The game of golf dates again to the fifteenth century in Scotland. Kings and queens in Europe helped unfold the sport throughout the continent within the 1500s and 1600s, however most of the golf phrases we use right this moment didn’t come about till lots of of years later.
Within the case of “birdie,” the time period used to explain a rating of 1 below par on a gap, it wasn’t launched till 1903 when an newbie golfer hit a stellar method shot and used a slang phrase to unintentionally create the favored time period. So, how precisely did “birdie” get its identify?
The place does the golf time period “birdie” come from?
Again within the 1800s, golf had already unfold around the globe, however there weren’t any particular phrases for particular person scores. That modified in 1903 when a person named Abner “Ab” Smith hit a fantastic thing about an method shot at Atlantic Metropolis Nation Membership in New Jersey.
I’ll let the ACCC web site take it from right here.
On a windy winter day in December 1903, Abner Smith of Philadelphia teed it up on the twelfth Gap at Atlantic Metropolis Nation Membership. His tee shot landed within the fairway like every other ball, however it was his subsequent shot from the green that will make historical past. It landed on the inexperienced simply inches from the opening permitting a simple putt and one below par rating. It was such a high quality shot that somebody within the group shouted, “That was a chook of a shot!” Again within the day, the time period “chook” was used to explain one thing excellent or unbelievable.
“Chook of a shot” was remodeled into “birdie” to explain a one below rating and the remainder is historical past. Guests to Atlantic Metropolis Nation Membership realized of the time period and it unfold around the globe.
Atlantic Metropolis Nation Membership web site
The time period has caught ever since, and different chook phrases to explain scores below par have developed in consequence. For those who go to Atlantic Metropolis Nation Membership right this moment, you’ll discover a commemorative rock within the actual spot of the “Birthplace of the Birdie.”