golf

[ golf, gawlf; British also gof ]

noun

1. a game in which clubs with wooden or metal heads are used to hit a small, white ball into a number of holes, usually 9 or 18, in succession, situated at various distances over a course having natural or artificial obstacles, the object being to get the ball into each hole in as few strokes as possible.
2. a word used in communications to represent the letter G.

verb (used without object)

1. to play golf.

golf

¹

/ ɡɒlf /

noun

1. 1. a game played on a large open course, the object of which is to hit a ball using clubs, with as few strokes as possible, into each of usually 18 holes
   2. ( as modifier )

      a golf bag

verb

1. intr to play golf

Golf

²

/ ɡɒlf /

noun

1. communications a code word for the letter g

Other Words From

• golfer noun
• non·golfer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of golf¹

1425–75; late Middle English; of uncertain origin

Word History and Origins

Origin of golf¹

C15: perhaps from Middle Dutch colf club

Example Sentences

In many cases, they are traveling at night by using small habitat patches like wooded backyards and strips of suburbia wood lines to link up to larger green spaces like cemeteries, golf courses, and parks.

From Popular-Science

I know he went out there and hired a golf pro and worked on his swing.

From Washington Post

Saunders concluded that the first golf ball Shepard hit traveled roughly 24 yards, while the second golf ball traveled 40 yards.

From Ars Technica

Reed had sparked chatter on CBS’s telecast and throughout the golf world when he picked up a ball he claimed was embedded and played it from another lie after a free drop.

From Washington Post

He would reunite with Laura in a few days, and he looked forward to playing golf with his grandson.

From Washington Post

In 2006, Wahlberg participated in the Los Angeles Police-Celebrity Golf Tournament, an annual fundraiser.

From The Daily Beast

She takes a golf club, the country club equivalent of a Louisville slugger, and attacks his car.

From The Daily Beast

Maybe just nine holes of golf after an American ISIS hostage is beheaded.

From The Daily Beast

So he turned around, and got in the back of the golf cart that was supposed to take him back to his car.

From The Daily Beast

The Duke disappeared into a darkened side room, where he sat inches from a glowing television screen, gazing at golf.

From The Daily Beast

Play-writing is a luxury to a journalist, as insidious as golf and much more expensive in time and money.

From Project Gutenberg

The place he put it in was—er—a little below golf and a little above classical concerts.

From Project Gutenberg

It even possessed the attractions of a golf course, the first in Ireland, the Kinnegar at Holywood, p. 92but more of that anon.

From Project Gutenberg

Father always gets a lot of golf up here, you know, and I'm rather fond of it.

From Project Gutenberg

Marie looked down over the golf links, as the car swung around the long curve at the head of the slope.

From Project Gutenberg