Golf glossary

C

• Chip: a short shot (typically played from very close to and around the green), that is intended to travel through the air over a very short distance and roll the remainder of the way to the hole.
• Chunk: a swing that results in the clubhead hitting the ground several inches before the ball, resulting in a large "chunk" of ground being taken as a divot. Also called a "fat" shot, or "chili-dipping".
• Club: a tool for the player to hit the ball. 14 clubs are allow by the rule.
• Come-backer: a putt required after the previous putt went past the hole.
• Condor: a four-under par shot, a hole-in-one on a par 5 . This has occurred on a hole with a heavy dogleg, hard ground, and no trees. Might also be called "a triple eagle".
• Cross-handed: putting (and, occasionally, full-swing) grip in which the hands are placed in positions opposite that of the conventional grip. For right-handed golfers, a cross-handed grip would place the left hand below the right. Also known as the "left-hand low" grip, it has been known to help players combat the "yips".
• Cut Shot: same as a fade, a cut curves from left to right, but is generally higher in trajectory and more controlled than a standard fade. The "high cut" is a staple among PGA Tour players.

D

• Dance Floor: slang term for the green.
• Dead: TV-broadcaster slang for a shot in which there is no favorable outcome possible. Variations include "Get the body bags!" A favorite of Gary McCord.
• Divot: the chunk of grass (either fairway or rough) displaced when an iron or wedge shot is played. Or, the indentation on the green caused by the ball on an approach shot (also called a pitch mark).
• Dormie: in match play, a player is dormie when leading a match by as many holes as there are left (i.e. 4 up with 4 holes to play). The player who is down must win every hole to save the match and force its continuation past the last regular hole (if a winner must be determined) or halve the match (in a team competition such as the Ryder Cup).
• Double Bogey: a hole played two strokes over par.
• Double Cross: a shot whereby a player intends for a slice and hits a hook, or conversely, intends to play a draw and hits a slice. So called because the player has aimed left (in the case of a slice) and compounds this with hitting a hook, which moves left as well.
• Double Eagle (or Albatross): a hole played three strokes under par.
• Dogballs scoring an 'eight' on any single golf hole. The origin of the term is in reference to what the number 'eight' looks like on its side.
• Draw: a shot that, for a right-handed golfer, curves slightly to the left; often played intentionally by skilled golfers. An overdone draw usually becomes a hook.
• Drive: a tee shot of great length, usually done with a driver (a type of golf club)

E

• Eagle: a hole played in two strokes under par.
• Explosion: a bunker shot that sends the ball, and accompanying sand, (hopefully) onto the green. Also known as a "blast".

F

• Fairway: the short grass between the tee and the green. Also, "fairway percentage" is a statistic kept on players in the PGA TOUR. A player is awarded a fairway if, after a tee shot, the ball comes to rest touching a fairway.
• Fat shot: a poor shot in which the club is slowed by catching too much grass or soil, resulting in a short and slow ball flight.
• Fade: a shot that, for a right-handed golfer, curves slightly to the right; often played intentionally by skilled golfers. An overdone fade usually becomes a slice.
• Flier: a type of lie where the ball is in the rough and grass is likely to become trapped between the ball and the clubface at the moment of impact. Flier lies often result in "flier shots", which have little or no spin (due to the blades of grass blocking the grooves on the clubface) and travel much farther than intended.
• Flop shot: a short shot, played with an open stance and an open clubface, designed to travel very high in the air and land softly on the green. The flop shot is useful when players do not have "much green to work with", but should only be attempted on the best of lies. Phil Mickelson is a master of the flop shot.
• Fore: "Fore!" is shouted as a warning when it appears possible a ball may hit other players or spectators.

G

• Gimme: when a player has only a short putt left to play, other players may grant a gimme, i.e. one stroke is counted, but the ball is not actually played (under the tacit assumption that the putt would not have been missed). "Gimmes" are not allowed by the rules in stroke play, but this is often practiced in casual matches. However, in match play, either player may formally concede a stroke, a hole, or the entire match at any time, and this may not be refused or withdrawn. A player in match play will generally concede a tap-in or other short putt by his or her opponent.
• Goldie Bounce: when the ball strikes a tree deep in the rough and bounces out onto the fairway.
• Green or putting green: the area of specially prepared grass around the hole, where putts are played
• Green in regulation (GIR): a green is considered hit "in regulation" if any part of the ball is touching the putting surface and the number of strokes taken is 2 or less than par, i.e. with the first stroke on a par-3 hole, second stroke on a par-4, etc. Greens in Regulation percentage is a statistic kept by the PGA Tour.
• Grounding the club: to place the clubface behind the ball on the ground at address. Grounding the club is prohibited in bunkers or when playing from any marked hazard.

