If you are a beginner, you will soon learn that golf has a language all its own. You’ll feel like you have landed in a foreign country when you first begin playing! Sure, you will catch on quickly, especially to the more basic golf terms like Par, Bogie, Birdie, Stroke, Bunker, and others, but here are some of the other terms used in golf that are not so fundamental. Learn these terms and you will sound like an old pro (even if you don’t play like one…yet!)

Ace - A hole-in-one. Congratulations! Buy a round of drinks at the Nineteenth Hole!

Airball -Your swing missed the ball! Don’t worry, it happens to everyone.

Amateur - Someone who plays for fun, not money. You!

Approach - Your shot to the green made from anywhere except the tee.

Apron – What you wear in the kitchen, or the grass around the edge of a green, longer than the grass on the green but shorter than the grass on the fairway.

Back lip - The edge of a bunker (aka sand trap) that’s farthest from the green.

Back nine - The second half of your round of golf; the first half is the front nine holes.

Ball washer - Found at many tees; a machine for cleaning the golf ball.

Caddie - The person carrying your clubs during your round of golf, and the only person officially allowed to give you advice.

Chip shot - Very short, low-flying shot to the green.

Divot - Grass turf displaced by the head of your club during a swing.

Downswing - The part of the swing where the club head is moving down, toward the ball.

Drive - Shot from teeing ground other than par-3 holes.

Eagle - Score of two under par for a hole.

Fairway - The grass surface running from tee to green.

Fore! - Be sure to shout this when your ball is headed toward another player.

Gallery - Spectators at a tournament.

Golf widow(er) - Your partner after he or she finds out how much you want to play!

Green jacket - The prestigious prize awarded to the winner of the Masters Tournament in

Greens fee - The cost to play a round of golf.

Hacker - Poor player. Don’t be one!

Handicap - For example, one whose handicap is 16 is expected to shoot 88 on a par 72 course, or 16 strokes over par.

Hole - Your ultimate goal!

Kill - Hitting a very long shot

Leader board - Place where lowest scores in tournament are posted.

Masters - First major tournament of each calendar year. Always played at Augusta National course in Georgia

19th hole - The clubhouse bar.

Pigeon - An opponent you should beat easily. Go for it!

Private club - A club open to members and their guests only.

Pro-Am - A competition in which professional partners team with amateurs.

Pro shop - A place where you sign up to start play, enroll in lessons and can buy balls, clubs, and clothing

Rabbit - A beginning player.

Sandbagger - A golfer who stretches the truth about his or her ability to gain an advantage.

Shag - To retrieve practice balls.

Sweet spot - Perfect point on the clubface with which to strike the ball.

Tee - Wooden peg on which the ball is set for the first shot on a hole. Also, the area from which your first shot is hit.

Triple bogey - Three over par on one hole. Not good.

Yips - When a golfer misses short putts because of nervousness. Certain to happen when you are new!