What the Old Term 'Fog' Means on a Golf Course

There is an old golf term — "fog" — that golfers might still encounter (or even use) today. It's a term found in old books, and, in modern lingo, most likely to be heard in Scotland. But this fog has nothing to do with the weather. It's a term that refers to rough.

The 1905 Spalding's Official Guide to Golf defines "fog" simply as "moss, rank grass." So if you encounter an old golf book that states a golfer "hit into the fog by the seventh fairway," you know the golfer hit their ball into the rough. If you hear a reference such as, "the corner of the dogleg is foggy," you know that where the hole bends there is rough waiting for wayward shots.

In The Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms (affiliate link), this use of fog is defined this way: "A growth of moss or long grass."

The Historical Dictionary states that the term is chiefly Scottish and derives from an Old Scottish term meaning "moss, second growth of hay." The reference book further states that this use of "fog" is not related at all to the weather condition of fog.

In either usage — whether relating to the weather condition or the golf course rough — fog can be a problem for the golfer who hits into it. But fog can also be a problem for golf course superintendents when it grows in places they don't want it on the course.

For example, in a passage from the The Journal of the Sports Turf Research Institute in 1929, the authors note about a golf course being discussed that "the 6th green is the poorest" because it has "patches of fog and rye grass."

Related articles:

• 42 slang terms golfers have for the rough
• What is hardpan on the golf course?
• 34 slang terms golfers have for bunkers and sand

Sources:
British Golf Union. The Journal of the Board of Green Keeping Research, Volume I, November 1929.
Davies, Peter. The Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms, 1993, Robson Books.
Spalding's Athletic Library. Official Golf Guide for 1905, Glossary, American Sports Publishing Company.