Golf Course Terms

[Forrest Richardson]

About two years ago we began collecting terms used to describe hazards, course elements, styles, famous holes, quirky slang words, etc. -- all about golf courses in specific. So far we have more than 3,500 terms collected in a work called, "On Course -- a Dictionary of Golf Course Terms".

I will be grateful for any replies with some of your favorites. I am sure we have missed many good terms. When this small dictionary is out I will be sure to have several copies on hand for those of you who were kind to respond.

I plan on wrapping this up by early February.

[corey miller]

Forrest- there were a good number of terms collected in a fairly recent thread. I remember Scott B. having provided a lot.  

[A_Clay_Man]

Do you mean architecturally speaking? Like noses, kickplates and church pews type of stuff or is my secular putting humor about Jehoviah's witness being turned away at the door count?

[TEPaul]

Forrest:

Do you have "kickups" in there? Do you have the "skyline green" in there? How about "topped shot" bunkers?

You'd better get "the maintenance meld" and the ramifications of it in there too Pal, or you'll have to go to a reprint in less than a year! We can even supply you with the etymology of the latter--which would certainly be Golfclubatlas.com!

[cary lichtenstein]

add upper top and lower bottom, also add fly by

[Forrest Richardson]

All terms about courses are fair game. Good ideas in the last few posts.

PLEASE PROVIDE A SHORT DEFINITION WITH YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. Thanks.

[Forrest Richardson]

Thanks for the suggestions. Feel free to e-mail me directly. Your choice.

[Tommy_Naccarato]

CCFAD-Country Club For A Day, which, let us hope that it is all they are--a fad.

(Sadly, I think they are here to stay.)

[TEPaul]

Forrest:

You'll need to get the "Steve Curry greenspeed barometer" in there too because in a few years the stimpmeter and it's pesky numbers will be but a memory and putting green slopes and contours all over the world will be saved from "softening" and "recontouring".  

If you have the two latter terms in your dictionary feel free to delete them--they'll not be needed as they too will be but a distant memory soon!

[Forrest Richardson]

And after these terms are gone, what will replace the new ones in 30+ years? Can you see into the distant future?

[ForkaB]

I can, Forrest, but unfortunately I am not permitted to tell you the answers.

[A_Clay_Man]

Cmon rihc, You can tell us , you'd just have to kill us afterwards.

I like the reverse redan "nader". Other than the eishenhower tree, are there any other named for Presidetial canidates?

[Forrest Richardson]

Yes. Clinton has a tree named after him at Congressional. It is simply "Woody".

[joke]

[TEPaul]

Forrest:

Are you asking what term will replace green "softening" and "recontouring" in 30+ years.

I both can and will tell you the term that should replace those terms. I'd recommend Alister MacKenzie's odd word misuse term (according to Tom Doak)--ie, "Finality"!

As to the term's ("finality") specific definition (as it relates to greenspeeds and the mindless desire that leads to ever increasing greenspeeds which leads to endless cycles of green "softening" and "recontouring") it would be a permanent cap on greenspeed to be determined by individual golf clubs by applying the extremely commonsensical "Steve Currry Greenspeed Barometer".

I'm proposing this to my own club to be put into our Master Plan if not the bylaws of the club or the permanent operating procedures of something like the Green Committee.

I fully expect within 30 years the idea will have swept the world of golf, aided by your dictionary of golf terms!

[Stimp O'Meter]

,

OK TEPaul,

What in the world is a steve currrrry type green speed barometer.. and why wouldn't any measurement of green speed be used and abused equally?

[A_Clay_Man]

Stimpy-The uniqueness of Stephen Curry's SM was that it was site specific, weren't it? .

Forrest-I threw in 'Javier' on another thread, I don't know if it read right. Comprende?

[George Pazin]

Mr. O'Meter -

It isn't an instrument so much as a method. It should probably be renamed the Steve Curry Method for Determining Max Speed for Greens on Any Course (someone else will have to work that into some sort of acronym).

You'll have to ask Steve directly someday, but I think it was something along the lines of taking the most severe green on a course, finding a max speed where it's still puttable, measuring the speed, & then adjusting all other greens to match. It sounds way too logical to catch on.

There are lots of Postulates that fit this site, but would probably cause any outsiders to send the men in the white coats after us.

To name just a few:

The Mucci Postulate - You must play a course before commenting on it.

Which is then amended with the Mucci Corollary - You can't comment on photos without having played the course.

Fortunately, these rules are routinely ignored, to the betterment of the site. (Sorry, Patrick.)

There's also the Ward Postulate: Playing trumps all.

I can't figure Rich Goodale's positions out enough to come up with one for him, but it would probably involve some sort of contrarian approach.

No GCA dictionary would be complete without the word bias & its many synonyms.

P.S. I decided to leave off all the smileys 'cause it would've entailed one every paragraph. Suffice it to say, this post reeks of sarcasm.