Wit & Wisdom of Golf

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Lay up - To aim short of the green and chip on rather than attempt a long or otherwise risky approach shot.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Leaf rule - Rule used in certain parts of America during autumn allowing a golfer to play another ball without penalty when his previous shot is lost and assumed covered by leaves. The leaf rule can cause a lot of arguments. You can protect against opponents invoking this rule by carrying a book of matches and gasoline in your golf bag.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Leak oil - What a golfer does as his game begins to fall apart. For duffers this process often begins at the first tee. With reference to the pros, this term is usually applied to a golfer who is leading a tournament but has begun to give away shots as his game disintegrates. Greg Norman has leaked more oil than the Exxon Voldez.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Leaner - A shot that comes to rest so close to the hole it appears to be leaning against the flagstick. A term usually associated with horseshoes or quoits.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Left-handed Golfers - Although golf, with its overwhelming right-handed orientation, penalises left-handed players more than other sports do, it also provides two significant advantages to "southgrips": most golfers can't borrow your spare golf glove and they can't demonstrate the "right way to swing that club" after you muff your drive.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Legs - A ball is said to have "legs" if it continues to roll a significant distance after landing. If it bounces into the rough and becomes wedged under a rock or in the crook of a tree, it is said to have "claws." If it runs down a bank and into a water hazard, it has "fins." If, on a putt, it rings the cup without going in, it has "lips." And if it does all these things on the same hole, it is given "wings" and flung into the underbrush.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Lie -
1. Where the ball comes to rest after being hit by a golfer.
2. The number of strokes it took to get it there, as reported by that golfer.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Links - Golf courses are often referred to as "links," but, strictly speaking, this term applies only to a course laid out over the natural contours of the bleak, wind-swept land along the sea, as was the original course at St. Andrews. At first glance, the lush golf courses in the U.S. seem to bear little resemblance to their austere Scottish progenitor, but tradition is very important in the game of golf and American clubs have made every effort to be true to their Highland roots. For example, no towel in any golf club's locker room exceeds 2 square feet in area or 1/20th of an inch in thickness; no light bulb in any washroom is ever of a wattage greater than 25; no radiator in any dressing room achieves a temperature higher than 66°, nor is hot water ever warmer than 88°; walls are painted only in years divisible by 16, and no object or mechanism is replaced until the end of the decade in which it first broke or ceased to function; and all facilities for women are faithfully patterned after the original Wee Lassies' Changing Boothy in a leaky greenskeeper's hut overlooking the Firth of Fife.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Lip -
1. Perimeter of grass surrounding the hole.
2. Remarks made by fellow golfer when your putt stops there.

[Stan Nehilla]

Golf Dictionary

Lip out - A putt that hits the lip and spins out.