golf

Etymology

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”).

noun

1. (sports) 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. OCTOBER 16, 2017, 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 2023-03-18, Business News
2. (international standards) Alternative letter-case form of Golf from the NATO/ICAO Phonetic Alphabet.

verb

1. (intransitive) 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
2. (computing) To write something in as few characters as possible (e.g. in code golf, regex golf)