H

• Halved: in match play, a hole is halved (drawn) when both players or teams have played the same number of strokes. In some team events, such as the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup, a match that is level after 18 holes is not continued, and is called "halved", with each team receiving half a point.
• Hardpan: a lie consisting of very hard turf.
• Hole In One (or ace): holing out the tee shot.
• Hook: a poor shot that, for a right-handed golfer, curves sharply to the left (may occasionally be played intentionally but is difficult to control). Hooks are often called the "better player's miss", thanks to the fact that many of the game's greatest players (Ben Hogan, for instance) have been plagued by the hook at one time or another in their careers.
• Hosel: the crooked area where the clubhead connects to the shaft. Hitting the ball off the hosel is known as a "shank".

I

• Interlocking grip: grip style where (for right-handed players) the pinkie finger of the right hand is hooked around the index finger of the left. Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods use the interlocking grip.

J

K

• Knock-down: a type of shot designed to have a very low trajectory, usually employed to combat strong winds.

L

• Lag: a long putt designed to simply get the ball close to the hole. Or, in the downswing, how far the clubhead "lags" behind the hands prior to release.
• Lay-up: to hit a conservative shot intentionally short of a hazard.
• Lie: the ground that the ball is resting on. "Good lies" include the fairway and the green, while bunkers, pine straw, and the rough are examples of "bad lies". Also, the angle between the center of the shaft and the sole. Incorrect "lie angle" calibration will result in toe-first or heel-first contact with the ground when swinging the club.
• Line: the expected path of the ball to the hole, particularly on putts. "Stepping in a player's line" on the green is considered a major golf faux pas.
• Links: a course on the ocean, usually devoid of trees and therefore windy. Many courses in the United Kingdom are links.
• Loft: the angle between a vertical plane (usually the plane of the club's shaft) and the clubface.

M

• Mickey Mantle: making a score of 7 on a hole.
• Medal play: style of scoring in which the player with the fewest strokes wins. Most professional tournaments are medal play. Also known as "stroke play".
• Mis-read: when a player takes an incorrect line on a putt.
• Mulligan: a do-over, or replay of the shot. It is not allowed by the rules and not practiced in tournaments, but is not uncommon in casual rounds in some countries, especially the United States.

N

• Nassau: a type of bet between golfers that is essentially three separate bets. Money is wagered on the best score in the front 9, back 9, and total 18 holes.

O

• Open stance: when a player sets up with their front foot to the inside of the target line.
• Out-of-bounds: the area designated as being outside the boundaries of the course. When a shot lands "O.B.", the player "loses stroke and distance," meaning that he/she must hit another shot from the original spot and is assessed a one-stroke penalty. Out-of-bounds areas are usually indicated by white posts.

P

• Pace: the speed at which a putt should be moving to get to the hole. Pace and break are the two components of green-reading.
• Par (apocryphally an abbreviation for "professional average result"), standard score for a hole (defined by its length) or a course (sum of all the holes' pars).
• PGA: any Professional Golfers' Association, especially the Professional Golfers' Association of America.
• Pin-high: at the same level as the hole.
• Pitch: a short shot (typically from within 50 yards), usually played with a higher lofted club and made using a less than full swing, that is intended to flight the ball towards a target (usually the hole) with greater accuracy than a full iron shot.
• Pitch mark: another term for a divot on the green caused when a ball lands. Players must repair their pitch marks, usually with a tee or a divot tool.
• Plugged Lie: a bad lie (typically in a bunker) where the ball is at least half-buried in sand. Also known as a "buried lie" or a "fried egg".
• Pop-up: a poor tee shot where the top of the clubhead strikes under the ball, causing it to go straight up in the air. In addition to being bad shots, pop-ups fequently leave white scuff-marks on the top of the clubhead, or dents in persimmon clubs. Also known as "sky shots".
• Pro: a professional is a golfer or person who plays or teaches golf for financial reward, may work as a touring pro in professional competitions, or as a teaching pro (also called a club pro).
• Punch shot: a shot played with a very low trajectory, usually to avoid interference from tree branches when a player is hitting from the woods. Similar to the knock-down, it can also be used to avoid high winds.
• Push: a shot played severely to the right; as opposed to slices, which curve from left to right, a pushed shot goes directly right. Similar to the "block". Also, term used in Match Play where neither competitor wins the hole.
• Putt: a shot played on the green, usually with a putter.
• Putter: a special golf club with a very low loft that makes the ball roll.

