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Aphrodite Hills > Golf Trivia Home > Golf Dictionary H - L

Golf Dictionary what Golf terms really mean

H

Halve - In match play, to tie a hole. Thus, if player A and player B both have a 5 on the 14th hole, they have "halved" the hole. Incidentally, that phrase is pronounced, "they have paved" because the "l" in "halve" is silent, a fascinating fact that player A may want to discuss with player B during the latter's backswing on the 15th tee.

Handicap - An allocation of strokes on one or more holes that permits two golfers of very different ability to do equally poorly on the same course.

Hazard - A man-made obstacle on the course, either a bunker or a water hazard. It is against the rules for players to "ground" their clubs in a hazard, i.e., to allow the clubhead to touch the sand or water before making their shots. They may, however, bury their own head in their hands, strike their forehead with the base of their palms, shake their head vigorously from side to side (with or without their hand placed on their brow) and, if it does not delay the match, lightly and repeatedly tap their head against a tree.

Head - The end of the club that produces bollixes and mis-hits as opposed to the end of the club that produces calluses and blisters.

Hickory - Tough, resilient wood originally used for golf club shafts. The chromed steel tubing employed today has superior strength and durability, but old-time golfers insist that there is nothing more satisfying than the crisp snap of a hickory-shafted club being broken sharply across the knee or the delicate aroma of an entire set of clubs burning merrily in a fireplace.

Hit it in the head To hit the top of the ball.

Hole –

1. To hit the ball into the hole, as in "I holed my putt for a five."

2. The cup in the green into which the ball is hit, as in "Five" Try again, buster-you're in the hole in twelve."

3. One of 9 or 18 playing areas constituting a golf course, as in "On that hole I had a drive, two approach shots and two putts-that makes five."

4. A missing element or discrepancy in a narrative or a fault or flaw in logic or reasoning, as in "Your story is full of holes-what about those two lost balls, the stroke in the water hazard and the out-of-bounds shot?"

5. An aperture or opening, as in "You have a hole in your head-those were practice swings."

6. Indebtedness, as in "You lost, you weasel-you're in the hole to me for fifty bucks."

7. An embarrassing predicament or position, as in "Oh, yeah? Well, I'm not paying, so how do you like them apples? But you fork over fifty clams or you'll be in a real hole at work when I tell your' boss about how when you're supposed to be with your clients you're out on the golf course and your wife about that doxie you met on the putting green"

8. An excavation or cavity, as in "The body was found in a shallow hole in a sand trap by the thirteenth green."

Hole-in-One - An occurrence in which a ball is hit directly from the tee into the hole on a single shot by a golfer playing alone.

Home Course - A place where your chief handicap is that everyone knows exactly what it is.

Honour - The privilege of being laughed at first on the tee.

Hooding the club - A stroke in which the golfer moves his hands ahead and tilts the club head forward (to reduce the club's loft). Done to make the ball fly lower or to get more distance than normal from a club.

Hook & Slice- To hit a shot that curves sharply left (hook) or right (slice), respectively. Players who do one or the other should consider changing the way they stand, hold the club, or swing. Players who do both should consider changing the way they spend their weekends.

I

Identifying the Ball - Except in a hazard, players may, without incurring a penalty, lift a ball they think is theirs and clean it for purposes of identification. After doing so, they must put it back in exactly the same spot from which they took it. However, most golfers are aware that in the few seconds needed to complete this manoeuvre, the earth itself has moved in a number of directions, both because of its own rotation and due to the movements it shares with the solar system and the galaxy, and they compensate for these motions by shifting the position of the ball from, say, the muddy divot hole from which it was removed to a point a few trillionths of an Astronomical Unit away (about a foot) occupied by a nice tuft of grass.

Iffy lie A questionable lie, where it is uncertain how the ball will react when struck.

Impossible Lie - A ball that is in a position that is both completely obstructed by an immovable object and continuously observed by an incorruptible player.

In The last nine holes of the course, also known as the inward half. You're moving in toward the clubhouse.

In his bag Expression used by a golfer who is confident in his ability to pull off a certain shot. The shot is in his bag.

Instruction - Golf is virtually impossible to learn from a book, and some personalised instruction is absolutely essential, but there are a handful of simple admonitions that every player would do well to commit to memory:

· Don't lock your knees.

· Don't bend your left arm.

· Don't loosen your grip.

· Don't pick up your head.

· Don't count out loud.

· Don't write in ink on your scorecard.,

Irons - 1. Penology. Variously shaped pieces of metal by the use of which individuals are subjected to torment. 2. Golf. Variously shaped pieces of metal by the use of which individuals are subjected to torment.

Is that any good? Rhetorical question posed to stunned opponents by a golfer who has just hit a career-best shot

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J

Jack and Jill event A tournament played by one-man-one-woman teams.

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. (See also dead.)

Jigger - 1. Traditional short pitching iron used to get out of trouble on holes 1 through 18. 2. Traditional short measuring glass used to get into trouble at hole 19.

Jump on it To strike the ball with maximum force, with the hope of achieving maximum distance from the club used.

Jungle The thickest, deepest, nastiest rough on the course.

Junior - A golfer who attributes poor play to the fact that he or she lacks the experience of a mature player.

K

Keeping Score - In general, golfers assign a number exactly one higher than the previous one for each shot they play to arrive at the cumulative total of all the strokes required to complete a given hole. While it has the merit of simplicity, this system does tend to produce discouragingly high numbers, and players who perennially score in the 90s or higher might think about switching to an unconventional numbering system which, while still adhering strictly to the custom of counting each and every stroke, nevertheless provides a more acceptable result. Two excellent candidates are the arithmetic series -2,-1,0,1,2,3,4 etc. and 1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,4 etc. Also worth considering are binary numbers, which, no matter how large, are always composed of zeros and ones, and Roman numerals, whose simple written form (the key golf numbers 4,5,6,7 and 8 are indicated by IV,V,VI,VII and VIII) permits alteration of the scorecard with the effortless erasure or addition of an "I" or two rather than the complex conversion of, say, a telltale Arabic "9" into a "5."

