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More on the Golf Dictionary, we're getting there!

M

Make the turn When you move from the front side of the course to the back nine (tenth hole), you have made the turn. You probably also tallied your score for the first nine, which may turn your stomach.

Mark - Any small object, such as a coin or tee, placed directly behind a ball to indicate a point on the green that is 5 inches farther from the hole than the spot where the ball will be replaced.

Match Play - Golfing competition whose outcome is determined by calculating which team or individual had the lowest score on the most holes.

Medal Play - Golfing competition whose outcome is determined by calculating which player had the lowest overall score for 18 holes.

Melee Play - Golfing competition whose outcome is determined by a fistfight on the 18th green.

Members bounce - A lucky bounce that creates the illusion that a golfer is familiar with the course and knows how to play his shots accordingly.

Military golf - "Left, right. Left, right." (See also army golf!)

Milk the grip - lighten and tighten the grip on a club alternately before beginning a swing. This enables a golfer to get exactly the correct grip pressure (light) for a solid stroke.

Mixed Foursome - A quartet of golfers composed of two separate grounds for divorce.

Money player - The golfer who seems to make every big putt and come up with a good shot in every pressure situation.

Moving day - Saturday—the day in four-day professional tournaments when contenders attempt to move into position to win.

Muff - To mishit a shot.

Mulligan - A second, provisional ball played following a tee shot that may be lost or unplayable. If the first ball is indeed lost or unplayable, the "Mulligan" is then played with a one-stroke penalty. If the provisional ball is played, but the player forgets or declines to add the penalty stroke to his or her score, it's a "Haldeman." If the player finds the original ball in a playable but inconvenient position, surreptitiously pockets it and plays the provisional ball, again without penalty, it's an "Ehrlichman." If a player steals a ball from an opponent's bag to play as a provisional ball, then counts neither the stroke used to hit it nor a penalty stroke, it's a "Nixon."

N

Nassau - A golf scoring system that allocates one point to the winner of each 9 holes and one to the winner of the 18. This system is a favourite among high-stakes bettors. Of course, no one on a golf course with even the remotest idea of what constitutes proper behaviour in the game of golf would dream of placing a wager on the outcome of a round. However, since there is no one on any golf course who has even the remotest idea of what constitutes proper behaviour in the game of golf, betting is universal.

Natural, a - A birdie made without the aid of any handicap strokes. Naturally, a natural always seems to happen on the tough holes, where handicap strokes are given. Easier holes, where no handicap strokes are available, often produce natural triple bogies.

Needle - When you are verbally teasing and taunting your opponents, you are needling them or sticking in the needle. A good needier can really get under the skin of his competition.

Never up, never in - Admonition used after a putt is left short. In other words, another way to state the obvious.

19th Hole - The only hole on which golfers do not complain about the number of shots they took, or the place where most golfers find their best lies.

Numbers - A player's score after the subtraction of his or her handicap from the Gross Score is the Net Score. Adding strokes for each Mulligan yields the True Score. If whiffs and fluffs are also counted, the resulting tabulation is the Real Score. If strokes for lost balls, improved lies, and shots hit out of bounds are included as well, the grand total is the Actual Score. This number, when adjusted upward to reflect all gimme putts, becomes the Correct Score. When all the strokes made in sand traps and around obstructions are tacked on, this larger sum is the Absolute, Final, Honest-to-Goodness Score, which is usually only a halfdozen or so strokes lower than the total number of shots the player in fact made.

Golf Dictionary - What golf terms really mean

O

OB - The abbreviation for the three saddest words in golf—out of bounds. You don't want to go there.

Obstructions - Golfers may move their balls away from or remove any artificial obstacles not part of the course such as torn and crushed hats and other discarded articles of clothing; chewed scorecards; ripped instruction books; halved golf balls; discarded golf clubs; demolished handcarts; and over turned and burning electric carts.

Official Records - The history of golf is filled with the memorable accomplishments of the game's stars, but, alas, the more humble achievements of less skilled players often go unsung. The brief list below is an attempt to rectify this unfortunate state of affairs:

SHORTEST MISSED PUTT: .83 inch, Randall P. Huggins, 9th Green, Gossiping Pines C.C., Bedham, Mass., 1977.

LONGEST SUSTAINED SCREAM: 39 seconds, Liz Yownes, 8th tee, Tallulah Lake C.C., Los Nachos, Calif., 1982

SHARPEST SHAFT BEND IN ONE MOTION: 314°, A. McNaith 14th hole, Napping River C.C., Necco, Ont., 1968

FARTHEST THROWN CLUB: 86.4 yards, B. Bob Binger, wind mill hole, Tumbleweed Putt 'n' Sup, Zeno, Tex., 1974

One-putt - To send the ball into the hole with one stroke of a putter after taking 11 shots to reach the green. See

Open - A tournament that is open to all players, amateur or professional, who can qualify. Big tournaments like the British and U.S. Opens are the goal of any talented golfer, but it is worth remembering that whereas in, say, tennis only 50 percent of the players in the men's singles final will lose, in golf more than 98 percent of the players in the final round of a tournament invariably fail to win.

Out of Bounds - A ball lies out of bounds and may not be played if the whole of its circumference is beyond the line marked by the stakes that form the golf course boundary. Many golfers feel, however, that a ball which appears to be out of bounds should, considering the curvature of the earth, be more properly regarded as in bounds since it lies a good 24,900 miles inside the out-of-bounds line.

Overclubbing & Underclubbing - Using clubs that hit the ball over your target ("too much club") or short of it ("too little club") is a common mistake made by many players. You can overcome this error by understanding what each club can do, and meanwhile you can compensate by overlooking and undercounting, and, if caddies are present, by overtipping with an understanding.