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Reference

Golf terms, defined

The words this site uses, explained in the same physics the pages are written from. Each one links to where it does real work, so you can read the term and then read the fault it belongs to.

Directions are written for a right-handed golfer throughout. Left-handers mirror them.

A

Address
The position you take before the club moves: aim, ball position, stance width, posture and grip. It is the reference the whole swing is measured from, so a reference that is rebuilt slightly differently every time explains misses that seem to have no pattern.
Where it matters
Angle of attack
Whether the club is still descending or already climbing when it reaches the ball. A steep delivery narrows the margin between fat and thin, so a small low point error turns into a big miss, and a club still descending into a teed ball raises spin and drops launch. It is a measurement: only a launch monitor gives you the number.
Where it matters

B

Ball position
Where the ball sits between your feet, which decides where it is relative to the bottom of the swing arc. Too far forward and the club is already climbing when it arrives; too far back and it is still descending steeply and delivers less loft than the club carries.
Where it matters
Ball speed
How fast the ball leaves the face. Contact away from the middle passes less of the club's speed to it, so the same swing sends a slower ball, and that lost speed is usually a bigger part of a short shot than the swing itself.
Where it matters
Blade
A short shot where the leading edge catches the middle of the ball instead of the face meeting the back of it, so it comes out low and hot and runs well past. It is the same fault as a chunk seen from the other side: the bottom of the arc is in the wrong place, which is why one often follows the other.
Where it matters
Block
A shot that starts right of the target and stays there, with no curve to bring it back. The face is square to a path that is travelling right, so there is nothing to bend it. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Bounce
The step on the sole of a wedge where the back edge sits lower than the leading edge. It lets the sole skid through sand or turf instead of digging in, which is what carries a bunker shot out. Opening the face uses more of it; pressing the handle forward lifts it clear and sends the leading edge down.
Where it matters
Break
How far a putt curves with the slope on its way to the hole. A putt slows as it nears the hole, so the slope has the most time to work in the last stretch, where most of the visible break happens. A putt dying at the hole takes more break than one rolled firmly at it, which makes break and pace one decision rather than two.
Where it matters

C

Casting
Throwing the wrist angle away at the start of the downswing, so the shaft arrives vertical or leaning backwards. That adds loft, moves the bottom of the arc behind the ball and widens the arc early, which is why casting costs distance and drops the strike low on the face at the same time.
Where it matters
Centre of gravity
The balance point of the clubhead. The point on the face in line with it is the sweet spot, and contact away from that point twists the head around it during impact, which is where gear effect comes from.
Where it matters
Chunk
A shot where the club hits the ground before the ball and takes turf first, so it comes out heavy and well short. Same thing as a fat shot, and the word is used most around the green.
Where it matters
Closed face
The face pointing left of where the club is travelling at impact. The ball starts left of the path and keeps turning left, and because a closed face also removes loft, the flight is lower than expected. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Compression
Not a feeling you add to a swing. It is what you get when the club reaches its lowest point after the ball with the club's own loft still on it, so the mark on the turf is the most direct evidence of it you have.
Where it matters
Crown
The top of the clubhead, above the face. A scuff on the crown rather than on the face means the head passed under the ball and caught it with the top edge, which is a skied shot rather than a high strike.
Where it matters

D

Deceleration
The club slowing down before it reaches the ball, almost always after a backswing longer than the shot required. Speed disappears at the only moment it matters and the bottom of the arc becomes unpredictable, which is why the same fault produces both the chunk and the blade.
Where it matters
Divot
The strip of turf the club takes out after the ball. Which way it points records the direction the club was travelling, and how deep it is records how steeply the club came down, so it is the plainest evidence on the ground of what the swing actually did.
Where it matters
Draw
A shot that curves gently from right to left for a right-handed golfer. The curve comes from the face sitting a little closed to the path the club is travelling on; the same relationship taken further gives a hook.
Where it matters

E

Early extension
The hips pushing toward the ball through the downswing while the body stands up out of its address posture. The hands and club are forced up and away with it, so the bottom of the arc moves backwards and upwards and the club is still rising when it reaches the ball.
Where it matters

