Cabbage - Thick, inescapable rough. Also called spinach. Green, leafy vegetables are not good for your golf game.

Caddy - Individual who carries bags for golfers and assists them in the playing of the course. Ideally, a caddy should possess the eyes of a big-game hunter, the strength of a linebacker, the patience of a diplomat and the memory of a Mafia witness.

Calamity Jane - Legendary golfer Bobby Jones' nickname for his "straight shooting" putter. Few contemporary golfers give their putters nicknames, but those who do usually choose more appropriate sobriquets like "Runaround Sue" and "Unsink able Molly Brown."

Calcutta - A wager, typically in support of one team to win a tournament. In a Calcutta golfers bid, auction style, on the team (or golfer) who they think will win the tournament (you can bid on your own team or yourself). All the money raised through the auction goes into an auction pool. At the end of the tournament, those who bet on the winning team (or golfer) that won the tournament receives a pre-determined payout from the auction pool.

Can - The hole. The cup. The place to put your putts. When you sink a putt, you canned it.

Carpet - The green. Soft, well-manicured fairways are also referred to as being "like carpet."

Carry - How far the ball travels through the air. Contrasted with "run."

Cart Girl - The lovely young lady who operates the beer cart (a motorised vehicle that carries refreshments to golfers out on the course). These refreshments typically cost a fortune, which probably explains why golf courses hire beautiful young women to sell them.

Cart Golf - Term for when two golfers riding in the same golf cart repeatedly hit the ball in the same direction (usually into the rough). An efficient but not necessarily pleasant way to play.

Casual Water - A temporary accumulation of water. The rules of golf provide that a ball may be moved without penalty from any non-permanent wet area, such as a rain puddle. Tears, however, no matter how copious, do not constitute casual water.

Cellophane Bridge - An invisible cover over the top of the hole

Centre City - A tee shot that lands directly in the centreof the fairway has gone to Centre City.

Centre Cut - A putt that goes directly into the centreof the cup.

Chilli Dip - An improperly executed chip shot in which the club hits the ground before hitting the ball, usually resulting in a shot that rolls just a few inches. This is one shot you have in common with Jack Nicklaus because everyone who has ever played golf has done it. You've just done it a little more frequently than Jack.

Chip Shot - A short, low approach shot that gets a player into position for one or more missed putts.

Chip - A short shot (typically played from very close to and around the green), that is intended to travel through the air over a very short distance and roll the remainder of the way to the hole.

Cleek - 1. Old-fashioned chipping iron.

Closed Face - When (in relation to the target-line) the clubface is angled toward the player's body, ie angled left for right-handed players.

Closed Stance - When a player's front foot is set closer to the target-line. Used to draw the ball or to prevent a slice.

Club Weight - There are three ways to measure the weight of a club: its overall weight, which ranges from about 13 ounces for a driver to just over 16 for a sand wedge; its swingweight, which is arrived at using a complex calculation of the relationship between the distribution of mass among a club's components and the length of its shaft; and its "bringweight," which is an estimate of its apparent heaviness on the 18th fairway on an afternoon in July and ranges between 21 and 46 pounds.

Clubface - The metal or wooden striking surface that is located on the front of a clubhead above the sole and between the toe and the heel. There is a specific point on every clubface called the "sweet spot," which, when it connects with a ball, produces maximum accuracy and power as well as a solid, gratifying feeling of perfect contact. It is difficult to say exactly where the sweet spot is since it varies from club to club, but generally speaking it is in the dead centre of the "bland belt," which is very near the "rotten region," in the middle of the "lousy area" and surrounded by the "loathsome zone.

Clubhead Covers - Wool or leather "mittens" slipped over the heads of woods to keep them dry. Zip-on coverings that encase the entire club in wetsuit material are also available and permit the eventual reuse of a favourite club flung into a water hazard, assuming that blind rage was tempered with foresight.

Clubhouse - Place where the rules are prominently posted.

Colonel Bogey - Just another name for the dreaded score of one over par.

Comebacker - A shot that backs up after hitting the green. Or, for a high-handicapper, a tee shot that hits one of the tee markers and ends up behind you.

Committee - The duly authorised drafters of the rules.

Competition - Form of play clearly established in the rules.

Compression - The measurement for expressing the hardness of a golf ball, normally 90 compression. Harder balls (100 compression) are intended for players with faster swings but may also be useful in windy conditions.

Condor - A four-under par shot, a hole-in-one on a par 5 . This has occurred on a hole with a heavy dogleg, hard ground, and no trees.Might also be called "a triple eagle".

Cop - The ranger on the public golf course—the guy whose job it is to make sure the flow of play is smooth and all golfers are observing the game's etiquette. He's never around when the fivesome in front of you is too slow, but always around to watch you hit a tee shot out of bounds or into a lake.

Course - Area of play strictly regulated under the rules.

Courtesy - Type of conduct specifically mandated by the rules.

Cup - The metal or plastic cylinder fitted into the hole in the green. Strictly speaking, it is only the liner of the hole, but in regular golf usage players will often say "cup" when they mean "hole," just as they frequently will say "just in bounds" when they mean "out of bounds," "Oh, here it is" when they mean "I can't find it" and "five" when they mean "seven."

Cuppy - A lie that's buried in a hole or depression.

Cut or The Cut - After the first two rounds of a stroke play tournament, a select number of players will have earned the right to play the rest of the tournament for a chance to win the championship, by having a score at or lower than this number. The cut is usually a fixed number of players (e.g. 70), plus anyone tied for that place. In some tournaments, anyone within a fixed number of strokes (e.g. 10) of the leader are also included in the cut. Those missing the cut earn no official money for the tournament.