Apron:
The narrow zone of close-cut grass surrounding a putting green. Around the putting surface the grass is generally cut shorter than the fairway, though not as short as the green. Also known as 'collar'.
Barranca:
A barranca is a typically rocky, dry ravine, filled with desert shrubs, incorporated as a hazard on golf courses.
Bermuda:
A grass, Cynodon dactylon, native to southern Europe, widely used on golf courses where bent grass will not grow.
Biarritz:
A large green halved horizontall by a deep gully.
Burn:
Scottish term for a creek or stream.
Collection area:
A specific area next to the green with very short fringe grass designed to "collect" errant shots. Much wider than a simple apron or fringe which usually has some sort of slope involved. While not technically a hazard, higher handicaps often dread chipping or pitching from this lie.
Cross-bunker or cross-hazard:
An elongated bunker or hazard that crosses the fairway, rather than running adjacent to it, forcing players to carry shots over it.
Dance Floor:
Slang for the putting surface or green.
Dogleg:
A term which refers to the direction of an individual golf hole. While many holes are straightaway from the tee box to the green, some holes bend, usually near the middle, either left or right. These holes are called doglegs. If the hole turns to the left, it is called a "dogleg left." If it turns to the right, it is called a "dogleg right." The change of direction of a dogleg usually occurs close to the point where a good drive is expected to land. A "double dogleg" is a hole double change of direction, first left, than right, or vice versa. Only longer holes (par-5s) are usually long enough to be true double doglegs.
Double Green:
A very large single green serving two holes with two cups cut into the same surface. Big enough so that two groups, usually coming from opposite directions, can be putting simultaneously to their respective cups.
Drive-and-pitch:
A hole on which the green can be reached with a drive and a pitch, or a course made up of such holes.
English Links: The original links style which incorporates steep pot bunkers, very tall rough, none or very few trees and the ability to putt from far off the green. Wind and weather conditions are part of the course design. St. Andrews is an example.
Executive Course: A golf course with mainly par 3 and comparatively short par 4 holes.
Face Bunkers:
Bunkers with faces of sand visible to the approaching golfer.
Fairway:
The stretch of closely mown grass that is the main avenue from tee to green on a hole.
False Front:
A slope back towards the fairway on the front section of a putting green, usually where the ball will roll back off the green. The intentionally deceptive design of makes the "true" front of the green beyond the slope, where the ground is more level.
Fescue:
Any grass of the genus Festuca, widely used on golf courses, especially for rough.
First Cut:
Term given to the rough directly bordering the fairway which is usually cut lower than the regular rough. It may vary from a few yards wide to over 10 yards wide, depending upon the course.
Flash-faced bunker:
High-lipped bunkers where the sand extends very high up the sides. Usually requires more maintenance than other bunkers. The "lip" refers to the raised part of the bunker in between the player and target.
Gateway:
The part of a fairway that leads to the green, especially if flanked by hills or hazards.
Grass bunker:
A hollowed-out depression similar to a sand trap, but filled with rough rather than sand. A grass bunker can occur naturally or be designed into the course. Technically not really a bunker as it is not considered a hazard under the rules.
Gorse:
A many-branched spiny ever-green shrub, Ulex europaeus, having bright yellow flowers, common on waste lands and links style golf courses.
Greenside:
The area situated beside a putting green.
Hardpan:
Term given to an area of the golf course (not bunkers or hazards) on which no grass is growing. Shots from hardpan are among the most difficult as it requires a high level of skill to get the club under the ball from such lies.
Hazard:
Natural or intentionally designed obstacles added to a golf course both for visual interest and difficulty. They are considered part of the inherent challenge of the course for which no relief is generally allowed under the rules. Hazards include (with specified exceptions on each course) both natural features such as bunkers, permanent water, gorse, and molehills, and incidental features such as paths and fences.
Heather:
Wispy, long grass which sometimes borders the rough.
Hog's Back:
A hole having a ridge of ground in the center of the fairway causing balls to roll towards the rough on either side.
Lip:
Edge of the hole or a bunker.
Pedestal Green:
A green design in which the putting surface is raised 15 to 200 feet on all sides above the fairway as if on the top of a mini volcano. Errant shots are rejected down the slopes and up and downs require soft and high lobs shots. Pedestal greens are often seen on Donald Ross designs.
Penal Design:
A design principal or condition of a golf course which punishes poor shots more often or with more extensive hazards.
Pot bunker: a small, yet deep bunker, sometimes invisible from the tee. Its steep grassy sides cause balls to roll into the sand.
Primary Rough:
The largest swath of rough which extends away from the fairways toward the treeline or heather grasses.
Punchbowl:
A green that sits below ground level and is surrounded by grassy mounds which act to funnel errant shots onto the putting surface. Offline approach shots often bounce onto the putting surface.
Redan hole: A type of hole, typically a par 3, with green set on a ridge, diagonal to the line of play, sloping from front right to back left, running away from the tee box. The front angle of the green is V-shaped with the green sloping downward and away from the point of the "V". One or two deep bunkers usually guard the front section of the green. The bunkers are deep enough to be obscured from the green, and slope either to the left or the right.
This type of green complex is named after the "redan" type of fortification. The original "redan" is the 15th hole on the West Links in North Berwick, a fearsome 192-yard par 3 which requires an accurate tee shot to an elevated, sloping green invisible from the tee. Golf architects around the world have created holes based on this signature challenge of the famous Scottish course and "Redan" greens are becoming increasingly popular in modern golf course design. The most famous American Redan hole is the 7th at Shinnecock Hills.
Riveted bunker:
Bunkers whose face consists of sod or layers of grass instead of sand; also called "sod-faced bunkers".
Waste bunker:
Waste bunkers are usually very large and thin structure running along a natural hazard like a lake or river and are design to collect wayward tee shots; they are usually located along the fairway and are given a slightly different treatment within the Rules.
.
.
.
