Qualifying School (Q-School)– a six round, weeklong tournament determining eligibility for the following year’s PGA or LPGA tour; around 30 top finishers are selected out of about 200 entrants to qualify for the tour

Release -- the moment in the swing motion in which the wrists relax

Rough -- the longer, thicker grass bordering the fairway; landing a shot in the rough is considered a bad lie

Rub of the Green – a third party (not a golfer or club) interfering with the path of the ball, positively or negatively; whatever the outcome, the ball is played where it comes to rest and no stroke penalty is assigned

Sandbagger -- a golfer who artificially inflates his or her official “Handicap” (usually by selectively reporting the lowest scores for calculating)to gain an unfair advantage in competition, often for gambling purposes

Sand Save -- to move the ball from a “Bunker” bordering the green to the hole in two strokes or less
 
Sand Trap -- a sand filled hazard bordering the green, not a “Waste Bunker”
 
Sand Wedge -- a high-lofted club used most often to get a ball out of a bunker

Sandie -- a “Sand Save” that results in a score of par or better

Scotch foursomes -- like regular “Foursomes” except that the tee shot is not specifically alternated, with whoever didn’t sink the putt taking the tee shot, regardless of who teed off last time

Scramble --making par or better after failing to achieve a “Green in Regulation”; or a
 game variation for two or four golfers where each player hits a ball and the best is selected; each player then plays from that best position   

Scratch golfer -- a player with a handicap of zero

Shank -- an extremely poor shot usually resulting from striking the ball with the “Hosel” instead of the “Clubface” and often severely sliced or hooked

Short game – the shots near the hole, skills in putting, chipping, and hitting from the bunker are all necessary for a god short game  

Skin -- a professional game variety in which every hole has a specific value in money or points, and whoever wins the hole is awarded the value; in the case of a tied hole, the award isn’t divided, but added onto the next hole

Skull – to hit the ball with the lower edge of the iron instead of the face; this often results in a shot that travels farther than intended

Slice -- a poorly formed shot that takes a sharp curve from the left to right (for right handed golfers); and extremely common problem for amateur golfers

Snap Hook --a poor shot that goes immediately left rather than curving from right to left like an ordinary hook, sometimes known as a “Pull-Hook”

Stableford  – a unique golf match scoring system in which players are awarded points for successful holes, and the highest score wins; players are awarded one point for finishing a hole in one stroke over a fixed score (par for example), two points for the fixed score, three points for one stroke less than the fixed score, etc., with anything above one stroke more than the fixed score isn’t awarded anything; a modified version of the Stableford system subtracts points for going more than one stroke over the fixed score
 
Snowman -- Finishing any hole in eight strokes, also known as “Dogballs”

Sweet-Spot – the exact point on the club face designed to strike the ball for maximum results  

Swing -- the movement a golfer makes to hit the ball.