<P> "Fore!", originally an Australian interjection, is used to warn anyone standing or moving in the flight of a golf ball . The mention of the term in an 1881 Australian Golf Museum indicates that the term was in use at least as early as that period . </P> <P> It is believed to come from the military "beware before", which an artilleryman about to fire would yell alerting nearby infantrymen to drop to the ground to avoid the shells overhead . (Before may mean "in front of (the gun being fired)"; fore may mean "(look) ahead".) </P> <P> Other possible origins include the term being derived from the term "fore - caddy", a caddy waiting down range from the golfer to find where the ball lands . These caddies were often warned about oncoming golf balls by a shout of the term "fore - caddy" which was eventually shortened to just "fore!". The Colonel Bogey March is based on the descending minor third which the original Colonel Bogey whistled instead of yelling Fore around 1914 . </P>

Where did the golf term fore come from