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Glossary of Golfing Terms - P

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

• Pacing the course - Before a tournament begins, competitors often measure distances by pacing so that they will know which club to play from certain points during the competition. Nowadays, they are usually assisted by course charts and in effect are merely adding more detail to these. The job is often done for them by their caddies.
• Par - The standard score for a hole, in most countries based on its length. Holes up to 250 yards are par threes; up to 475 yards par fours and over 478 yards the remainder par fives.
• Penalty stroke - A stroke or strokes added to a score because of a breach of the rules of golf.
• Persimmon - A wood found at its best in Kentucky but also in Louisiana, Florida and other Southern States in America which almost totally replaced others in the making of wooden clubheads. In its turn, persimmon was replaced by beech and maple laminates but has since made a strong comeback. Today, persimmon is demanded for a top-quality driver.
• Piccolo grip - Many early golfers allowed the club to move in the right hand and also let go with the last two fingers of the left hand, so they looked rather like piccolo players when at the top of the swing. Hardly any good player does this today.
• Pin - Another name for flagstick.
• Pin high - A shot to the green which finishes level with the flagstick but not necessarily close to it.
• Pitch - A fairly high shot played to a green from approximately 150 yards down to shots of just a few yards. The eight, nine wedge and sand iron are usually regarded as the pitching clubs.
• Pitch and run - A shot of lower trajecctory than the pitch usually intended to land short of a green and run on to the flag. Not often played when greens are well watered.
• Pitch mark - The mark or indentation caused by a ball as it lands on a green.
• Pivot - The turning movement of the body during the backswing.
• Placing - Because of winter conditons or the poor state of a golf course, local temporary rules are sometimes introduced to allow a player to move his ball a short distance to a better lie, either by hand or by pushing it with the clubhead.
• Plane - The angle of the swing are in relation to the ground, ranging between flat and upright.
• Playing short - To hit the ball so that it does not reach some hazard.
• Play-off - When there is a tie in a competition, the players involved may go on to play further holes. In major championships, play-offs used to be over 36 holes or 18 but the demands of TV for a quick result mean that most play-offs today are 'sudden death', with the exception of the US Open. Whoever first wins a hole wins the event.
• Play through - To be allowed through by a game in front, normally as a result of a lost ball or slow play.
• Plugged ball - A ball resting in the depression it made on landing, usually in a bunker.
• Plumb bob - A method of holding a puttter up at the end of the grip and letting it hang vertical with arm extended looking along the line of putt. The angle made by the shaft with the surrface of the green may reveal the direction of any slope.
• Plus handicap - A golfer with a handicap better than scratch.
• Pot bunker - A small, round bunker, usually quite deep.
• Practice ground - An area set aside for practice shots.
• Practice swing - A swing made either to loosen up or to rehearse the feel of the shot to be played.
• Preferred lies - See placing.
• Press - To try to hit the ball harder for extra distance.
• Pro-am - A competition in which amateurs form a team with professionals.
• Professional - A golfer who accepts prize money or fees for playing golf, as an instructor by word of mouth, in print or other media, or for otherwise serving as a professional golfer.
• Professional side of the hole - The higher side of a hole set into a side-slope. So called because a putt which misses tends not to run far from the hole.
• PGA - The Professional Golfers' Association.
• Provisional ball - A ball played in the expectation that the previous one is lost or out-of-bounds.
• Public golf course - A course which is usually owned by a local authority, on which anyone may play.
• Pull - A shot which flies to the left, without noticeable curve on it, usually caused by the swing path being left of target.
• Punch shot - A shot played mainly with the forearms, with the hands in front of the clubhead and the wrists held firm.
• Push - A shot which flies right of target and straight, caused by the swing path being to the right of the target.
• Putt - Any stroke made with the intenntion of running the ball along the ground.
• Putter - A club designed to run the ball along the ground and with little loft.
• Putting green - A green intended for practice.