Divots ? Fairway and X out ? These may be terms that may not be found in your average dictionary. These are terms in one of the world’s most popular game, the Game of golf. The only thing you understand about the game may only be club, hole and ball but read along and you may get to add another language in the “languages spoken” question in your resume.
In order to understand the game, one has to understand the rules and how the game is played. And in order to understand the rules and how the game is played one has to know the language used in the game.
This may not be a comprehensive compilation of golf terms and jargons but it may give you a rather fair idea of what golf is and how golf jargon is used in the game.
Before the game starts, the place where the game is played must be familiar to the golfer. A “golf court” is called a course. In the course not all of the grass is cut the same way. There are some grasses that are cut short while others are cut long. The golfer starts playing his game in the TEE which is the specially prepared area, usually grass. Tee may also refer to a piece of golf equipment which is 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.
A WOOD is used to send the ball flying to the air. WOOD is a type of golf club that is used when the ball is first hit. After the ball is hit it could go OUT OF BOUNDS which indicates that the ball has went beyond the boundaries of the course and must be hit again at the last place where it was hit, or it could go to the FAIRWAY which is the short grass between the tee and the green.
Now you might not know what a green is yet but read along and you will find what it is all about. It is also possible that the ball does not go to the fairway but rather to the ROUGH which is the grass that borders the fairway. It is usually taller and coarser than the fairway.
A fourth possibility after the initial stroke by the golfer may be ACE it means a hole in one or to put it simply, the ball goes directly into the hole even on the first shot.
Still a fifth possibility is that the ball goes into a HAZARD. Hazards are what make the game of golf more exciting. They may be sand or water traps, hills, and bunkers that make the play more interesting since it may require a golfer more stroke in order to get out of this hence giving him a lower score. A BUNKER is far from what you think, such as a military bunker or a gold bunker, in golf bunkers are used to refer to sand traps. After several strokes using an IRON, which is also type of golf club used in this phase of the game, the ball finally gets into the GREEN.
The green is the putting area or the area of specially prepared grass around the hole. A PUTT is a shot played in the green. You use a PUTTER which is another type of golf club which is normally used in the GREEN to make the putt shot. For some this may be very familiar as it is the shot that gets the ball into the hole.
Perhaps another common golf term you hear is the word PAR. Par basically stands for Professional Average Result. It is standard score for a hole and is defined by it’s length.
BIRDIE may not sound very nice and may be downright insulting for some people and yet for some it may refer to their bird pet’s name but in golf it simply means that a player got the ball through the hole played one stroke under par. (Or one stroke less than what an average professional golfer would normally take to get the ball into the hole.)
You might also have heard about the term HANDICAP which is one of golf’s most familiar terms. A handicap is simply a measure of an amateur golfer’s playing ability. It is computed by summing the net score of the number of strokes actually played. It is normally used to allow players of different skills or proficiency to compete against one another equally. Handicaps are governed by the rules set by golf clubs or golf association. The handicap system is not used in professional golf.
So that gives you an idea on the jargon used in golf. Oh by the way before we forget a DIVOT is chunk of grass that is displaced when a is shot is played, and X-OUT refers to an “inferior golf ball that does not meet quality control standards
Don’t you worry this won’t come out of your physics exam tomorrow.
