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K Keeper
A
successfully executed shot. Keeping Score
- In general, golfers assign a number exactly one higher than the
previous one for each shot they play to arrive at the cumulative
total of all the strokes required to complete a given hole. While
it has the merit of simplicity, this system does tend to produce
discouragingly high numbers, and players who perennially score in
the 90s or higher might think about switching to an unconventional
numbering system which, while still adhering strictly to the custom
of counting each and every stroke, nevertheless provides a more
acceptable result. Two excellent candidates are the arithmetic series
-2,-1,0,1,2,3,4 etc. and 1,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4,4 etc. Also worth considering
are binary numbers, which, no matter how large, are always composed
of zeros and ones, and Roman numerals, whose simple written form
(the key golf numbers 4,5,6,7 and 8 are indicated by IV,V,VI,VII
and VIII) permits alteration of the scorecard with the effortless
erasure or addition of an "I" or two rather than the complex
conversion of, say, a telltale Arabic "9" into a "5." Kick Literally,
the way the ball bounces. Sometimes it kicks your way and
sometimes it doesn't, but golfers are always asking for a good
kick. Kill To
hit the ball with great force. This was John Daly's "swing
thought" during the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick.
Before each shot his caddie, Jeff "Squeaky" Medlen, uttered
one word: "Kill." Daly did. Knee-knocker
A putt in the three-to-four-foot range that causes emotional
and physical problems for the golfer. The term comes from the nervous
trembling that accompanies these short putts. Every golfer experiences
a knee-knocker at some time. (See also throw-up range
and yips.} Knickers
- Baggy trousers worn by golfers in the 1930s. They were called
"plus fours" because they were cut off four inches below
the knee, then tucked into long socks. Plus fours have disappeared
from golf courses, and the only golfing apparel anything like them
that exists today is a much more appealing form of attire, worn
by women, known as "minus tens." Knife The
one iron. The toughest club to hit. If you carry a 'knife in
your bag, you're either a real player or a phony who wants to look
like a real player. A few swings with the knife will reveal
the true you. Lee Trevino advises golfers caught in a lightning
storm to hold their one irons aloft because "even God can't
hit a one iron." Knockdown
Term for a shot that is hit with an abbreviated follow-through
to produce a low-trajectory, slight fade, and plenty of spin. A
knockdown shot usually doesn't travel as far as a normal
shot. This shot is employed when control is paramount. (See also
punch.') Knockoff
A club that is a clone or forgery of an original design. Knockoff
clubs are attractive to golfers because they're so much less
expensive than the clubs they imitate. Knuckleball
A shot without spin that has an erratic flight. Some baseball
pitchers find success with a knuckleball; golfers never do. Kolven
- A golf-like 17th-century Dutch game played on frozen canals with
clubs and balls. A similar game called "chole" was being
played in France in the 14th century, and there are other, even
earlier traces of the sport. For example, in the modest tomb of
King Puttankhamen I (1350 B.C.-1345 BC), a set of 14 bronze-shafted
clubs were discovered, each one broken in two; and, in eastern Turkey,
an ancient Babylonian clay tablet from about 4000 BC was unearthed
that bears an astonishing resemblance to a scorecard, with the numbers
1 through 18 inscribed in a row and, next to them, scores (a few
of them changed several times) that add up to 117 but are followed
in the space for a total at the bottom of the column by the number
77. |