Liprosy: A Golf Affliction You Don't Want
If you play a round of golf in which you suffer any combination of lip-outs, rolling the ball right over the edges of the cup, or running the ball right up to the lip of the hole without it falling in, then you have a case of liprosy.
"Liprosy" is a golf slang term for that affliction: Just missing a lot of putts that burn the edges, lip out, or stop right on the lip of the hole. The word "liprosy" itself is a portmanteau that blends "lip" (as in the lip of the hole on the putting green) with the dreaded (real) disease leprosy.
The authors of the dictionary of golf slang titled Let the Big Dog Eat! (affiliate link) define liprosy this way: "A frightening disease that afflicts millions of weekend golfers, the symptoms being putts that keep skimming the lip of the hole but refusing to drop in. Although some seek treatment in the emergency room, there is no known cure."
Tiger Woods was one of the disseminators of the term. In January of 1997 (Woods' first full year as a pro), Woods played the Phoenix Open and lamented how many putts he was just barely missing: "They're not falling in. I've got liprosy right now."
A few months later, at Jack Nicklaus' The Memorial Tournament, Woods managed to work two golf slang expressions into one quote when he complained about his game:
"It was army golf: I was left, right, left, right, all day. I also had liprosy — I must have left five putts on the lip."After the 2001 Mercedes Championships, Woods used the term again: "I just didn't make any putts. I hit so many lips. I just had a case of liprosy."
The fact that Woods repeated the term multiple times early in his career surely spread its use among the general golfing public. But Woods didn't invent the term, which existed among pro golfers for decades prior. The earliest use of "liprosy" that we've found in an American newspaper or magazine is from 1983. It was in a golf column by sportswriter Greg Larson of the Florida Times-Union.
More golf slang:
Sources:Ferguson, Doug. "Woods starts year with loss, Furyk has putts fall at the right time," The Memphis (Tenn.) Commercial Appeal, January 16, 2001.
Friend, Tom. "Woods Has The Ace, Jones Has The Round," The New York Times, January 26, 1997.
Larson, Greg. "Blame 'liprosy' on rye sense of humor," The Florida Times-Union, February 13, 1983.
The (London, England) Independent. "Woods stays in touch with leading pack," May 31, 1997.
Pedroli, Hubert, and Tiegreen, Mary. Let the Big Dog Eat!, William Morrow Publisher, 2000.
