Autumn Golfers

AUTUMN GOLFERS

"PLAY TILL THE SNOW FLIES," THE SLOGAN

... TERMS COMMONLY USED...

Season Later Than Any Predecessor 

Information for All Classes of Players

Golfers are playing later this season than has ever been the case, and this sign is gratifying to those that have worked in the interests of the game’s advancement. The autumnal days out of doors are always enticing to nature lovers, and as golfers are invariably members of this fraternity they cannot be blamed for frequenting the links as late in the year as possible.

Few amateur golf players are conversant with the numerous expressions in “ye royal and auncient game,” and while many of the terms are associated with the past time since its infancy, two centuries ago, the recent cosmopolitan growth is accountable for the addition of several expressions which, in conjunction with the older ones, dignify the game by claiming for a language unquestionably its own.

Many of the definitions given below are obsolete among the fin de siecle golfers, but are still used end cherished by Scotch “gowfers,” who, as “bairns”, first heard of baffys and waggles and duffs:

Addressing the ball - The players method of standing in handling the club preparatory two striking the ball

Approach - The stroke by which the ball is played on to the putting green.

Bents - The long, wiry grasses found on seashore links.

Brassie - A wooden club soled with brass

Bogie - A given number of strokes for each hole which the player competes against

Bunker - Originally a natural sand hole on the golf course; now used also of artificially made hazards with built up faces

Bulger - A convex faced wooden club.

Bye - The hole or holes of the stipulated course that remains unplayable after a match is finished.

Cleek - And iron club with a long and narrow face, used for long shots through the green when a ball lies badly or when a wooden club would take it too far.

Dead - A ball is said to be dead when it lies so near the hole that the player is certain to hold it in the next stroke. A ball is also said to quotation mark fall dead end quotation mark when it does not roll after reaching the ground

Divot - The slice of turf cut out by the club in playing a stroke.

Dormy - A player is said to be dormy when he is as many holes up as there remains to be played, so that he cannot be beaten and at worst must halve the match.

Driver - The wooden club used for playing the longest strokes.

Down - A player is down when his opponent has one or more holes than he has.

Follow Through - the forward following of the club after hitting the ball.

Fore - The word shouted by the golfer when about to strike to give warning to the parties in front.

Harry Vardon, British Ex-Champion Golfer [From his latest photo.]

Green - Synonymous with links or course, also used as a contraction for putting green.

Grip - First, the upper part of the club shaft gripped by the player; second, the manner of gripping the club.

Half stroke - A handicap of one stroke at every second hole.

Half shot - A shot played with a half swing and not intended to go as far as a full shot.

Halved - A household is one to which both sides have taken the same number of strokes. A match is halved when no advantage has been gained by either side.

Hanging ball - A ball which lies on a downward slope in the direction in which it needs to be driven.

Hazard - Any kind of a difficulty, not being the ordinary grass of the course into which the golf ball may get, except such as are mentioned by special rule as not constituting hazards.

Heel - The part of the face or hitting surface of the club nearest the shaft.

Heeled ball - To hit the ball with the heel so as to cause it to fly to the right, when a straight faced club is used.

Hole - First, the entire space of the ground between the teeing ground and putting green; second, the hole itself or the putting green.

Home – A ball is said to be “home" when it is played onto the home or last green.

Hook - To put the ball round to the left with the toe of the club, when straight faced club is used.

Iron - A club with an iron head, used chiefly for approaching the hole and for lifting the ball over obstacles.

Miss Bessie Anthony. [The greatest woman player the west has ever produced.]

Jerk - To play a ball so that the clubhead strikes into the ground immediately behind the ball.

Lie - The position of the ball anywhere on the course after it has been played.

Lift - To take a ball out of a hazard and drop it or tee it according to the rules.

Loft - To raise a ball into the air.

Mashie - An iron club which is shorter in the head then the iron and more lofted, used principally for short approaches.

Match Play - The method of playing the game of golf by counting the number of holes gained or lost by each side.

Medal Play - The method of playing the game of golf by counting the number of strokes taken to the round by each player.

Niblick - An iron club, with a round, small and very heavy head; Used, when necessary, to extricate the ball from its position in bunkers or hazards of any description. Hollowed ground niblicks are preferable to the ordinary, as they put a ball much quicker and straighter into the air from its position, owing to the hallowed face.

Nose - The end of the head farthest from the shaft.

Par - The power of a hole around is the total number of strokes which should be required for them, without mistakes.

Press - To put an extra amount of force into the swing.

Putt - A stroke played with a putter on a putting green, to play the ball into the hole.

Potter - A club with either a wooden or metal head, used on a putting green to play the ball into the hole.

Sclaff - To scrape the surface of the ground with the sole of the clubhead before striking the ball.

Slice - To draw the face of the club across a ball so that it occurs to the right.

Spoon - A wooden club with a lofted face.

Stance - The position of the player's feet in playing a stroke.

Stymie - A stymie occurs on the putting green when one of the balls lies directly in front of the other, on the line to the hole, and the balls are more than six inches apart.

Swing - The method in which the club is swung in the act of striking.

Tee - The small elevation, usually a pinch of sand, from which the ball is struck for the first stroke to each hole.

Teeing Ground - The marked out space from which the ball must be struck at the commencement of each hole.

Third - A handicap of one stroke given at every third hole.

Top - To hit the ball above its center.

Up - A player is said to be up when he has gained one or more holes than his opponent.

Wrist Shot- A short stroke played from the wrist.

Waggie - The preliminary moves and gestures made by a player immediately prior to striking the ball.