A turkey is getting three birdies in a row during a round of golf.
A turkey is very rare for the average golfer but fairly common for a professional.
If you check the scorecards of all players in any given PGA Tour event, you will see multiple players with “turkeys.”
It’s not uncommon for tour players to get multiple turkeys in the same tournament, or even in the same round.
I just looked up the leaderboard from the third round of the Sony Open that took place today and the third golfer I clicked on had two turkeys in his round today:
In contrast, virtually all 10 handicappers and up have never gotten a turkey.
For them, just getting one birdie in a round is a big deal, let alone three in a row.
It’s not that common of a term, and I can’t recall ever hearing someone use it.
Why Is It Called A Turkey?
It takes its name from bowling.
In bowling, three strikes in a row is called a “turkey.”
At some point, someone decided that the feat of getting three birdies in a row needed an official name.
Thus, we have the term “turkey” in golf.
Also, it keeps with the bird theme of golf scoring terms: birdie, eagle, albatross, condor, ostrich, etc.