F

Face angle
Where the clubface is pointing when it meets the ball. Start direction is governed almost entirely by it, which is why the first third of the flight tells you about the face and the rest tells you about the curve.
Where it matters
Face to path
The difference between where the face points and where the club is travelling at impact. That difference is what bends the shot: face open to the path bends it right, face closed to the path bends it left, and a face square to the path sends it straight along the path with no curve at all.
Where it matters
Fade
A shot that curves gently from left to right for a right-handed golfer, produced by the face sitting a little open to the path. A ball that starts left and stays left is a pull with the face matching the path, not a fade that ran out of room.
Where it matters
Fat
The club meeting the ground before the ball, so the shot comes out heavy, weak and short. It means the bottom of the swing arc arrived before the ball rather than after it.
Where it matters
Flyer
A shot from grass or wet ground that goes further than the club should. Anything trapped between the face and the ball cuts the friction that creates spin, so the ball launches higher, carries further than expected and runs on landing. It is a lie problem rather than a swing problem.
Where it matters
Fried egg
A ball sitting in a saucer of its own in the sand with a raised ring around it. A ball with only its top showing is fully plugged, which is a different lie again.
Where it matters

G

Gear effect
Contact away from the middle of the face twists the head around its centre of gravity during impact, and that twist puts spin on the ball. With a driver or a wood, a toe strike curves the ball right to left and a heel strike left to right, and a strike low on the face raises spin while lowering launch. The effect grows with head size, so a bend that is severe with a driver and mild with an iron is the strike rather than the face.
Where it matters
Grain
The direction the grass has grown, most obvious on Bermuda. Into the grain the blades resist the sole, so the club drags and the shot comes out short; down the grain the sole skids and the ball runs out. Dull, dark grass is into the grain and shiny, light grass is down it.
Where it matters

H

Heel
The part of the face nearest the shaft. A heel strike costs ball speed, and with a driver or a wood it twists the head closed and adds left-to-right spin through gear effect, so it can pass for a slice. A heel strike and a shank are the same fault at different severities.
Where it matters
Hook
A shot that turns hard from right to left and runs a long way after landing. The face is closed to the path by enough that the curve outruns a draw. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Hosel
The rounded neck where the shaft joins the head. It is round rather than flat, and the part of it that meets the ball faces well right of the target, which is why a ball struck there leaves low and sharply right with almost none of the speed the swing produced.
Where it matters

L

Lead and trail
The lead side is the one nearer the target and the trail side is the one further from it. For a right-handed golfer the lead hand, arm, shoulder and foot are the left ones. Every page on this site is written for a right-handed golfer, and left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Leading edge
The sharp bottom edge of the clubface. When the handle is pressed too far forward, or the face is turned in rather than opened, the leading edge is what meets the ball or the sand first, which digs in sand and skulls a chip off turf.
Where it matters
Lie
How the ball is sitting and what is around it: tight turf, thick rough, sand, or ground tilted under your feet. The lie changes what the club can do before the swing starts, and some faults are lie problems that no swing change fixes.
Where it matters
Loft
The angle built into the clubface, and how much of it is actually delivered at impact. The handle leaning forward strips loft off; the clubhead passing the hands before the ball adds it. Height comes from the loft already on the club rather than from anything you do to lift the ball.
Where it matters
Low point
The lowest point of the swing arc, and where it lands relative to the ball. In front of the ball the club takes the ball first and then the turf; behind it, the club either takes turf first or is already climbing by the time it arrives. Fat and thin are the same fault seen from two sides, which is why they alternate.
Where it matters

O

Open face
The face pointing right of where the club is travelling at impact. The ball starts right of the path and curves right, and loft is effectively added as the face rotates open, so the flight is higher and shorter than the club should give. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters

P

Pace
How hard a putt is rolled, and the other half of every read. A putt struck to die at the hole curves more than the same putt rolled firmly, so the line you choose is only right for one pace.
Where it matters
Path
The direction the clubhead is travelling through impact, compared with the line from the ball to the target. Out to in means travelling left of that line for a right-handed golfer, in to out means travelling right of it. The divot records it, which is why the divot stays honest when the ball flight does not.
Where it matters
Plugged
A ball buried in the sand where it landed, with only its top showing or nothing at all. A ball sitting in a shallow saucer with a ring of sand around it is the fried egg, which is a lesser version of the same lie.
Where it matters
Pull
A shot that starts left of the target and flies straight, with no curve to bring it back. The face is pointing left and the path is travelling left with it, so the two match. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Push
A shot that starts right of the target and flies straight. The path is travelling right and the face is square to it, so nothing bends the ball back. Off the tee the same shot is usually called a block.
Where it matters

R

Release
How the wrist angle is given up and the face rotates through the ball. Given up early, at the start of the downswing, it adds loft and moves the low point behind the ball. Held off through impact, the face arrives open and the ball leaks right.
Where it matters
Reverse pivot
Weight moving toward the lead side in the backswing and back to the trail side coming down, the opposite of the order the swing needs. The bottom of the arc ends up behind the ball and the club is rising at impact, so the strike is thin and the flight weak.
Where it matters

