Glossary-Golf Terms

“Forget your opponents; Always play against the par”

— Sam Snead

But what is a “par” exactly ?

Let’s see golf terminology for beginners !

PAR

Par is the number of strokes on the golf course; all golfer are expected to complete a hole. With a par, you can write on your scoreboard : 0.
This number of strokes for completing a par depends on the lenght and the difficulty of the hole.

BIRDIE

When the golfer plays one stroke under the par, we call it a “birdie”. Therefore, you can write on your scoreboard : -1.
For exemple, if you score 3 strokes on a par 4 then you do a birdie!

EAGLE

After the birdie, you have the beautiful Eagle. It appears rarely because you have to score 2 strokes under the par wich is very difficult.

ALBATROSS

Albatross… and why not a gull ? Is this a golf blog or a birdwatcher blog ? These are legetimate questions and I might have your answer :

In 19th century American slang, the term “bird” is applied to something good. So, bird was the “cool” of the 1800’s in the USA and it became birdie. On the golf courses they wanted to stay with the ornithological register. Therefore, An “eagle” with a larger wingspan than a “birdie” sparrow, meant a shot made in 2 points under par, and an even larger albatross, (3 points).

ACE

I can assure you that if one day you do an ace in a golf course, you will regret to have not record it. Why ? Because an ace is when you need only one stroke to finish the hole.

Two possiblities for that :

Or you are very skilled.
Or you are a very lucky human being and then go play the lottery.

TEE BOX

This is the place where you should start your golf course. There are, at least, two different tee areas.
It represents the different starting points for every golfer by using different colors of tees. Your tee box depends on you gender and your handicap (the rank).

GREEN

The green is the place where stand the flag and the hole. This is the place you need to aim.
The lenght of the grass here is less than 2mm.

FAIRWAY

The fairway is the shortcut grass you can see between the tee box and the green.

ROUGH

This term describes the borders’ area of the fairway. Believe me, you do not want to shoot your ball here because of the lenght of the grass it’s way more difficult than on the fairway.

PUTT

The putt is the shoot you do with your putter on the green. This shoot requires a lot of precision and dexterity.

BUNKER

This term describes an area on the golf course that is filled with sand instead of grown with grass. The shoot is way more difficult in there so you want to avoid it as much as possible.

FORE

“Fore !” (or “BALLE !” in French) is the word you need to yell when your ball is flying speedy close to other players.