"Four!"...?

Question

How did yelling "Four", get started in golf?

Answer 1

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 shot, the thinking goes, they may have alerted the forecaddie by yelling out the term.

It was eventually shorted to just "fore."
A popular theory is that the term has a military origin. In warfare of the 17th and 18th century (a time period when golf was really taking hold in Britain), infantry advanced in formation while artillery batteries fired from behind, over their heads. An artilleryman about to fire would yell "beware before," alerting nearby infantrymen to drop to the ground to avoid the shells screaming overhead.

So when golfers misfired and send their missiles - golf balls - screaming off target, "beware before" became shortened to "fore."

This is another term, however, whose exact origin can't be stated. It does originate, however, in the fact that "fore" means "ahead" and, used by a golfer, is a warning to those ahead.

Answer 2

Why Thanks, it nearly hit my head!
I don't really know but i tell u something kinda funny. My dad has beeped his horn at people playing golf and they turn around also my brother was in the car and shouted out the window Four/fore the people playing ducked down and relised nothing was there, it was funny at the time.

Answer 3

theres like 5 million of tehse questions everyone says teh same thing. its not four its fore like before you get hit get out of the way

Answer 4

This is about the most asked question here...

It's "Fore" and is from older forms of English, mean "be FOREwarned, you're about to get conked!"

Answer 5

is it not 'fore'?

Comes from the military use of the word 'fore' meaning 'beware before'

Answer 6

english word meaning "be Forewarned"

Answer 7

Not sure, but it's "Fore" not "four."

Answer 8

it is "fore" =]