golf
UK/ɡɒlf//ɡɑlf/
golf noun: a ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine) holes in the minimum number of strokes. Also the alternative letter-case form of Golf from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
Noun
golf (uncountable)
- A ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine) holes in the minimum number of strokes.
- In January, China’s state planner said it had ordered the closure of more than 100 golf courses in a multi-year campaign launched in 2011 to tackle illegal development in the sector.
- Golf has also been added to a list of Communist Party disciplinary violations, and is often cited in cases of graft.2017 October 16, Adam Jourdan, Matt Miller, “In the rough - China closes Wanda golf courses in chilly northeast”, in Himani Sarkar, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2023...
Verb
golf (third-person singular simple present golfs, present participle golfing, simple past and past participle golfed)
- To play the game of golf.
- Last mystery of all, he learned to golf.1894, Rudyard Kipling, The Day's Work/An Error in the Fourth Dimension
- To write something in as few characters as possible (e.g. in code golf, regex golf)
Also used as
golf is also the alternative letter-case form of Golf from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.
golf meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
golf in Hindi
- ball game
- गोल्फ़, गोल्फ golph
golf in Tamil
- ball game
- கோல்ஃப் kōlf
golf in Marathi
- ball game
- गोल्फ golpha
- play golf
- गोल्फ खेळणे golpha kheḷṇe
golf in Urdu
- ball game
- گولْف
More languagesFewer languages
- golf in Bengali
- গল্ফ, গল্ফ খেলা golpho khela
- golf in Telugu
- గోల్ఫ్ gōlph
- golf in Malayalam
- ഗോൾഫ് gōḷphŭ
- golf in Kannada
- ಗಾಲ್ಫ್ gālph
- golf in Punjabi
- ਗੋਲਫ, ਗੋਲਫ਼, ਗੌਲਫ
- golf in Gujarati
- ગોલ્ફ golph
- golf in Odia
- ଗଲ୍ଫ, ଗଲ୍ଫ୍, ଗୋଲ୍ଫ୍
- golf in Sinhala
- ගොල්ෆ්
- golf in Nepali
- गोल्फ
- golf in Tagalog
- golp
- golf in Arabic
- جُولْف, غُولْف
- golf in Malay
- golf
- golf in Indonesian
- golf
- golf in Thai
- กอล์ฟ gɔ́ɔp
- golf in Vietnamese
- golf, gôn
- golf in Myanmar
- ဂေါက် gauk, ဂေါက်သီး gauksi:
Examples of golf in a sentence
- Membership of this golf club is limited to those of quality and wealth.
- The club that is now mostly used for golf was once a common weapon.
- In today's golf tournament we recorded three unders and twenty overs.
Forms of golf
| third-person singular present | golfs |
|---|---|
| present participle | golfing |
| past participle | golfed |
| past | golfed |
Origin of golf
The word is first known in English from the 17th century as a borrowing from Middle Scots golf, gouff. Although the etymology is uncertain, the most likely origin is that it comes from the Middle Dutch colve, colf (“club”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kulbaz (“club”), related to German Kolben (“piston, rod”), Swedish kolv (“piston, rod”), Old English clopp (“rock; cliff”), English kelp.
Words formed from golf
- African golf
- antigolf
- army golf
- barnyard golf
- clock golf
- code golf
- crazy golf
- dart golf
- disc golf
- flying disc golf
- folf
- footgolf
- frisbee golf
- frolf
- golfaholic
- golf bag
- golf ball
- golf buggy
- golf caddie
- golf caddy
- golf car
- golf cart
- golf clap
- golf club
- golf-club
- golf course
- golf croquet
- golfdom
- golfese
- golf hole
- golfiana
- golfless
- golflike
- golf pencil
- golf pro
- golf shirt
- golf shoe
- golfspeak
- golf towel
- golf umbrella
- golfwear
- golf widow
- golfwise
- hickory golf
- midget golf
- miniature golf
- nongolf
- peewee golf
- pub golf
- regex golf
- snow golf
- Tom Thumb golf
- word golf
Phrases with golf
- golf bags
- golf cars
- golf pros
- golf balls
- golf carts
- golf claps
- golf clubs
- salsa golf
- golf shirts
- golf towels
- golf widows
- golf buggies
4 more phrasesFewer phrases
Words that rhyme with golf
Questions about golf
- What does golf mean?
- Golf means a ball game played by individuals competing against one another in which the object is to hit a ball into each of a series of (usually 18 or nine) holes in the minimum number of strokes.
- What is golf in Hindi?
- Golf in Hindi is गोल्फ़, गोल्फ (golph). See Golf meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is golf?
- Golf can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce golf?
- Golf is pronounced /ɡɒlf/ (UK).
Words near golf in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: golf (page history and authors); golf (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); golf (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); golf (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-golf.ogg.
Cite this entry: “golf.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/golf. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.