[Jason Thurman]

There’s one obvious problem with discussing golf courses on the Internet: some of the words we use are really weird and spelled oddly, and when you only read them and never hear them spoken aloud, you may not ever learn how they’re actually pronounced.

For instance, I say “Cabot Links” incorrectly. I’ve called it everything from “ka-BOT” to “CAB-oh” to “CAY-but” to “CAB-ut.” I think maybe the first one or the last one is correct. I can’t really remember. Mostly, I just don’t talk about that course and instead steer the discussion to less phonetically ambiguous ones like “Pine Valley.”

Let’s make a resource for dummies like me to pull up from time to time using the search function. What are some easily mispronounced GCA words, and how are they actually pronounced?

[Nigel Islam]

There’s one obvious problem with discussing golf courses on the Internet: some of the words we use are really weird and spelled oddly, and when you only read them and never hear them spoken aloud, you may not ever learn how they’re actually pronounced.

For instance, I say “Cabot Links” incorrectly. I’ve called it everything from “ka-BOT” to “CAB-oh” to “CAY-but” to “CAB-ut.” I think maybe the first one or the last one is correct. I can’t really remember. Mostly, I just don’t talk about that course and instead steer the discussion to less phonetically ambiguous ones like “Pine Valley.”

Let’s make a resource for dummies like me to pull up from time to time using the search function. What are some easily mispronounced GCA words, and how are they actually pronounced?

I am with you on this subject! I made the mistake of playing Scioto a few weeks ago. Rule of thumb: Never Play a Course you cannot consistently pronounce correctly! What is that Ross course in Cincy again? I got laughed at when I tried to pronounce Strathtyrum too! I never make fun of people for butchering my name either

[Jason Thurman]

The Ross in Cincinnati definitely belongs here:

Maketewah - Pronounced mack-uh-TEE-wuh

How about a few basics?

Biarritz - BEE-uh-rits (or bee-uh-RITZ if you’re Nick Faldo)
Redan – RED-ann (not that tough, but I wondered for a while if it had a French nasal ending or something. #NotInThisLanguage)

Is Ballyneal supposed to have the emphasis on the NEAL? I’ve always put the accent on the first syllable but I hear some smart people who accent the third.

What’s the correct pronunciation of Scioto? The most reliable source I’ve heard calls it “SIGH-oh-tuh” but I’m never sure if he’s correct or if he just likes to give up on the final syllable.

[Nigel Islam]

The Ross in Cincinnati definitely belongs here:

Maketewah - Pronounced mack-uh-TEE-wuh

How about a few basics?

Biarritz - BEE-uh-rits (or bee-uh-RITZ if you’re Nick Faldo)
Redan – RED-ann (not that tough, but I wondered for a while if it had a French nasal ending or something. #NotInThisLanguage)

Is Ballyneal supposed to have the emphasis on the NEAL? I’ve always put the accent on the first syllable but I hear some smart people who accent the third.

What’s the correct pronunciation of Scioto? The most reliable source I’ve heard calls it “SIGH-oh-tuh” but I’m never sure if he’s correct or if he just likes to give up on the final syllable.

Your source is right. Darned if I can actually consistently pronounce it that way. Others: Metarie, Ooltewah (the town the Honors Club is in), Muirfield, and Aronimink.

Curse my  public education!

[Joe Bausch]

Most folks I hang with say re-DAN.

[Nigel Islam]

Most folks I hang with say re-DAN.

Unfortunately, few I hang with know what a redan is. either the French fortress or the golf hole. They prefer "You da man"

[Jason Thurman]

Most folks I hang with say re-DAN.

You're right. I misplaced the emphasis. It's almost impossible to say the word with my emphasis and syllabic pronunciation at the same time.

[Grant Saunders]

Arikikapakapa golf club. Located in the Whakarewarewa reigon of Rotorua, New Zealand.

Have fun with that one  

[Joe Bausch]

Arikikapakapa golf club. Located in the Whakarewarewa reigon of Rotorua, New Zealand.

