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Glossary of Golfing Terms - T

This page of our glossary of golfing terms is for golfing terms which begin with the letter 'T'.

• Take away - The first few inches of the backswing.
• Target golf - Golf where shots to the green can be flown directly at the flag, the target, with the knowledge that the ball will grip and stop quickly as a result of the density of the grass or softtness of the green or perhaps both, combined with backspin.
• Tee - The prepared area from which the first shot to a hole is played.
• Tee peg - A device on which to set a ball for the first shot at a hole.
• Tee up - To place the ball on a tee peg or, on the practice ground particularly, putting the ball on a good lie.
• Tempo - The timing and rhythm of the golf swing where the take away is smooth and the backswing and beginnning of the downswing are unhurried.
• Texas scramble - A form of golf where players go out in teams of two, three or even four. Each team member hits a tee shot and the best is selected. Each then hits from that position and so on until the ball is holed out. Low scores result.
• Texas wedge - A shot played with a puttter from well short of the green.
• Thin - A shot hit with the bottom edge of a club, or quite close to it.
• Threeball - A match where each of the players is playing a separate single against the others.
• Threesome - A match in which one player plays against the two others, either their better ball or, less often, the two playing as a foursomes partnership.
• Through the green - All of a hole except hazards, the teeing ground and the green.
• Tie - When players return the same score in a strokeplay event.
• Tight - A tight golf course allows little room for inaccurate driving. The fairrways will be narrow and hazards may threaten to either side. A tight lie usually refers to a fairway shot where the ball is lying less than ideally.
• Timing - When maximum clubhead speed is reached just before or at the moment of impact rather than too early or too late.
• Toe - That part of the clubhead at the opposite end to the heel.
• Topspin - The spin which results when the ball is struck above centre. Many shots wrongly described as having topspin (as opposed to being simply topped) actually have less backspin than usual.
• Torsion - The twist, rather than bend, in a clubshaft. Hickory shafts caused problems when they had excessive torrsion; steel shafts have little.
• Touch player - A golfer who relies on ability to vary the kinds of shot he can play rather than depend on a rigid mechanical method, repeating the same basic swing for every club. The touch player tends to excel in the short game.
• Trajectory - The flight of a golf ball and the characteristics of its parabola.
• Trap - A bunker.
• Triple bogey - A score of three over par on a hole.
• Trolley - A device with wheels for carrying a golf bag.
• Twitch - A quick, nervous, jabbing movement at the ball caused by a player's nerves. It is seen mostly in puttting, but also sometimes in chipping.