Kick Literally, the way the ball bounces. Sometimes it kicks your way and sometimes it doesn't, but golfers are always asking for a good kick.

Knee-knocker A putt in the three-to-four-foot range that causes emotional and physical problems for the golfer. The term comes from the nervous trembling that accompanies these short putts. Every golfer experiences a knee-knocker at some time. (See also throw-up range and yips.}

Knickers - Baggy trousers worn by golfers in the 1930s. They were called "plus fours" because they were cut off four inches below the knee, then tucked into long socks. Plus fours have disappeared from golf courses, and the only golfing apparel anything like them that exists today is a much more appealing form of attire, worn by women, known as "minus tens."

Knife The one iron. The toughest club to hit. If you carry a 'knife in your bag, you're either a real player or a phony who wants to look like a real player. A few swings with the knife will reveal the true you. Lee Trevino advises golfers caught in a lightning storm to hold their one irons aloft because "even God can't hit a one iron."

Knockoff A club that is a clone or forgery of an original design. Knockoff clubs are attractive to golfers because they're so much less expensive than the clubs they imitate.

L

Ladies' Days & Hours - Times set aside by a golf club during which the use of the course is exclusively reserved for women players, who are sometimes barred at other times. The number of women playing golf has increased dramatically in recent years, but as the institution of Ladies' Days and Hours indicates, their presence on courses is still objectionable to male players who take the game of golf very seriously and resent the sudden intrusion into their hallowed pastime of the lady golfer, whose insistence on actually hitting balls toward the holes interferes with the conduct of business deals, interrupts the recounting of lengthy comic narratives, and impedes the timely exchange of critical information on the recent performance of automobiles and the relative prospects of sports teams.

Ladies' Tees - Teeing areas placed somewhat closer to the greens to compensate for the fact that although women are as capable as men of playing first-rate golf, they do not, as a rule, hit the ball as far. Other allowances made for women golfers to permit them to hold their own during rounds with male players include giving them, along with their scorecards, a copy of The Wall Street Journal, a booklet of old jokes and a laminated card on which is printed key data on the recent performance of various cars and ball clubs.

Lag - A long putt played conservatively to make sure that the ball ends up near enough to the hole to be sunk with the next stroke. If this putt is missed, it is referred to as an "aaag."

Lay up - To aim short of the green and chip on rather than attempt a long or otherwise risky approach shot.

Leaf rule - Rule used in certain parts of America during autumn allowing a golfer to play another ball without penalty when his previous shot is lost and assumed covered by leaves. The leaf rule can cause a lot of arguments. You can protect against opponents invoking this rule by carrying a book of matches and gasoline in your golf bag.

Left-handed Golfers - Although golf, with its overwhelming right-handed orientation, penalises left-handed players more than other sports do, it also provides two significant advantages to "southgrips": most golfers can't borrow your spare golf glove and they can't demonstrate the "right way to swing that club" after you muff your drive.

Legs - A ball is said to have "legs" if it continues to roll a significant distance after landing. If it bounces into the rough and becomes wedged under a rock or in the crook of a tree, it is said to have "claws." If it runs down a bank and into a water hazard, it has "fins." If, on a putt, it rings the cup without going in, it has "lips." And if it does all these things on the same hole, it is given "wings" and flung into the underbrush.

Lie - 1. Where the ball comes to rest after being hit by a golfer. 2. The number of strokes it took to get it there, as reported by that golfer.

Links - Golf courses are often referred to as "links," but, strictly speaking, this term applies only to a course laid out over the natural contours of the bleak, wind-swept land along the sea, as was the original course at St. Andrews. At first glance, the lush golf courses in the U.S. seem to bear little resemblance to their austere Scottish progenitor, but tradition is very important in the game of golf and American clubs have made every effort to be true to their Highland roots. For example, no towel in any golf club's locker room exceeds 2 square feet in area or 1/20th of an inch in thickness; no light bulb in any washroom is ever of a wattage greater than 25; no radiator in any dressing room achieves a temperature higher than 66°, nor is hot water ever warmer than 88°; walls are painted only in years divisible by 16, and no

object or mechanism is replaced until the end of the decade in which it first broke or ceased to function; and all facilities for women are faithfully patterned after the original Wee Lassies' Changing Boothy in a leaky greenskeeper's but overlooking the Firth of Fife.

Lip - 1. Perimeter of grass surrounding the hole. 2. Remarks made by fellow golfer when your putt stops there.

Lip out A putt that hits the lip and spins out.

Local Rules - A set of regulations that are ignored only by players on one specific course rather than by golfers as a whole.

Loft - The angle of a clubface and the corresponding steepness of the shot it will produce. Loft angles range from the relatively shallow ones used for long, unobstructed shots (12° for a driver, 20° for a fairway wood, 30° for a 5-iron) to the much steeper ones needed to clear obstacles (47 ° for a 9-iron, 58° for a sand wedge, 75° for the tip of a golf shoe, and up to 100° for a throwing arm).

Loose Impediments - Natural and legally movable objects that interfere with play, such as dazed or disoriented reptiles or mammals, stunned birds, pulverised stones, flattened bushes, uprooted shrubs, severed branches and felled trees, or if you are Tiger Woods boulders that require a complete work crew to move.

Lost Ball - An opponent's missing ball after 90 seconds of searching, or one of your own after 20 minutes.

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