Guide

Golf terms explained: the words you hear on the course

Golf has its own vocabulary, and nobody hands you a dictionary on the first tee. This guide groups the words the way you hear them: scoring first, then the course, then shots, then the calls and customs that run a round.

Scoring words: par, birdie and bogey

Par is the score a good player is expected to make on a hole: three, four or five shots depending on length. Birdie is one under par, eagle is two under, and albatross is three under, which almost nobody makes. Bogey is one over par, double bogey is two over, and triple bogey is three over. Stableford is a points system based on your score against par on each hole. Handicap adjusts these scores for your level, and golf handicap explained: what your number means covers how the adjustment works.

More scoring words: regulation and up and down

Green in regulation means your ball is on the green with two putts left for par: on a par four, that means on the green in two shots. Fairway in regulation is the tee shot version on par fours and fives. Up and down means one chip and one putt to finish the hole from off the green. A sand save is an up and down from a bunker. Scramble is not a breakfast order here: scrambling is the stat for how often you make par after missing the green.

Course words: fairway, rough and fringe

The fairway is the short mown strip from tee to green. The rough is the longer grass beside it, and heavy rough can hide a ball at your feet. The fringe, also called the apron or collar, is the ring of slightly longer grass around the green itself. The green is the shortest grass of all, where the hole and flagstick sit. A hazard is an old word now covered by penalty areas, marked with red or yellow stakes, and bunkers, which are sand filled hollows that are not penalty areas but have their own rules.

Course words: tee box, dogleg and links

The tee box or teeing area is where each hole starts, and most courses offer several sets of tees at different lengths. Pick the set that matches your distance, not your pride. A dogleg is a hole that bends left or right partway along. A links is a coastal course on sandy soil with firm fairways, few trees and a lot of wind. Out of bounds, marked with white stakes, means your ball has left the course and you replay with a penalty. Ground under repair is marked damaged area where you may take free relief.

Shot words: draw, fade, slice and hook

A draw curves gently from right to left for a right handed player, and a fade curves gently left to right. Both are controlled shots that good players hit on purpose. A slice is an uncontrolled fade that curves hard and loses distance, and a hook is its mirror image to the left. A push starts right and stays right, a pull starts left and stays left, and both fly straight on the wrong line. Knowing which family your miss belongs to tells you whether the problem is aim or curve.

Shot words: chunk, thin, shank and top

A chunk, also called a fat shot, hits the ground before the ball and loses most of its power. A thin shot catches the ball low on the clubface and flies low and fast, and a top barely contacts the top of the ball so it dribbles forward. A shank strikes the ball with the hosel, the neck of the club, and sends it sharply sideways. A duff is a general word for any badly mishit shot. These words sound harsh, but every golfer has hit all of them, usually in the same round.

Short game words: chip, pitch, flop and bump and run

A chip is a low shot from just off the green that spends more time rolling than flying. A pitch is higher and flies further than it rolls, usually with a wedge. A flop is a very high, short shot that stops fast, played with an open face. A bump and run is the low chip played along the ground, often with a mid iron. A gimme is a putt so short that partners agree it counts as holed, in casual golf only. In competition, you hole everything.

Calls and customs: fore, mulligan and honours

Fore is the warning shout when a ball may hit someone. Shout it loud and early. A mulligan is a free replay of a bad shot, allowed only by group agreement in casual games, never in competition. Honours is the custom that the player who won the last hole tees off first, though ready golf overrides it in most casual rounds. These customs sit beside the formal rules, and golf etiquette: the unwritten rules every beginner should know covers how they work in practice.

Words for your swing positions

Address is your setup over the ball. Takeaway is the first movement away from the ball. The top is the end of the backswing, transition starts the downswing, impact is contact, and the finish is your balanced end position. When an app or coach talks about checkpoints, they mean these positions and the ones between them. Start with golf swing basics: the complete beginner guide, then learn one position word at a time as you film and check your own swing. Vocabulary follows practice, not the other way round.