In golf, why do shout "4" when you hit the ball offline?

Question

In golf, why do shout "4" when you hit the ball offline?

Answer 1

HAWK IS THE MAN!!

I JUST WET MYSELF!!!  ("I say chaps......lol)

sorry i dont know why they yell four but it is to warn people...

im still laughing and people at work are looking at me but i cant stop....

Answer 2

i was thinking that all this morining while my sis was playing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

so you alert golfers ahead of you to duck...lol

Answer 4

to alert people to notice where the ball falls

Answer 5

its short for "4 f**k sake"

Answer 6

It's not the number 4 that they are shouting, they are shouting "fore" . When they are hitting a long shot I think it's about almost 400 yards, out of courtesy they have to yell "fore" to others who maybe out on the field and not aware of the person who hitting the long shot. It's actually a nice way of screaming out, "DUCK", or "Get out of the way". It's a tradition and a courtesy to other players. Here's a website with some meanings on some of the golf terms.

http://www.emeraldcoast.com/golf/article...

Answer 7

Believe it's from the fact that Scotland popularized golf in seaside towns, and "Fore" was used as a short way to say look out ahead.  Fore as opposed to aft - both sailing terms.

Answer 8

to alert fellow golfers to watch there heads , four is quicker than

" I say chaps look out a golf ball is coming your way at high velocity "

Answer 9

Big cut and paste!

Fore!

No certain etymology for the golf word “Fore!” has ever been agreed. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary records its first use in 1878 as a warning cry to people in front of a golf stroke and, like most people, believes it is an abbreviation of the word ‘before’. There is an earlier reference in 1857 in a glossary of golfing terms. Its origin appears to be bound up with that of the word Caddie.

Currently there are three serious explanations for the origins of term FORE!



Because golf balls were expensive, golfers employed ‘Forecaddies’ to stand where the ball might land and reduce the number of lost balls, as is done in tournaments today.  In 1875, Robert Clark mentions that Andrew Dickson performing this role for the Duke of York in 1681 and describes it as “what is now commonly called a fore-caddie”.  It is probable that golfers called to their “Forecaddie!”, who would always be some distance ahead to draw attention to the fact the ball was coming and, in time, this was shortened to “Fore!” The almost contemporaneous appearance of the terms caddie, fore-caddie and fore! supports this theory over the others.

A second explanation derives from the military battle craft of musket days, when rank after rank would fire fusillades, some over the heads of those in front. It was speculated that the term Fore! might have been used to warn those in front to keep their heads down. Modern historians pour cold water on this theory, partly because it is difficult to relate it to a Scottish golf connection and partly because the relevant military terms used do not appear to be connected. However, this theory may in fact be a misunderstanding of the theory below.

There is a third explanation, which appears utterly implausible, but which is an outside possibility. It derives from a story told by John Knox (1505?-1572) the ‘hellfire’ protestant reformer. He tells the tale, as only ‘hellfire’ preachers can, of someone arriving at the East Port (east gate) of Leith. This story was noticed by Dr Neilson and subsequently reported by Robert Browning in his book 'History of Golf’ (1955) thus:

Answer 10

You don't shout "4" you shout "FORE". Fore is short for FOREGROUND, as in the people in front of you. Usually, (by golfers who care) it's followed by "right"  "left"  or some other adjective. I.e - someone who hit the ball off line to the right  would normally yell "fore - Right!" if there were people there.