Mulligan, Dogleg, Bogey ... it turns out these golf terms are not that strange

I had a lovely day of golf at a beautiful country club in Ascot.  It was the first sunny day on the island in a long time and the Brits were ecstatic.

One of the things I still cannot get used to is the unyielding politeness of the British golfer.  If you make a good shot they all are so quick to compliment.  If you mess up they usually say "unlucky" or simply look away, as if being directed by a cop at a crime scene.

But they do have a few funny sayings they direct at the shots themselves.

• If you scuff a ball but it ends up running into a decent shot, they call it a Sally Gunnell.  Ms. Gunnell was a well known British Olympic champion in the hurdles who was not known for her looks.
• They call it an Adolf Hitler if you are in the bunker.
• Similarly, if you go from bunker to bunker it is said to be a Rommel
• A Paula Radcliffe is a shot that's thin on the top.  Paula was a particularly flat chested runner.  (They are tough on their track and field athletes, apparently)
• If you've had several holes with a series of bad lies they call it a Tony Blair.  
• If you are sometimes left, sometimes right, but mostly down the middle they call it Tony Blair.
• If your shot has too much spin it's a Tony Blair.
• If you hit a ball that dies on a hill they call it a Robin Cook.  Robin Cook was the British Foreign Secretary who collapsed and died on a hill.
• You've hit an Arthur Scargill if you have a good strike, but the results are poor.  Scargill was the President of the Miners Union who Maggy Thatcher crushed.
• If you've got another bad lie it's a Jeffrey Archer.  (Famous British author who was exposed as a sexual deviant and lied in court about it)
• If you hit a shot a touch fat, but it's almost perfect, then you've hit a Kate Winslet.  (This one will anger Jen)

I guess these are much better than my "did your putter get caught on your skirt?" when one of my mates comes up real short on a putt.