flat stick

English

Alternative forms

(golf sense) flatstick

Adjective

flat stick (comparative more flat stick, superlative most flat stick)

(Australia, New Zealand) Extremely busy or fast-paced.
- 1970 September, Peter Hansen, “Summer in Fort Resolution”, in Whole Earth Catalog, Point Foundation, page 24, column 2:
  I've been digging around for some stuff for you. Unfortunately we're a bit pushed for time at the moment as we're heading back to the homeland—New Zealand—via Britain & Europe—so what with packing our stuff up and getting that off and trying to make the odd arrangement for travel we've been "flat stick."
- 2010, Michael Brown, Finding the Field: An Adventure of Body, Mind and Spirit, →ISBN, page 142:
  "Only thing is, I'm flat stick. Can't get onto it until the end of the month. You wanna courtesy car?"
- 2017 January 21, George Gregan, quotee, “Rugby: Gregan sticks with Cheika”, in The New Zealand Herald‎^[1], Auckland: NZME, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-11:
  You start your career through sevens. It's such a great way to learn the game. It's flat stick and you have to make decisions under pressure. It's a fast-track to becoming a very good rugby player.
- 2022 August 6, Bess Manson, “Hospo workers busting a gut to keep our public living rooms open”, in Stuff‎^[2], archived from the original on 2022-09-01:
  At 9am on a Wednesday morning it's flat stick at Jet Patel's cafe, Kanteen. It's the second rush of the morning – a bunch of Wellington office workers already got their fix a few hours before.

Adverb

flat stick (comparative more flat stick, superlative most flat stick)

(Australia, New Zealand) As quickly as possible; at top speed.
- 1975, Wade Doak, Sharks and Other Ancestors: Patterns of Survival in the South Seas, Auckland […]: Hodder and Stoughton, →ISBN, page 303:
  Wade placed him in a large plastic rubbish bin full of sea water and off we went flat stick back to the El Torito near the Sand Garden. Howard tagged Sammy and let him go in this alien world, Walt filming the reactions of the other males to this stranger.
- 2012, Gail Brenssell-Rakuraku, Go Kick Arse Ma!, Xlibris, →ISBN, page 69:
  He then drives us flat stick into the setting sun to home.

Noun

flat stick (plural flat sticks)

(golf) A golf club intended for putting; a putter.
- 2007, Christopher Smith, I've Got 99 Swing Thoughts but "Hit the Ball" Ain't One, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, →ISBN, page 21:
  As I walked (it was time for a break) off the fourteenth green, it hit me what I'd just done: I'd just birdied five holes in a row while running—without a putter. I've never birdied those holes consecutively before or since that moment, and I've played them dozens of times with my trusty flatstick in the bag and plenty of time to read the green.
- 2022 July 17, Luke Kerr-Dineen, “How the beer-loving Cameron Smith lost weight — and gained distance”, in Golf Magazine‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: EB Golf Media LLC, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-06:
  Cameron Smith's 150th Open Championship came, above all else, with his putter. And deservedly so. His flat stick caught fire on Sunday, helping him onto five birdies to start the back nine and a 64 seize the trophy from Rory McIlroy's grasp.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see flat,‎ stick.
Flat sticks are very uncommon in nature—in fact, tree branches usually tend to be rather round.
- 1992 February 15, Gene Austin, “How to mend vinyl wallpaper seams”, in The Baltimore Sun‎^[4], Baltimore, M.D.: Tribune Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2021-06-20:
  If the seam still refuses to stay flat, it will have to be held down, giving the adhesive more time to cure. One way is to press a flat stick or board against the seam and hold it in place with a heavy chair or other piece of furniture.

References

“flat stick, adv. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.