the
surface. You can usually hear a
wormburner and although the shot may
be effective it is never
intentional.
-
Yips - the
either real or imaginary nervous
twitching of muscles at the most
inopportune time in a golf swing or
putt. Example: "For the past three
rounds Stacy's been missing all her
putts to the left. Its the worst
case of the yips I've seen in a
while!"
-
Zinger - (aka:
"zinner") a shot that takes off from
the head of the club and files
toward the target reminiscent of a
line drive in baseball. Often
associated with a shot hit thin.
Example: "Julie hit a great drive
over the water but then on her
approach shot hit a zinger over the
green."
-
Zone, the -
When everything you do is right, and
you know it's right before you do
it, that's the zone. The number of
times you get to visit the zone, and
the amount of time you spend there
can vary erratically for most of us.
