Escalope at the Golf Course

What is an "escalope" in golf?

In the jargon of French golfers, the'escalope refers to the divot of grass that the club tears up when striking the ball. It is a colloquial synonym for divot, the official term: The Official Golf Vocabulary, published in the Official Journal in 2000, specifies that the term is also colloquially referred to as “escalope.”.

The picture speaks for itself: a thin, flattened patch of grass that looks like a escalope lying on the fairway.

Escalope and shank: Beware of confusion

We sometimes read that an "escalope" is a mishit shot in which the ball is struck by the club's shaft. This is a misunderstanding. That shot is called the shank (in English, “shank”):

• The escalope: a patch of turf torn up. It can accompany both a very good shot and a fat shot.
• The shank: The ball is struck by the hosel, the part of the club where the shaft meets the head. It veers sharply to the side—to the right for a right-handed golfer.

Is a escalope a good or bad sign?

It all depends on where it starts:

• After the ball: This is a sign of a good swing. The iron struck the ball on the downswing and then made contact with the ground. Good players make thin, consistent divots right in front of the ball.
• Before the ball: The club hit the ground too soon. It's a fat shot: The club loses speed on the ground, and the ball doesn't travel far enough.
• Very thick: The angle of attack is too steep, often because the club is coming down too vertically.

Why do we make escalope before the dance?

The most common causes of scabies:

• The weight that remains on the back foot During the downswing: the lowest point of the swing moves back behind the ball.
• The upper body tilting backward to “help” the ball go up.
• Wrists that relax too early On the downswing: the clubhead moves past the hands before impact.
• A ball that went too far forward in the stance used by the club.

The common fix: shift your weight to the front foot at the start of the downswing, and position your hands slightly ahead of the clubhead at impact. A simple exercise is to draw a line on the ground at the driving range and place the ball on it: the downswing should begin on the line or just past it, never before it.

What should you do with your escalope?

It is considered good etiquette for each player to repair any damage they cause on the course:

1. Pick up the root ball if it has remained intact.
2. Put it back in its hole, the right way around.
3. Pack it down with your foot.
4. If it has crumbled, fill the hole with the mixture of sand and seeds provided along the course.

As for the Rules of Golf, a ball that comes to rest in a hole in an unrepaired divot does not entitle the player to no free transfers: The ball is played from its resting position, unless the committee has marked the area as a penalty area.