Golf
nounA game in which players use clubs to hit a small ball into a series of holes on a course, using as few strokes as possible.
How to spell golf
4 letters · 1 syllable
How to pronounce golf
What does golf mean?
- nounA game in which players use clubs to hit a small ball into a series of holes on a course, using as few strokes as possible.
- verbTo play the game of golf.
Golf in a sentence
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noun
He booked a round of golf for early Saturday morning.
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verb
They often golf together on company retreats.
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noun
The resort has an eighteen-hole golf course beside the lake.
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verb
Retired now, he likes to golf whenever the weather allows.
Where does golf come from?
Language of origin: Dutch
Golf is first recorded in Scotland in the fifteenth century, appearing as 'gouf' or 'goff' in Scots documents, including an act of the Scottish Parliament in 1457 that banned the game because it distracted men from archery practice. The most likely source is the Middle Dutch word 'colf' or 'colve', meaning a club, stick, or bat used in various ball-and-stick games played in the Low Countries, with which Scotland had close trading ties. Over time the Scots pronunciation and spelling settled into the modern 'golf', and the popular notion that it stands for 'Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden' is a later joke with no basis in fact. The word kept its compact one-syllable shape as the sport spread from Scotland across Britain and then worldwide in the nineteenth century. Because the spelling is short and matches the sound closely, the only mild trap is the silent-feeling 'l' between 'go' and 'f'.
How the word is built
- golf (single root; no prefix or suffix)
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