Golf 101: Is it “Fore” or “Four”?

The Mystery of Golfing Terms

By Butch Blasingame

If you watch golf or play golf, you’ve heard lots of terms associated with the game. Terms like “Fore” and “Birdie” and “Bogey” are often heard, and although they may be understood in the context of the game, their full meaning and history are almost secrets to the general public. Golf has a rich history and long-established traditions, and these words go back through many years in their use. Why are there 18 holes? Why is the game called “golf”? Again, the perspective of history and tradition gives us answers to these questions.

Let’s look at these terms individually:

Golf: The word looks like an acronym – like it stands for something. But, the word really is thought to come from a Dutch word, “kolf,” meaning simply “club. Later in the 14th or 15th Century this Dutch word became the Scottish “goff or “gouff.” Only later in the 16th Century did the name for the game become “golf.” Some have thought that Dutch sailors brought the word and the game with sticks and a ball to Scotland. As you’ll see, much about golf as we know it today came from Scotland.

Fore: Yes, the correct term is “fore,” not “four,” and it comes from the word “before.” It means to “look out ahead” and since “before” probably took too long to say “before” a person was struck by the ball, the term “fore” became an old Scottish warning cry. This cry is thought to have originated in military circles where artillerymen used it to warn troops on the fighting front that they were beginning a barrage. Hopefully, the shells would land “fore” the advancing troops.

Par: A standard term for sports handicapping that means level or even. Long before it acquired its golf meaning, “par” was a word in use in the general population. The general meaning of par was average, ordinary and usual. When the term became used in golf in the 1890s, it was often used interchangeably with bogey. Bogey meant the ideal score at that time, and the term "bogey" was more widely used than the term “par.” Over time the two terms acquired their current golf meanings. "Bogey" was applied to a score that casual players would be happy with while "par" came to denote the ideal score for the best players.

Birdie: This goes back to a famous golf match played in 1899 (some more golf history) where one of the players hit a ball to within six inches of the hole. The player, Ab Smith, was heard to say “That was a bird of a shot …” and thus the name carries on since good ole’ Ab suggested that whenever they made a hole in one under par, that it became a “birdie.” In 19th Century American slang, to be a “bird” meant being something “cool” in this century.

Bogey: There was a tune that was popular in the British Isles in the 1890s called “The Bogey Man”(later called “The Colonel Bogey March”) where the main character was a hard to catch character that was always concealed in the shadows. You may remember “I’m the Bogey Man – catch me if you can.” (Not disco’s “I’m Your Boogie Man” by KC and the Sunshine Band – the term is bogey) The quest for getting that “Bogey Man” was likened by golfers to getting that elusive perfect score in a round. When the term “par” came in use, the term “bogey” changed to become the score that was expected by the everyday player to make and then later to it’s current meaning of scoring one over par on a hole.

Why are there 18 holes? The grandfather of all golf courses, St. Andrews in Scotland, sat on a narrow strip of land by the sea. It had 11 holes laid end to end originally, and you played those 11 holes out and then you played those same 11 holes in for a total of 22. Later, it was decided that some of the holes were too short, so the number was reduced to nine and the total for playing “out and in” to the clubhouse became 18. This number became the standard, as did many of the rules at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews

This article should get you started on a better understanding of the terms of golf. The more you know, the more meaningful watching and playing will be. This is a great game that is enriched by the history and traditions that shape the modern era of golf.