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18 September 2026 · 11 min read

Golf terms explained: from par and birdie to carry, bay and smash factor, in English, German and the languages of Switzerland

Par, birdie, Greenfee, Platzreife, bay, smash factor: golf has a vocabulary of its own, half English, half golf German. Here are the terms you really hear, explained in two or three sentences each, with the German word beside them and, where they exist, the names in French and Italian.

Golf terms explained: from par and birdie to carry, bay and smash factor, in English, German and the languages of Switzerland — post image

Golf terms are half English, and the German half you hear in Switzerland still means something precise. Here are the terms you really need, in two or three sentences each: scoring, the course, shots and clubs, the handicap, Switzerland and the simulator. Next to each term stands the German word where it differs, the one you hear on a Swiss course. Where the R&A defines a term, its definition is here, shortened; the full list of over 70 terms is published by the R&A in German, French and Italian too.

Golf terms for scoring: par, birdie, bogey and everything under par

  • Par: the target number of strokes for a hole, par 3, 4 or 5 by length. In Stableford it is the fixed target score, unless the Committee sets a different one (R&A, Rule 21.1b).
  • Birdie: one stroke under par on a hole. In Stableford that is 3 points.
  • Eagle and albatross (German: Albatros): two and three strokes under par, 4 and 5 points. An albatross is a 2 on a par 5.
  • Bogey, double bogey, triple bogey: one, two and three strokes over par. A bogey is worth 1 Stableford point, anything worse 0.
  • Hole-in-one (ace): in the hole with the first stroke from the tee.
  • Stableford: scoring by points per hole instead of strokes, from 0 to 6 (R&A, Table 21.1b). Two points per hole make 36 over 18 holes, which means you played to your handicap. The post Stableford and the scorecard works through a whole card.
  • Stroke play and match play (German: Zählspiel, Lochspiel): in stroke play every stroke of the round counts, in match play you win hole by hole against an opponent.

On the course: Greenfee, tee time, bunker and fore

  • Greenfee (green fee): the fee for a round on a course where you are not a member. What it costs in Switzerland is in What golf costs in Switzerland.
  • Tee time (Tee-Time): the booked starting time on the first tee.
  • Flight: the group that starts together; golf German, in English simply group.
  • Teeing area (Abschlag): the rectangle you start a hole from, two club-lengths deep from the line between the two tee-markers (R&A definitions). The tee is the peg that raises the ball.
  • Fairway and rough: the closely mown strip and the longer grass beside it. Neither is a defined term in the Rules; both are general area, the rest of the course.
  • Putting green (Grün): the area prepared for putting, with the hole. The hole is 108 mm across (R&A).
  • Bunker: a specially prepared area of sand. Sand beside it is not a bunker.
  • Penalty area (Strafgebiet, formerly water hazard): any body of water on the course and any area the Committee marks as one, yellow or red. Relief from it costs one penalty stroke.
  • Out of bounds (Aus): everything beyond the boundary edge of the course. You play again from the previous spot, with one penalty stroke: stroke and distance. More in Golf rules for beginners.
  • Fore: the shout when your ball is flying towards other people. Loud and at once. More etiquette in Golf etiquette and dress code.
  • Mulligan: a stroke replayed without penalty. In no rule, common among friends, absent from competitions, a button on the simulator.
  • Gimme: a conceded putt, so short that the others count it as holed. In stroke play you must hole out; on the simulator the gimme is a setting.

The shots: draw, fade, chip, pitch and shank

The names of the shots describe what the ball does, not what you meant. All of this is for right-handers, left-handers mirror it.

  • Draw and fade: a ball that curves gently left, and one that curves gently right. Both are intended.
  • Hook and slice: the same curves, only strong and unintended. How to fix the slice with the simulator's numbers is in Fixing a slice with numbers, all nine ball flights in Draw, fade, hook, slice.
  • Chip and pitch: the low shot to the green that rolls more than it flies, and the higher one that flies more than it rolls. Which one when is in Chip or pitch.
  • Putt: the stroke on the green. The ball only rolls.
  • Shank (German: Socket): the ball hits the hosel side of the club and shoots off sharply to the right.
  • Fat and thin (fett, dünn): fat means ground before the ball, thin means the ball on the leading edge. Where both come from is in Avoiding fat and thin shots.

The clubs in English: driver to wedge

  • Driver: the long club with the big head, for the tee shot. Holz 1 is still heard, the screen says driver.
  • Fairway wood (Fairwayholz): the 3 wood and the 5 wood, for long shots from the ground or the tee.
  • Irons (Eisen): numbered 3 to 9. The higher the number, the more loft, that is the angle of the face, and the shorter the shot. How far each iron goes is in the club distance table.
  • Wedges: the irons with the most loft, for the short game: pitching wedge (PW), gap wedge (GW), sand wedge (SW), lob wedge (LW).
  • Bag: the bag, and its rule: no more than 14 clubs in a round (R&A, Rule 4.1b). Which ones a beginner needs is in Beginner golf set.

The handicap: index, course handicap and slope

  • Handicap index: the number for your playing level, the lower the better. After the Platzreife you start in Switzerland at 54 or better (Swiss Golf). How the index is calculated is in The golf handicap explained.
  • Course handicap: your index converted to the course and the tees you are playing today. That is the number of handicap strokes on the card; gross minus those strokes is your net.
  • Slope rating and course rating: the two numbers for how hard a course is, the course rating for the scratch player with a handicap of 0, the slope for everyone else.
  • Stroke index: the ranking of the holes by difficulty on the scorecard. It says where you get your handicap strokes.
  • Net double bogey (Netto-Doppelbogey): the cap per hole for handicap purposes, par plus two plus your handicap strokes on that hole. A disaster hole ruins the round, not the index.

