Hearing someone yell buckets! on the golf course is your cue that something great just happened - specifically, a ball just found the bottom of the cup from off the green. This article will break down what the slang buckets means in golf, where it came from, and more importantly, walk you through the practical steps you can take to start holing more shots yourself.
In golf, "buckets" is a modern slang term for holing a shot. While it can technically refer to any made shot, it’s most often used with an exclamation point for the exciting ones: a chip-in from the fringe, a pitch from the rough that drops, a delicate flop shot that lands softly and disappears, or even the ultimate bucket - holing out a full swing from the fairway. Think of the hole as a bucket, if your ball goes in, you just sank it.
The term captures the pure excitement of a shot going perfectly right. It’s the moment you turn a likely bogey into a miracle par, or a standard-issue approach into a thrilling birdie or eagle. It’s a shot that saves a hole, boosts your confidence, and gets a reaction from your entire foursome.
If the term "buckets" sounds familiar, that's because it's a direct import from another sport: basketball. On the court, "getting buckets" simply means scoring baskets. The term is energetic, fun, and widely understood. As golf culture has evolved, especially with the influence of social media and popular online golf groups like "Good Good Golf" and "No Laying Up," a younger, more dynamic vocabulary has entered the game.
You won’t find "buckets" in a traditional golf glossary or hear it often from old-school commentators, but it has become a staple in the modern golfer’s lexicon. It reflects a more casual and celebratory approach to the game, and let's be honest - it's way more fun to yell "Buckets!" than "The ball has been holed from off the putting surface."
Hoping for buckets is nice, but making them happen is a skill you can build. The most common and accessible way to get a bucket is with a chip shot. Let's break down how to stop hoping and start expecting to see that ball drop.
Many amateur golfers complicate chipping by thinking of it as a miniature full swing with lots of wrist action. Instead, I want you to adopt a much simpler mindset: a putting stroke with a club that has loft. Here's how to turn that thought into action.
This is the most important shift in thinking for a great short game. Don't stare at the hole. Instead, identify the exact spot on the green where you need your ball to land so it can release and roll out like a putt. Read the break of the green from your landing spot to the hole. Is the green sloping left? Then your landing spot needs to be to the right.
A consistent setup leads to a consistent strike. Keep it simple:
Now, execute the shot with the "putting stroke with loft" mentality. Use your shoulders to rock the club back and forth in a simple pendulum motion. Your wrists should stay quiet and relatively passive. The goal is rhythm, not power. The length of your backswing will control the distance the ball flies. A small backswing for a short chip, a slightly longer one for a longer carry.
Take three golf balls and an empty golf sleeve or a towel to the practice green. Place the towel on your intended landing spot. Your only goal is to chip your three balls so they land on that towel. After each shot, notice how it reacted. Was the landing spot correct? Did it roll out as expected? This drill ingrains the habit of focusing on your landing zone, which is the secret ingredient to making more chips.
Once you’ve mastered the mechanics of chipping, you can apply similar principles to longer shots for even more bucket opportunities.
For pitch shots, distance control is everything. The key here is not to swing harder, but to swing longer. Build yourself a simple "clock system."
Go to the range and hit 10 shots with your "8 o'clock" swing and see how far the ball goes. Do the same for your "9 o'clock" swing. Soon, you'll have specific yardages tied to repeatable swings, allowing you to land your pitch shots with incredible precision.
A holed bunker shot might be the most celebrated "bucket" of all. The secret is that you aren't actually trying to hit the ball at all. Your goal is to hit the sand. Visualize a dollar bill buried under your ball. Your goal is to swing the club so it enters the sand at the start of the bill and exits at the end of it, splashing both the sand and the ball out together.
To do this, open the clubface wide in your setup, dig your feet into the sand for stability, and make an aggressive-but-smooth swing, making sure to splash the sand out. The ball will float out softly on that cushion of sand - and sometimes, it floats right into the cup.
Great short game players don't just hope the ball gets close - they try to make it. There’s a subtle but powerful difference. Once you have a reliable technique, the final piece is your mindset.
Before every chip, pitch, or bunker shot, take a moment to see the shot সফলly in your mind’s eye. Visualize the ball's trajectory, the exact spot it will land, and see it track perfectly into the heart of the hole. This isn't just wishful thinking, it’s a form of mental rehearsal that builds confidence and sharpens your focus.
When you stand over the ball with a clear image of success, you're free to make a committed, aggressive swing. You become an active participant in creating an outcome rather than a passive passenger hoping for the best. And that is when you really start making buckets.
"Buckets" is a fun slang term for an amazing moment in golf - holing a shot from off the green. Achieving it consistently isn't about luck, it's about building a solid setup, using a simple and repeatable motion, and adopting a mindset that you're always trying to make it, not just get it close.
Building that technique is the foundation, and having an expert in your pocket for those tricky on-course moments can make all the difference. When faced with a challenging lie or an uncertain club choice around the green, that’s where an app like mine, Caddie AI, comes in. You can take a quick picture of your ball's lie, and I'll analyze the situation to give you immediate, personalized advice on the smartest way to play the shot. It helps remove the guesswork, so you can execute your swing with total confidence and give yourself the best chance to hear your friends yelling "buckets!".
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