Golf has a lot of slang terms. Some have great stories about their origins; others don't. Here's a sampling:
Albatross You know what birdies and eagles are, but did you know that it's an albatross when a player plays a hole three strokes under par? These days—perhaps mindful of The Ancient Mariner—golfers usually call it a “double eagle.”
Birdie The term for one stroke under par has been traced to one Abner H. Smith, a golfer at the Atlantic City (New Jersey) Country Club, who in either 1898 or 1903 shouted, “That's a bird of a shot!” to a fellow player when he came in one stroke under par. The story sounds a little weak to us, but who knows? Anyway, others took the avian motif and came up with eagles, double eagles, and albatrosses.
Bogey The name for going one over par has nothing to do with Humphrey Bogart. It comes from beating the “bogeyman” of the golf course. In Middle English, the term referred to a hobgoblin, bugbear, or the devil himself. A song, The Bogey Man, became very popular in England in 1891, and the phrase was heard often on the golf course not long after. In England, it came to mean “par,” and golfers began referring to a mythical Colonel Bogey who dependably shot par. In the United States, though, bogey came to mean one stroke over par.
(A quick, golf-related tangent: The Colonel Bogey March was published in 1914 and later was used as the whistled theme in the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai. It was written by British Lt. F. J. Ricketts under the name Kenneth Alford. The story is that Ricketts had nicknamed his golf-loving commanding officer “Colonel Bogey.” On the golf course, the colonel thought it undignified to shout “Fore!” and instead whistled a loud two-note “Yoo hoo!”—in musical terms, a “descending minor third.” His little musical trademark stuck in Ricketts's mind and grew into the phrase that makes up the memorable march.)
Bunke It comes from the Scottish bunker, bunkart, or bonkar—all variations of a term that means a storage hole dug into the side of a hill. It may have come originally from Old Swedish bunke, which is a protected part of a ship.
Burn Scottish golfers call basic water hazards “burns.” Why? A burn is a spring. It's an Old English word (perhaps handed down from the German) that's still in use. Originally it meant “springing up” and could be applied to either water or fire. The water meaning faded in most parts of the world, but those across the Big Pond still use it from time to time … especially in the land of Robert Burns.
Caddy From French cadet, meaning a young man. Reportedly from the practice of Mary, Queen of Scots, who used young men from her court to carry her golf equipment.
Chip In old Scotland, chipping (instead of “chopping,” as in England) was the word used for cutting wood with an ax.
Divot Means “a piece of turf” in Scottish.
Dolly Parton Witty (or so they thought) golfers came up with “Dolly Parton” as a slang term for a particularly hilly and uneven green.
Duffer From the Scottish duffar or doofart: “a dull, stupid person.”
Fore! Best guess is that it's a shortened version of what British artillerymen shouted at infantry troops before they fired a volley over their heads: “Beware before!” meaning, “Duck!” to the people before them, up ahead. Over time, “Before,” was shortened to “‘Fore!” and “Beware” was too wordy in battle and so was dropped completely. Golfers swiped the phrase. Some claim that in 1770, John Knox, the Scottish reformer, was the first to use the term “Fore” on the golf course. This is up for debate.
Frog hairs The fine grass that borders a green on a golf course is often called “fringe” or “apron” in the United States. Across the pond, however, in Great Britain, it's also called “fringe,” but it's sometimes referred to as the “collar” or “frog hairs.” “Frog hairs” comes from the expression for something so fine you can hardly see it. As in, “It's as fine as frog hairs.” Them limeys are an interesting lot, eh wot?
Links The term “links” comes from hlinc, an old Anglo-Saxon word that means “slope” or “rising ground.” Early courses in Scotland were on slopes that ran down to the seas. Now the term is used more loosely as slang to mean any golf course.
Mulligan Why taking a second chance at a muffed shot is called a Mulligan nobody knows, but members of scores of old golf courses swear it came from a long-ago member named Mulligan (or in one case “Mel Egan”) who was notorious for taking second and third chances when things went awry. Another legend is that it comes from “Hit ‘em all again!” Or even “Mull [it over] again.”
Putt Seems to come from an old spelling for put, as in “Put the ball in there, laddie!” However, old British meanings for the term also include a trap for fish and a cart for carrying manure.
Round Why is a game of golf called a “round”? Because courses are traditionally laid out in a loose circular pattern, bringing players at the last hole back to where they started.
Score slang Because of the number's shape, “snowman” is a slang term some witty golfer invented for a score of 8 on a hole. Likewise, “hockey stick” for a 7, and so on.
Stymie From the Scottish word meaning “not being able to see.”
Tee Not from the T-shape, as you might expect, but from the Scottish word teez. It refers to a small pile of sand or dirt, which is what golfers teed off from before an African American dentist invented the first wooden tee. When the word traveled from Scotland, people thought that teez was plural, so snipped off the z when talking about one.
Tiger tee It's not the golf tee that Tiger Woods uses; it's the slang term applied to the very back tee.
Texas wedge If you use a putter anywhere other than the green (and some peculiar folks do), you don't call it a putter. For heavens sake, no. You can call it a “Texas wedge,” or nothin' a'tall. Ya hear?