Q

• Q-School: PGA or LPGA Tour Qualifying School, a week-long, six-round tournament in which the Top 30 finishers (of nearly 200 entrants) earn their "Tour Cards", making them exempt for the following year's tour. Aside from the major championships, Q-School may be the most pressure-filled tournament in golf.

R

• Release: the point in the downswing at which the wrists uncock. A late release (creating "lag") is one of the keys to a powerful swing.
• Rough: the grass that borders the fairway, usually taller and coarser than the fairway.

S

• Sandbagger: a golfer that carries a higher official handicap than his skills indicate, eg, carries an eight, plays to a two. Sandbaggers usually artificially inflate their handicaps with the intent of winning bets on the course, a practice that most golfers consider cheating.
• Sand Save: when a player gets up and down from a greenside sand bunker, regardless of score on the hole. Sand Save percentage is a player statistic kept by the PGA Tour.
• Sand Wedge: a lofted club designed especially for playing out of a bunker. The modern sand wedge was invented by Gene Sarazen.
• Scramble: when a player misses the green in regulation, but still makes par or better on a hole. Scrambling percentage is a player statistic kept by the PGA Tour. Also a two or four man format, aka Best Ball, where each player strikes a shot, the best shot is selected, then each player plays from that selected position.
• Scratch golfer: a player's whose handicap equals zero.
• Shank: a severe mishit in which the golf ball is struck by the hosel of the club. On a shank, a player has managed to strike the ball with a part of the club other than the clubface. A shanked shot will scoot a short distance, often out to the right, or might be severely sliced or hooked.
• Short game: comprised of shots that take place on or near the green. Putting, chipping, pitching, and bunker play are all aspects of short game.
• Skin: a skins game pits players in a type of match play in which each hole has a set value (usually in money or points). The player who wins the hole is said to win the "skin," and whatever that skin is worth. Skins games are often more dramatic than standard match play because holes are not halved. When players tie on a given hole, the value of that hole is carried over and added to the value of the following hole. The more ties, the greater the value of the skin and the bigger the eventual payoff.
• Slice: a poor shot that, for a right-handed golfer, curves sharply from the left to the right (may occasionally be played intentionally but is difficult to control). 9 out of 10 golfers suffer from slicing the ball.
• Snap Hook: a severe hook that usually goes directly left rather than curving from right to left. Also known by the somewhat redundant term "Pull-Hook".
• Stableford Scoring System: a scoring system that (as opposed to stroke play) adds points to a player's score for good results. Typically, Double Eagles are worth 8 points; Eagles, 5 points; Birdies, 2 points; Pars, 0 points; Bogeys, -1 point; and Double Bogey or Worse, -3 points.
• Snowman: An eight on a hole.
• Sit: Telling the ball to hit softly.

T

• Tap-in: a ball that has come to rest very close to the hole, leaving only a very short putt to be played. Oftentimes recreational golfers will "concede" tap-ins to each other to save time.
• Tee (part of the course): the specially prepared area, usually grass, from which the first stroke for each hole is made (teeing ground in official terminology).
• Tee (piece of equipment): a small peg - made of wood or plastic - placed in the teeing ground, upon which the golf ball may be placed prior to the first stroke on a hole.
• Tempo: the pacing of a player's swing. Ideally, the swing should be like a metronome, with the same amount of time being used for the downswing and follow-through as was used for the backswing. Also known as the "rythym" of the swing. Ernie Els's tempo is the envy of many professionals.
• Thin shot: a poor shot where the clubhead strikes too high up on the ball, resulting in a shallow flight path. Also known as "skulling" or "blading" the ball.
• Through line: When putting, the imaginary path that a ball would travel on should the putted ball go past the hole. Usually observed by PGA players and knowledgeable golfers when retrieving or marking a ball around the hole.
• Topped: a very thin shot that makes the ball roll rather than fly.

U

• Up and down: when a player holes the ball in two strokes starting from off of the green. The first stroke, usually a "pitch" or a "chip", gets the ball 'up' onto the green, and the subsequent putt gets the ball 'down' into the hole.

V

• Vardon grip: grip style in which (for right-handed players) the right pinkie finger rests on top of the left index finger. Also known as the "overlapping grip," most golfers grip with this style. It is named for Harry Vardon, a champion golfer of the early 20th century.

W

• Whiff: an attempt to strike the ball which results in the player failing to make contact with the ball.

X

Y

• The yips: A tendency to twitch during the putting stroke. Some top golfers have had their careers greatly affected or even destroyed by the yips; prominent golfers who battled with the yips for much of their careers include Sam Snead, Ben Hogan, and, more recently, Bernhard Langer.