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Brush Up on Your Golf Lingo: Birdie, Eagle, and Albatross Explained

Don’t worry, we’re not about to take a history lesson on birds! We’re simply talking about the everyday terms used on the golf course. If you’re not familiar with phrases like birdie, eagle, or albatross, it’s time to get caught up.

Another term to know is ‘lady’. This describes a failed tee shot that doesn’t even make it over the ladies tee. As a thank you, it’s customary to buy your fellow golfers a drink after the round.

Here’s a list of the most important golf vocabulary to get you started.

20 terms from the golf world and their meaning

  • Tee: The place where the hole to be played begins – usually an elevated lawn

  • Birdie: Punch in with a blow under par

  • Bogey: Punch in with one punch over par (two punches more is a double bogey)

  • Bunker: No shelter, but an obstacle filled with sand on the fairway or around the green

  • Driving range: Practice area

  • Drive: the tee (1. blow) on a hole

  • Fairway: Short mowed grass area between tee and green

  • Flight: The group (between two and four players) that competes in a round of golf

  • Fore: Attention danger! Is called when a ball has been beaten and could hit another player

  • Green: Short-cut lawn on which the hole is located.

  • Green fee: Game fee for non-club players

  • Handicap (Hcp): Golfer’s playing strength

  • Hole in one or ace: When the first shot ends up in the hole

  • Par: Comes from Latin (pari = equal). Shows the golfer how many strokes will ideally be needed for the course

  • Course qualification (PR): Requires a golfer to be able to play on a course

  • Putt: A blow on the green towards the hole. For this purpose, a special golf club, the putter

  • Score: Hit result per hole/round

  • Stableford: Competition by points, in which the handicap of the players is taken into account

  • Strokeplay: also called counting game. In this type of game, all strokes over 18 holes are added together. The lowest result wins

  • Tea: On the one hand, refers to the tee place of a hole, on the other hand, the wooden or plastic tip on which you place the ball at the tee

  • Tee-time: Tee time at which the players start the round of golf

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