S

Shaft lean
How far the handle sits ahead of or behind the clubhead, at address and at impact. Forward lean takes loft off the club and pushes the low point forward; the handle behind the head adds loft and moves the low point back. Either one changes the loft you are actually using, whatever is stamped on the sole.
Where it matters
Shank
The ball meeting the rounded hosel instead of the face, so it leaves low and sharply right at an extreme angle with almost none of the speed the swing produced. It is a heel strike at its most severe: the ball has simply left the face altogether.
Where it matters
Slice
A shot that curves hard from left to right and finishes well right of the target. The face is open to the path by a long way. With a driver, part of the bend can be a heel strike adding left-to-right spin of its own through gear effect. Left-handers mirror the directions.
Where it matters
Spin
The backspin that makes the ball climb and hold, created by friction between the face and the ball. Anything between the two, grass or water, reduces it. Strike height changes it as well: contact low on the face raises spin, contact high reduces it.
Where it matters
Splash shot
The standard greenside bunker shot. The club never touches the ball: it enters the sand an inch or two behind, passes underneath, and the sand thrown forward carries the ball out. It has little sidespin on it, so the side it starts on is close to where the face was looking.
Where it matters
Square
Of the clubface, pointing at the intended start line. Of the body, feet, hips and shoulders parallel to the line from the ball to the target, which means they point at a spot left of the flag rather than at it. That looks wrong from address, and turning until your feet point at the flag is how a right-handed golfer ends up aimed right.
Where it matters
Start line
The direction the ball sets off in, read from the first third of the flight before any curve shows. It comes almost entirely from where the face was pointing at impact, which is why watching the start separately from the bend tells you which of the two is wrong.
Where it matters
Strike
Where on the face the ball meets it. Contact away from the middle passes less of the club's speed to the ball and, with a driver or a wood, bends the shot through gear effect, so distance and curve change from swing to swing even when the face and path are behaving. Face tape or foot powder measures it in a few minutes.
Where it matters
Strong grip
The hands sitting rotated away from the target on the handle, so more knuckles on the top hand show at address. The face then tends to arrive closed unless something else compensates. It is not a fault by itself, and many good players use one, but with a path already moving right it is what turns a draw into a hook.
Where it matters
Sweet spot
The point on the face in line with the head's centre of gravity. A ball struck there leaves the club without a twist; a strike away from it passes less energy to the ball and turns the head slightly, which moves the start line as well as the distance.
Where it matters

T

Target line
The line from the ball to the target. Path, aim and divot direction are all read against it. A square stance runs parallel to it rather than along it, so your feet point left of the flag for a right-handed golfer.
Where it matters
Thin
The leading edge catching the ball near its middle instead of the face meeting the back of it, so the shot comes out low and hot and stings your hands. It means the club had already passed the bottom of its arc, or never got down to it.
Where it matters
Toe
The end of the face furthest from the shaft. A toe strike feels dead and hollow and loses more distance than the miss looks, and with a driver or a wood it twists the head open and adds right-to-left spin through gear effect.
Where it matters
Top
The club catching the ball above its middle so it scuttles along the ground instead of climbing. It comes from the bottom of the arc being in the wrong place, most often because the body has risen out of its address posture, not from looking up.
Where it matters
Two-way miss
One shot going hard left and the next hard right, so there is no side of the hole to aim away from. It is variance rather than bias, usually a face angle that is not repeating or a strike scattered across the face, which is why aiming further one way never helps.
Where it matters

U

Up and down
Missing the green, then holing out in two more: the chip or pitch, then a single putt. It is the standard measure of a short game, and it depends on leaving the first shot close enough for the putt to be makeable.
Where it matters

W

Weak grip
The hands sitting rotated toward the target on the handle, so fewer knuckles show at address. The lead wrist then has extra work to do to square the face in the time available, which makes an open face the default outcome rather than something you have to produce.
Where it matters

Y

Yips
A sudden jab, flinch or freeze that takes over just before impact on a short shot or a putt, producing contact that never turns up in a full swing. It shows up on the shots where the stroke is smallest and the pressure is highest.
Where it matters

Knowing the word is not the fix

A definition tells you what is being described, not which of them is happening to you. Start from the shot you can see: pick the symptom, answer a few questions, and you land on the written fix for the cause those answers point to.

Start from a symptomHow a diagnosis is reached