Golf has more slang than any sport this side of cricket. Some of it is descriptive (a snowman for an 8, because the number looks like one). Some of it is self-deprecating (army golf — left, right, left, right). Some of it is regional and only makes sense if you’re from a particular country club somewhere. This page is the master index of every nickname, jargon term, and trash-talk piece of golf vocabulary defined on Golfing Fore All.
If you’re new to the game, tired of nodding politely when other players use words you don’t recognise, or just enjoy collecting golf’s unusually rich vocabulary, the terms below are your reference. Every entry links to a plain-English definition reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor.
The Essentials
- Fore — a warning shout when a ball is heading toward someone
- Mulligan — an informal do-over, usually off the first tee
- Gimme — a putt your playing partners agree is so short you can pick it up
- Snowman — an 8 on a single hole (the number looks like a snowman)
- Army Golf — left, right, left, right — alternating misses on either side of the fairway
- Sandbagger — a player who keeps their handicap higher than their real ability
- Yips — the involuntary twitch that ruins putting strokes
- Dance Floor — slang for the green
- Frog Hair — slang for the fringe — the short collar around the green
How These Terms Relate
Golf slang clusters around a few enduring themes. The first is warnings and safety. Fore — short for the older fore-caddie call — is shouted whenever a ball is heading toward another player. Always yell it; etiquette demands it and it prevents injury. Mark is used both for marking your ball position on the green (so you can clean it) and as a slang variant of fore.
The second cluster is do-overs and concessions. A mulligan is a casual do-over, not a real rule, but commonly allowed off the first tee in friendly rounds. A breakfast ball is the morning version of the same. A gimme is a putt your playing partners agree is so short you don’t have to actually hole it — strictly an informal thing, with no place in stroke play or in tournaments. Tap-in is the close cousin: a putt so short you almost can’t miss.
The third cluster is bad shots, which golfers have somehow accumulated more vocabulary for than good ones. A chunk (or fat shot, or chili-dip) is when the club hits the ground behind the ball. A thin or skull is when the club catches the equator of the ball, sending it screaming low. A top is when the club hits the very top of the ball, barely advancing it. A shank (sometimes called a hosel rocket) is when the ball strikes the hosel of the club and shoots out wildly to the right. A whiff is missing the ball entirely on a swing — which, by the way, still counts as a stroke under the rules. The fourth cluster is score nicknames: snowman for an 8 (it looks like one), sandy for an up-and-down from a bunker (saving par after a bunker shot), and dormie for a match-play situation where one player leads by exactly the number of holes left to play. The fifth cluster is course features and lifestyle: cart girl (the beverage cart operator), dance floor (the green), frog hair (the fringe), nineteenth hole (the clubhouse bar), and dawn patrol (the earliest tee time). Each of these terms has a history; many of them tell you something about how the sport sees itself.
The Complete Index
Every term in this cluster, alphabetised, each linked to its full plain-English definition.
- Army Golf
- Banana Ball
- Barkie
- Beach
- Cabbage
- Caddie Tip
- Carpet
- Cart Girl
- Dance Floor
- Dawn Patrol
- Dead
- Dew Sweeper
- Fried Egg
- Frog Hair
- Gunch
- Hosel Rocket
- Jail
- Juicy Lie
- Kick
- Knife
- Member’s Bounce
- Mulligan
- Nineteenth Hole
- Noodle
- Nuked
- Rainmaker
- Sandbagger
- Sandy
- Snowman
Common Questions
Why do golfers yell “Fore!” when they hit a bad shot?
The shout is a warning to other players that a ball is heading toward them. The word comes from “fore-caddie” — historically the caddie who walked ahead of the player to spot the ball — and was originally a call to that caddie to look out. Today it’s the universal warning, and golf etiquette demands that you shout it loudly and as soon as you realise your ball is heading anywhere it could endanger another player. Some courses also use “fore left” or “fore right” to indicate direction. Even on a quiet course, yell it — the alternative is a serious injury.
What is a mulligan, and is it allowed?
A mulligan is a casual do-over — you hit a bad shot, you take it again with no penalty. It is not a real rule of golf and has no place in stroke play, handicap rounds, or any official competition. It is, however, near-universal in friendly rounds, particularly off the first tee (often called a “breakfast ball” because golfers haven’t warmed up yet). The name traces to either David Mulligan, a 1920s Canadian golfer who reportedly took a do-over after a rough drive, or to John A. Mulligan, a New Jersey locker room attendant of the same era. Either way, the term stuck.
Why is an 8 called a snowman?
Because the numeral 8 looks like a snowman — two stacked circles. A 7 on a single hole sometimes gets called a “candlestick” by the same visual logic, though that name has never quite caught on. The snowman nickname is firmly entrenched and used at every level of golf, from casual rounds to TV commentary.
What is a sandbagger?
A sandbagger is a player who deliberately keeps their handicap higher than their actual playing ability, in order to take unfair advantage of net scoring in tournaments. The classic move is to post a couple of bad scores in casual rounds to inflate the handicap, then play to your true ability in a member-guest or club tournament and clean up. Sandbaggers are universally despised. The World Handicap System has several anti-sandbagging features built in (low handicap index limits, exceptional score reductions), but vigilant playing partners and handicap committees are still the main defense.
What is the nineteenth hole?
The clubhouse bar — the place you head after finishing the 18 holes for a drink, a meal, and to settle the day’s bets. The term has been in use since at least the early 1900s and has become so universal that some courses have built an actual nineteenth hole as a tiebreaker hole for matches. The bar version remains the more important one.
What does it mean to be “in jail” or “in the cabbage”?
Both are slang for an unplayable or near-unplayable lie deep in trouble. “In jail” usually means stymied behind trees with no clear shot to the green. “In the cabbage” (or “in the gunch”) means buried in thick rough or junk grass where you can barely find the ball. Both are signals that the smart play is a punch out to the fairway rather than a hero shot — but golfers being golfers, hero shots get attempted anyway, often with predictable results.
Related Clusters
- Rules of Golf — the real rules behind concessions, gimmes, and provisional balls
- Shot Types — the formal names for the shots golfers have slang nicknames for
- Scoring and Stats — the official terms for the scores slang nicknames describe
About This Page
This cluster index is maintained by the Golfing Fore All editorial team and reviewed by a PGA-credentialed editor. If you spot something wrong, our corrections policy explains what happens next.