Quaint Dialect of Touring Pros

QUAINT DIALECT By JIM GAQUIN Field Secretary OF TOURING PROS PGA • ove over, beatniks, jazz devotees and "They used to 'hit them a ton,' " points M hi-fi addicts. out the astute Dickinson. "But links lingo Y'think your lingo's hep? has been corrupted by the space age. Well, you could take lessons from the Now, they put 'em in orbit. And any big touring professionals. hitter is known as a Canaveral Kid." They have a language all their own. On the circuit you never top a ball or Here's a tee-to-green jargon junket. shank it. Vou always cold top it or cold You see big Al Besselink pounding out shank it. some iron shots. They look pretty good If a player is liberally endowed with but Al isn't satisfied. skill, he can finesse the ball out of a dif- So he consults his pal, Doug Sanders. ficult lie. If he's a slick maneuverer, he "Check my action," says Bessie. can even "cut a little No.4 iron in there." "You're blocked out," appraises the If he's lucky, he'll stone it (hit it very short-swinging Sanders, meaning Bessie close to pin ville). is not getting the left hip out of the way Now, should the ball halt in clover or fast enough as he makes his downswing. a fairly heavy lie, the player must worry Bessie makes a correction. about hitting a flier. A flier is a shot that "That's better," beams Sanders, "Now takes off and travels farther than it you're releasing it right. Keep drilling it should. that way and we'll be all set for those Fliers can wind up on the beach (in a pigeons." trap) or in the frog hair (heavy grass Now, moving to the first tee, remember bordering the green). that the player never considers the course Should a flier miss the green by a a course. goodly margin, it could come to rest on It's a track. hard pan (bare, hard ground). As he gets set to hit his first drive Hitting from hard pan, a player runs there are several things he wants desper- the risk of chilli-dipping (flubbing) the ately to avoid. shot or sticking the club in the ground. Among them a banana ball (one that Should he do either, he'll go for a bundle. starts left and fades), a snipe or duck Let's assume the second misses the hook or coat hanger, and, finally, an angel green. Now, our man has to chip it stiff ball (skied drive). for a par. If he doesn't, he can still bail Any of these is likely to put him in out if he's a puttin' Jesse like Billy Cas- the cabbage or in jail. per, Jerry Barber, Dow Finsterwald or On tour, few things are worse than Bob Rosburg. "driving it in jaiL" Any time these fellows drop a longish One of them is hitting it in the rivet, putt, it's a snake, gobbler or seagoer. shafting it, or, as slim Gardner Dickin- Once in a while, just to prove they're son puts it, hitting "a pitchout." human, they lip out. This, of course, is a reference to the On the carpets, the tourists fear yip- dread shank. That's an evil word in the ping it, gassing it or choking. lexicon, explaining, no doubt, why he has Occasionally one of the boys won't found so many euphemisms for it. pipeline enough tee shots and will hit No legitimate circuit professional too many seconds fat. would be callous enough to term a boom- When this happens, he's headed for ing tee shot merely a good drive. trombones (76) or, even worse, Sunset "I really flushed that one," is the way Strip (77). Dngular Al Balding expresses satisfaction Reprinted with permiss:on of the Professional with a drive. Golfers' Association. USGA JOURNAL AND TURF MANAGEMENT: FEBRUARY, 1960 15.

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