Why do golfers yell four?
Definition: A word of warning yelled out by a player who has hit an errant shot. If your shot is in danger of hitting or landing very close to another player or group of players on the course (for instance, if you slice a ball into an adjoining fairway), you should yell “fore!” to warn players to watch out. “Fore” is another word for “ahead” (think of a ship’s fore and aft). Yelling “fore” is simply a shorter way to yell “watch out ahead” (or “watch out before”). It allows golfers to be forewarned, in other words. The British Golf Museum cites an 1881 reference to “fore” in a golf book, establishing that the term was already in use at that early date (the USGA suggests the term may have been in use as early as the 1700s). The museum also surmises that the term evolved from “forecaddie.” A forecaddie is a person who accompanies a group around the golf course, often going forward to be in a position to pinpoint the locations of the groups’ shots. If a member of the group hit an errant sh
