Putter: Golf club versus coal mine pusher

To most people, a putter is a golf club: a short-shafted implement with a flat face used for striking the ball on the green. The word comes from the action of putting, tapping the ball gently into the hole. A golfer's skill with a putter decides many matches.

In coal mining, a putter was a worker, usually a boy or a young man, whose job was to push small wagons, called tubs or corves, loaded with coal along the underground roadways of the pit to the bottom of the mine shaft. The putter worked in tandem with the getter, the miner who cut and loosened the coal at the face. Once the getter had filled a tub, the putter would push it away, often through narrow passages and around tight corners, and bring back an empty one to be filled again.

The role was essential to the flow of the pit. A putter had to know the layout of the workings, manage the weight of a loaded tub on uneven ground, and work quickly enough to keep the getters supplied with empty tubs. The work was physically exhausting and often performed in near-total darkness, lit only by a candle or small lamp.

Where ponies or pit ponies were available, the putter's role could shift: a pony putter was then the driver of the animal that hauled the wagons, rather than the person pushing by hand. The distinction reflects the scale of the mine and its resources.

The two meanings of putter diverged because they describe very different actions: the golf putter emphasizes a gentle tap, while the mining putter emphasizes sustained pushing effort. Both meanings were in use by the 19th century, when coal mining vocabulary was being recorded in industrial dictionaries and golf was becoming a popular sport.