Switzerland: Platzreife, licence, ASGI and GolfCard in four languages

Swiss golf speaks German, French and Italian. The names here come from the Swiss Golf regulation, which is published in all three.

  • Platzreife (PR): the certificate you need in Switzerland to play a course on your own. In French Autorisation de Parcours (AP), in Italian Autorizzazione di Percorso (AP). The exam: 40 theory questions, 28 must be right, then the practical part on the practice ground and the course, usually with a Swiss PGA pro. Your first handicap then takes 36 Stableford points over 18 holes or 18 over 9 (Swiss Golf, Platzreife regulation). How to get there is in The Platzreife in Switzerland.
  • Licence (Lizenz, licence, licenza): the Swiss Golf playing licence, without which there is no official handicap. You get it through a club or one of the two public golf organisations, ASGI and Migros.
  • ASGI: the Association Suisse des Golfeurs Indépendants, the association for golfers without a club. It holds its members' licence and handicap.
  • Migros GolfCard: the counterpart at Migros Golf, also with licence and handicap. What both cost is in Golf without a Platzreife and without a club.
  • Driving range and practice ground (Übungsanlage): driving range is the word for the place you hit balls in all three languages. The whole practice ground, with putting green and chipping green, is terrain d'entraînement in French and campo pratica in Italian.
  • Hole, stroke, course, marker: Loch, Schlag, Platz, Zähler in German; trou, coup, parcours, marqueur in French; buca, colpo, percorso, marcatore in Italian.

The most important of them side by side, as they are called in the three national languages and in English:

GermanFrenchItalianEnglish
PlatzreifeAutorisation de ParcoursAutorizzazione di Percorsocourse permit
Lizenzlicencelicenzalicence
Platzparcourspercorsocourse
Lochtroubucahole
Schlagcoupcolpostroke
Zählermarqueurmarcatoremarker
Übungsanlageterrain d'entraînementcampo praticapractice facility
Driving Rangedriving rangedriving rangedriving range

More on this: Golf abbreviations explained, Hole in one, When was golf invented?.

On the simulator: bay, carry, smash factor and auto-putt

The simulator adds words nobody needs on the course. They appear on the screen after every shot, almost always in English. 83 of the 126 venues in the directory name TrackMan as their system; the terms are largely the same on the other systems.

  • Bay: the box with mat, screen and launch monitor that you book. The hourly price is per bay, not per person; 80 of the 110 indoor venues publish one, a median of CHF 50 (directory).
  • Launch monitor: the measuring device, radar or cameras. The difference is explained in How a golf simulator measures the ball.
  • Carry and total: carry is the distance the ball flies until it is back at the height it was struck from; total is carry plus roll. On the PGA Tour the driver carries 282 yards on average, on the LPGA Tour 223 (TrackMan).
  • Smash factor: ball speed divided by club speed, the ball's speed after impact over the club head's before it, so how much of your energy reaches the ball. With the driver the aim is near 1.50, the PGA Tour sits at 1.49, the average golfer (men, handicap 14.5) at 1.44 (TrackMan).
  • Launch angle, spin rate, attack angle: Abflugwinkel, Drehzahl, Angriffswinkel in German. What is normal, with the tour values, is in Understanding launch monitor numbers.
  • Auto-putt: the setting that has the software hole your putts from a chosen distance. Together with the gimme it explains why simulator scores are lower than course scores, see Simulator score vs. course score.
  • Tracked range (Toptracer Range, TrackMan Range): a driving range where every ball is tracked and shown on a screen. 16 of them are in the directory, as driving ranges, not as indoor golf.

Most of these words are learned fastest on a screen. Book an hour at one of the 110 indoor venues, hit ten balls and read the numbers with this list beside you. The directory shows which venue near you runs which system, the golf simulator comparison puts the systems side by side, and the FAQ answers what is still open.

Frequently asked questions

What do birdie, eagle and bogey mean?

A birdie is one stroke under par on a hole, an eagle two under par, a bogey one stroke over par. In Stableford that is 3, 4 and 1 point; a par is worth 2 points, anything from two over par 0 (R&A, Rule 21.1b).

What is the Platzreife called in French and Italian?

Autorisation de Parcours, AP for short, and Autorizzazione di Percorso, also AP. The Swiss Golf regulation is the same in all three languages: 40 theory questions, 28 must be right, then the practical part on the practice ground and on the course. For your first handicap you then need 36 Stableford points over 18 holes or 18 over 9.

What is a bay in a golf simulator?

The box you book: mat, screen, launch monitor and software. 102 of the 110 indoor venues in Switzerland declare their bays, 202 in total. The hourly price is per bay, which up to four people usually share, a median of CHF 50.

What do you shout when a ball flies towards someone?

Fore. Loudly, at once and without embarrassment, the moment a ball flies towards people, even when it feels awkward. On a course it is the only warning there is, and it belongs to the safety criteria assessed in the course-permit exam.

What is the difference between a chip and a pitch?

A chip flies a short way and rolls a long way, usually with an iron from near the green. A pitch flies high and rolls little, with a wedge from 20 to 80 metres. Which one when is in Chipping or pitching.

Sources