Path = Home : Glossary of Golfing Terms - M

Glossary of Golfing Terms - M

This page of our glossary of golfing terms is for golfing terms which begin with the letter 'M'.

• Marker - Usually a coin or small plastic disc used to mark the position of a ball on the green. Also a person, often a fellow-competitor, who records scores, hole by hole.
• Marker post - A post erected to indicate the line of play, usually for a blind spot.
• Mashie - An iron club which first appeared in the 1880's whose modern equivalent is the No. five iron. At the time, a 'masher' was a fashionable young man and it is likely, but not certain, that the name of the club came from this source because it, too, quickly became fashionable.
• Mashie niblick - An iron halfway between the mashie and the niblick and equivalent to the modern No. seven iron.
• Match Usually used of a man-against-man game where holes are won, lost or halved, as opposed to strokeplay.
• Matched set - A set of clubs made by the same manufacturer and of the same model designed so that each club feels similar in balance and swing as each of the others.
• Matches - The rules of golf lay down the following types of matches: Single: One golfer against another. Threesome: One golfer playing the better ball of two others. Foursome: Two golfers against two but with each side using only one ball. Threeball: Three golfers involved with two matches at the same time. Best ball: One golfer plays against the better or best ball of two or three others. Fourball: Two play against two with each side counting the better of their two scores. A variant is adding the two scores together and matching the total against that of the other side.
• Matchplay - The form of golf based on holes won, lost and halved rather than total strokes taken.
• Medal - Originally these were competitions, usually strokeplay but occasionally matchplay, where a medal was the prize, held for a year or perhaps for ever.
• Medal play - Strokeplay competitions, with the lowest score winning.
• Medal tees - The competitions tees at a golf club at the distance the hole was designed to be played from.
• Members' tees - Tees set a few or more yards ahead of the medal tees for friendly play by members.
• Middle the ball - To strike the ball exactly in the centre of the clubface.
• Mis-hit - Any shot not struck precisely in the middle of the clubface.
• Missable - Used of a putt which a player ought to hole but could easily be missed.
• Mixed foursome - Normal foursomes play except a woman is paired with a man.
• Moved ball - A ball is considered to have moved only if it does not return to its original position. Any movement away from that incurs a penalty stroke.
• Muff - To play a badly mis-hit shot, usually one that moves only a small part of the expected distance.
• Mulligan - A second chance given to a golfer who has hit a poor first drive. This is against the rules of golf. It is allowed only in the friendliest of games and even then usually only on the first tee.
• Municipal course - A course owned by a public body rather than a private club and usually open to all.