Terminology

Years back during a tv interview, they asked me to use Tour terminology. So, for 2 hours it was some of the following.

Tees are lifters, divots are pinches, bunkers are cat boxes. Heavy shots equal fat and thin shots equal skulls. Double cross is used when a player is holding a shot to fade and instead, releases it for a pull hook! Clotheslined means straight. Up and down is used when a player pitches a shot and then sinks the putt for a save of par or birdie. Leading a shot means dragging the lead side, and if one chicken wings, it means he meant to lead and did so, but, way too fast and his front arm got way ahead of his belt buckle. There are hundreds of these terms and I'm sure many more than I know, especially since I knew these terms many years back.

Terminology in golf can be misleading. For example, when a player says his swing is too fast, remember, we want speed! If the swing is too fast, it means the vertical plane is moving faster than the horizontal. A pull is NOT a hook, far from it, but just a loss of plane or swing path. If someone comes out of a shot or stands up during the swing, it was called losing spine angle. A shot that starts out at the target then veers away, is NOT a slice, but a push. These terms are bastardized all the time and because they are used incorrectly, the fix is often misdirected. Ball flight laws and the related terminology, are irrefutable since they are based in physics. Do not let incorrect terms mess up the fix.

As an instructor, I hear golf terms totally misunderstood and the mind set for fixing these presumed errors often wrong.