Have fun with that one  

Your post reminds me of an exchange by a couple of former Australian tennis players (Cliff Drysdale and forget the other guy right now, I think sort of famous for being a doubles player) turned tennis announcers at the US Open maybe 20 years ago where a player by the name of Jaimé Yzaga made a nice run.  One of the two quipped, "If he was playing in Australia he'd be announced as Jim Why-zag-uh."

[Stewart Abramson]

  Elie (EE-lee), Balcomie (Bal-COMB-ee), Dunbar (Dun-BAR), Musselburgh (Musselburra), North Berwick (Berrick) and Gullane, which even the natives say  a couple of different ways, but mostly GULL-in.

[Pete_Pittock]

Ban-done  Or E Gun

[Mark Bourgeois]

Pretty sure Drysdale's African. One "challenge" in pronunciations is to distinguish the way a course/place is pronounced from the dialect in which it's spoken. Should we Americans be saying things like "Sin Tandrews" and "Royal Melbin" or using our tongue? I say the latter. (And, no, it's never acceptable to say things like "Edinburg".)

[Peter Pallotta]

I'm embarrassed by my inability to pronounce Sebonac; it should be straightforward, but I'm pretty sure I'm getting it wrong. Not that it matters much....

Peter

[Peter Pallotta]

Mark - I know how much you love Australia's great courses. So if you want to warm up your accent before going, the only trick I know is to say "Brine Demidge" for "Brain Damage" about 20 times in a row. Easy enough in one sense, but surprisingly hard to repeat just "brine" let alone "brine demidge". But after that, anything is possible

[Mark Bourgeois]

Peter,

Sounds haad to pronounce and not something I'd pick up through my normal preparation routine, which is to eat Bloomin' Onions at Outback Steakhouse.

Thenks,
Maak

[Bill_McBride]

"Brine demmige" is pretty good.   Ask my five year old grandson Jake, who is his favorite golfer, and he says, "Jayson Dye."  I think he heard that on broadcasts from Royal Melbourne. 

[Peter Pallotta]

Bill - Jayson Dye is perfect! (smart grandson you have there - it skips a generation, right? )

Mark - well, that just about did me in. You're an American with a Cajun last name practicing to sound like an Australian but typing like a Kennedy clan Boston Brahmin, and you obsess over the shape of carnivorous Mackenzie bunkers.

Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Peter

[Mark Bourgeois]

I'm just trying to catch up to someone who puts the k on Sebonack, which I think is on Sebonac Road. When people find out Sebonack and Sebonac are the same place, what follows will dwarf the Russian Revolution, which occurred when the people discovered the tsar and the czar were the same person.

[Peter Pallotta]

Oh gawd, now I'm really embarrassed. They (you, Ran) should take away my subscription to the national georgraphic society at the very least. (Full disclosure: I've gone back and fixed the spelling).

P

[Mark Bourgeois]

Peter:

http://www.sebonack.com/

/facepalm

[Mark Bourgeois]

I mean: start the Revolution!

[Steve Okula]

Francophonically;

Biarritz = byu-RITZ
Morfontaine = MOR-fun-ten
Chantilly = Shan-TEE-yee
St. Germain = SANGH ZherMANGH (kind of)
Fontainebleau = FON-ten-blo
St. Cloud = SANGH CLUE
St. Emillion = SAN tem-ee-YON

[Mike Nuzzo]

I've seen two videos recently where they talked about the Root-ing...
Not the Rout-ing as in a golf Out-ing.

Who else says Root-ing?

[Ronald Montesano]

suh-BAH-nick = Sebonac

yah-noon-DAH-sis = Yahnundasis

Does it really matter if you say KAH-bit or KAH-but for Cabot Links?

don't ask me to phonetically spell "country" as in country club...

[RJ_Daley]

Mike, what regional dialect do you think it is to say root-ing?  I think around Iowa and parts of southern WI - the same folks who say 'crik' instead of creek, might say root-ing.  Maybe, Illianna as well.  Who named the show, "root  66"?  What does JK say?  

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