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Glossary of Golfing Terms - R

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

• Rabbit - A very poor golfer who will probably never improve.
• Rap - Used of a putting stroke where the player restricts both backswing and follow-through.
• Reading the green - Looking at the slope and contours of the green to decide the line and speed required for a putt.
• Recovery - A shot which removes the ball from a poor position resulting from the previous shot.
• Referee - A person appointed to accommpany players and make rulings on matters of fact and the rules of golf.
• Release - The free action of the hands and arms through impact.
• Reverse overlap grip - The most popular of the putting grips in which the index finger of the top hand is extended down over the fingers of the bottom hand. This position helps prevent the top wrist breaking before the ball is struck.
• Rim out - A putt which catches the rim of the hole but does not drop.
• Roll the shoulders - To turn the shoullders too much on a horizontal plane.
• Roll the wrists - The normal hingeing action of the wrists in the golf swing.
• Rough - Grass which has been allowed to grow in order to penalize off-line shots,
• Round - Eighteen holes of golf.
• Round Robin - A form of competition where each of the competitors plays each other. The fields are limited.
• Rubber core - Invented by Coburn Haskell, this ball with a rubber centre covered by many yards of wound thread and cased in gutta percha replaced the solid guttie from the turn of the century.
• Rub of the green - Used when an agency outside the game affects the run or flight of a player's ball. The result may be either lucky or unlucky.
• Rules of amateur status - These rules tell amateurs what they may or may not do if they wish to remain amateurs and not be adjudged to be making money from golf.
• Rules of golf - The first set of rules which have survived were issued by the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1744 but the Royal and Ancient Golf Club has a set dating to 1754. With the expansion of golf towards the end of the last century, R and A rules became accepted in most of the golfing world but the United States Golf Association legislates in America. The two bodies meet to discuss changes and today's rules are virtually unified world-wide.
• Run - The distance a ball travels after it has landed on the ground.
• Sand iron - A usually heavy club with a flange designed so that the clubhead rides through soft sand rather than digs down. The rear of the flange, not the leading edge of the club, is lower.