Dime
A dime in golf is a slang term for a shot hit with such control that it lands and stops in a tiny area, as if it came to rest on a coin. It usually describes a high-spinning wedge or a soft flop shot that drops next to the pin.
What is a dime in golf?
The phrase comes from the everyday saying “stop on a dime,” and golfers use it the same way. A dime is not an official term. You will not find it in the Rules of Golf or on a scorecard. It is course talk, the kind of thing a playing partner says when a wedge floats up, lands soft, and settles a foot from the hole: “You dropped that one on a dime.”
The image does the work. A US dime measures 17.91 millimetres across and is the smallest coin the US Mint currently produces. Landing a ball on something that small takes precision, so the word became shorthand for a shot that finishes almost exactly where the player aimed. When someone says a shot stopped on a dime, they mean it had little roll and finished close to the target.
There is a second, quieter use of the word too. In putting practice, a dime is sometimes an actual coin, placed on the green as a small target or a focus point. Both uses share the same root idea: the dime stands for something small and precise.
Where the phrase comes from
“Stop on a dime” has been in the language since at least the 1920s, well before golfers adopted it. According to Etymonline, the phrase is attested by 1927, with “turn on a dime” recorded even earlier. It began as a general expression for anything that could halt almost instantly, from vehicles to athletes, and golfers borrowed it because it fit the short game so well. A well-struck wedge with backspin behaves exactly that way. It lands, then checks and holds instead of releasing toward the back of the green.
Golf writers use the phrase freely. Golf Digest ran a short-game lesson titled “Drop it on a dime,” and Golf.com has published tips on getting “lofty pitches to stop on a dime.” The wording is casual, but the meaning is consistent across the game: control over distance and roll.
What golfers mean when they say it
When a player is complimented for hitting a dime, the praise is about the result, not the swing. The ball carried the right distance and landed softly, then stayed put instead of rolling out.
Two kinds of shots earn the description most often. The first is the high-spin wedge shot. Backspin makes the ball grip the green and stop quickly, sometimes with a hop and a check. According to Consistent Golf Solutions, a shot that lands soft and stops fast typically combines a high spin rate, in the range of 8,000 to 10,000 RPM or more, with a steep descent angle of roughly 45 to 50 degrees. That mix is what kills the ball’s forward roll.
The second is the flop shot. In his Golf Digest lesson, instructor Jason Baile describes the flop as a shot you use when you need to get the ball up high and stop it quickly, with no room to let it run. The clubface points nearly skyward, the ball climbs steeply, and it lands with what he calls a thud rather than a roll. A good flop that finishes by the pin is a dime in the purest sense.
Neither shot is easy, which is part of why the word carries a little admiration. Hitting a dime signals touch and confidence around the green.
The dime as a practice target
The other place the word shows up is on the practice green. Here a dime is literally a coin, and it works as a tiny target that sharpens accuracy.
Titleist’s “Dime Drill,” demonstrated by instructor Michael Breed, uses a dime as a focus point under the ball. The player keeps their eyes on the coin through the stroke, which stops the head from lifting early and pulling the putt offline. Other coaches use the coin as an aim point instead. In the Dime Time game, credited to short-game instructor James Sieckmann, a player sets a dime a couple of feet ahead of the ball and tries to roll the putt directly over it, testing how well they start the ball on line.
The logic is simple. Practising to a target far smaller than the hole makes the hole itself feel generous by comparison. A player who can consistently roll a ball over a dime is starting putts on their intended line.
Dime vs. similar golf terms
Because “dime” is about finishing close to the target, it gets mixed up with a few other pieces of course slang. They describe related but different things.
| Term | What it means | How it differs from a dime |
|---|---|---|
| Dime | A shot that lands soft and stops in a tiny area near the target | The emphasis is on control and lack of roll |
| Stick it | To hit an approach that finishes close to the pin | Focuses on proximity to the hole, not how the ball stopped |
| Pin high | A ball that finishes level with the hole in distance, even if left or right | Only about distance; says nothing about how close or how soft |
| Dance floor | Slang for the putting green itself | Refers to a location, not the quality of a shot |
The clearest overlap is with “stick it.” A shot can be both, and often is. The difference is emphasis. “Stick it” celebrates how close the ball finished, while “dime” celebrates the control that got it there.
Common misconceptions
A search for the word can turn up results from disc golf, where Dime is the name of a putter made by Hooligan Discs. That is a product name from a different sport and has nothing to do with the slang meaning covered here.
It is also worth clearing up that a dime is not a score or a type of hole. Golf has plenty of scoring nicknames, such as a birdie or a snowman for an eight, but a dime is not one of them. It describes how a shot behaved, not a number on the card.
Related Golf Terms
- Hand mashie — Slang for improving a lie by tossing the ball by hand.
- Robbed — Slang for a putt that lips out after looking certain to drop.
- Going low — Slang for shooting an unusually low score.
- Foot wedge — Slang for illegally nudging the ball into a better lie with your foot.
- Blow-up hole — Slang for a hole that goes disastrously wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is “dime” an official golf term?
No. It is informal course slang. The Rules of Golf do not mention it, and it has no bearing on scoring. It simply describes a shot that stops in a small area near the target.
What kind of shot is usually called a dime?
Most often a high-spin wedge or a soft flop shot that lands gently and stops with little roll. Any short-game shot that finishes tight to the pin with good control can earn the name.
What is the dime drill in golf?
It is a putting practice method that uses a dime as either a focus point under the ball, to keep the head still, or as a small target to roll putts over, to check start-line accuracy.
Does the ball have to stop on an actual dime?
No. The word is figurative. It means the ball stopped in a small, tight area near the target, not that it literally came to rest on a coin.
Sources
- Golf Digest. “Drop it on a dime.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.golfdigest.com/story/drop-it-on-a-dime - Golf.com. “A new move to get lofty pitches to stop on a dime.” Accessed July 2026.
https://golf.com/instruction/a-new-move-to-get-lofty-pitches-to-stop-on-a-dime/ - Titleist. “Dime Drill.” Accessed July 2026. https://www.titleist.com/videos/instruction/dime-drill
- Old Duffer Golf. “Putting: Dime Time Game.” Accessed July 2026.
https://oldduffergolf.com/putting-dime-time-game/ - Consistent Golf Solutions. “How to Add or Reduce Spin in Golf.” Accessed July 2026.
https://consistentgolfsolutions.substack.com/p/how-to-add-or-reduce-spin-in-golfand - Wikipedia. “Dime (United States coin)” (17.91 mm dimensions, US Mint specs). Accessed July 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_(United_States_coin) - Etymonline. “Dime (etymology).” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/dime
