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A Golf Glossary
Albatross. A score
of three strokes under Par. Three under
Par is a very rare score and an Albatross is a very rare bird, maybe giving
rise to the use of the term!
Birdie. A score of one stroke under Par on a given
hole. From the 19th century American slang term "bird", meaning
The first stroke
system, developed in England
at the end of the 19th Century. The full history is given in Robert
Browning's book History of Golf (1955).
Caddy. From the French: “le cadet”, meaning boy or
youngest in the family. The word caddie appeared in English in 1634. A Caddy became used for a general-purpose porter or
errand boy in Scottish towns in the18th Century, particularly used
for delivering water in the days before modern utilities.
Eagle. A score
of two under Par.
Fore! The origin
of the term Fore is disputed. The most
probable explanation seems to be that
“forecaddies” were employed to stand where the ball was likely to land, so that
expensive golf balls were not lost. The
call would be to warn them that a player was making a shot.
Links A Links is any rough
grassy area between the water and the land and the word itself is derived form
the Anglo-Saxon word 'hlinc', of about 931 AD, meaning a ridge. Later the word
was used to denote any common grassy area in a town and now the term 'The
Links' is used to refer to any golf course.
Since early golf was played on iced over rivers and estuaries, the
‘links’ land margin makes perfect sense.
Par. A stock exchange term describing when a stock
may be above or below its normal or 'par' figure. First use attributed to
AH Doleman, a golf writer, in 1870.
Tee The area
in which the player makes his first stroke or
the support for the ball when it is first hit.
“Tee” is derived from the Gaelic word 'tigh' meaning house and is
related to the 'house' in curling (the coloured circles).