Golf Compendium

In the name of a "Box Tournament," also known as "Man In the Box," the box in question is the tee box. On every hole, one member of the four-person team is required to step up and provide one of the two scores on that hole that are combined for the team's score.

George Sargent was an English golfer whose greatest successes happened in America: He won the U.S. Open in 1909, and through the 1940s was the head pro at a succession of major American clubs. He also was an innovator in golf instruction who played a big part in popularizing the use of film to analyze golf swings.

Battle Golf is the name of a game in which the golfer who wins a hole gets to make it even harder for his opponent to come back in the match. That's because when you lose a hole in Battle Golf, you also lose a club.

The Sea Island Open (called the Sea Island Women's Invitational its final two years) was a professional golf tournament on the LPGA Tour from the mid-1950s into the 1960s. Five times it was won by Mickey Wright. It was played in Georgia.

Designated Hitter, also known as 4-Player Baseball, is a golf tournament format for four-person teams. On each hole, the scores of two of those team members are combined for the team score. And one of those scores must come from the team's "designated hitter."

Do you know what the numbers on a golf ball mean? Do you know whether they even mean anything at all? The numbers that are most commonly stamped by manufacturers onto golf balls do not really having a meaning , but they certainly do have a purpose . We'll explain that, plus what other numbers golfers might see on a ball, and what those numbers mean.

American Foursomes is the name of a golf format that you might actually know under a different name. That's because American Foursomes is just another name for the format more commonly called Chapman System .

Gloria Ehret had a 15-year-career on the LPGA Tour that started in the mid-1960s. It included a couple victories, one of which was in a major championship. She had a knack for finishing second and also for getting into playoffs.

Golfers sometimes talk about "duffing" a shot. Do you know what it means to duff it on the golf course? It is a common type of mis-hit that goes by several other terms, too.

"Four Horsemen" is the name of a golf tournament format for teams of four golfers. Each golfer in the game gets to play normal stroke play and post a score, but handicaps are applied at the end and scores are combined for the team score.

The LPGA Tour event known as The Office Depot was played only five times, but had an impressive roster of champions. It was played in Florida from the late 1990s into the early 2000s.

Four-Ball Aggregate is the name of a golf competition format played by teams of two golfers. It can be used as a tournament format, or a group of four golfers can pair off into two teams, two vs. two, and play for money or pride.

John Schlee was a PGA Tour player in the 1960s and 1970s who won only one time on tour. But he is the answer to a couple trivia questions about the tour in those years, and later in life operated instructional schools where he taught what he himself had been taught by Ben Hogan.

"Flaggies" is the name of a golf game in which golfers earn points by making putts beyond a certain length. Which length? The length of the flagstick.

A "duffer" is something that every golfer has been, but that no golfer wants to be. "Duffer" is a term that refers to a player who is bad at golf.

Duffer's Defense is the name of a points game for groups of three or four golfers in which one golfer on each hole is the designated "duffer." The duffer's goal is to avoid losing the hole. And on each hole, only the designated "duffer" earns or loses points.

The "driving putter" (often hyphenated as "driving-putter") was a golf club, long since gone from golf, that was sometimes used by pre-20th century golfers. But did they use it for driving, or for putting? Yes!

Felix Serafin was a golf pro who made about 100 starts on the PGA Tour, mostly in the 1930s. He was born in Pennsylvania, lived his whole life there, and all of his professional tournament wins happened in that state.

The Suntory Open was one of the highest-profile tournaments on the Japan Golf Tour (JGTO) over four decades, from the early 1970s into the 2000s. Its roster of champions included the best of Japanese golfers, as well as a few big PGA Tour names.

"Crenshaws" is the name of a golf game that rewards players who one-putt. Hole your first putt once your ball is on the green, or, depending on the version you are playing, make a 1-putt par, and you earn a Crenshaw point.

A hole-in-one on a par-4 is called ... a hole-in-one. Or an ace. It can be called by a couple other terms. And we'll tell you what those other terms are. But we'll also explain why no golfers actually use those other terms.

The Drop Out Game is a golf format, or rather formats: the name is used for a couple different games. We'll explain them all below, and also tell you the other common names by which the Drop Out Game is known.