Ladies' Tees - Teeing areas placed somewhat closer to the greens to compensate for the fact that although women are as capable as men of playing first-rate golf, they do not, as a rule, hit the ball as far.

Lag - A long putt played conservatively to make sure that the ball ends up near enough to the hole to be sunk with the next stroke. If this putt is missed, it is referred to as an "aaag."

Lateral Water Hazard - A water hazard which runs parallel to the fairway.

Lay up - To aim short of the green and chip on rather than attempt a long or otherwise risky approach shot.

Left-handed Golfers - Although golf, with its overwhelming right-handed orientation, penalises left-handed players more than other sports do, it also provides two significant advantages to "southgrips": most golfers can't borrow your spare golf glove and they can't demonstrate the "right way to swing that club" after you muff your drive.

Legs - A ball is said to have "legs" if it continues to roll a significant distance after landing. If it bounces into the rough and becomes wedged under a rock or in the crook of a tree, it is said to have "claws." If it runs down a bank and into a water hazard, it has "fins." If, on a putt, it rings the cup without going in, it has "lips." And if it does all these things on the same hole, it is given "wings" and flung into the underbrush.

Lie - 1. Where the ball comes to rest after being hit by a golfer. 2. The number of strokes it took to get it there, as reported by that golfer.

Links - Golf courses are often referred to as "links," but, strictly speaking, this term applies only to a course laid out over the natural contours of the bleak, wind-swept land along the sea, as was the original course at St. Andrews. At first glance, the lush golf courses in the U.S. seem to bear little resemblance to their austere Scottish progenitor, but tradition is very important in the game of golf and American clubs have made every effort to be true to their Highland roots. For example, no towel in any golf club's locker room exceeds 2 square feet in area or 1/20th of an inch in thickness; no light bulb in any washroom is ever of a wattage greater than 25; no radiator in any dressing room achieves a temperature higher than 66°, nor is hot water ever warmer than 88°; walls are painted only in years divisible by 16, and no object or mechanism is replaced until the end of the decade in which it first broke or ceased to function; and all facilities for women are faithfully patterned after the original Wee Lassies' Changing Boothy in a leaky greenskeeper's but overlooking the Firth of Fife.

Links - A course on the ocean, usually devoid of trees and therefore windy. Many courses in the United Kingdom are links.

Lip Out - A putt that hits the lip and spins out.

Lob Shot - A shot where the flies to maximum height and minimal distance, normally used to hit the ball from close range when trying to avoid an obstacle.

Liz Taylor - A shot that's a little fat but still okay. Not to be confused with a Roseanne, which is very fat and not okay.

Local Rules - A set of regulations that are ignored only by players on one specific course rather than by golfers as a who

Loft - The angle of a clubface and the corresponding steepness of the shot it will produce. Loft angles range from the relatively shallow ones used for long, unobstructed shots (12° for a driver, 20° for a fairway wood, 30° for a 5-iron) to the much steeper ones needed to clear obstacles (47 ° for a 9-iron, 58° for a sand wedge, 75° for the tip of a golf shoe, and up to 100° for a throwing arm).

Loose Impediments - Natural and legally movable objects that interfere with play, such as dazed or disoriented reptiles or mammals, stunned birds, pulverised stones, flattened bushes, uprooted shrubs, severed branches and felled trees, or if you are Tiger Woods boulders that require a complete work crew to move.

Lost Ball - An opponent's missing ball after 90 seconds of searching, or one of your own after 20 minutes.