# G.O.L.F-Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden??

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 8, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059 "2001-01-08T22:28:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![walgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ac8455/32.png) [@walgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/walgreen)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/1 "2001-01-08T22:28:32Z")

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Can this be true? A friend of mine forwarded me an email today with this on it. I had never heard of it, Cecil has no article in the SD archives, and I couldn’t find it on the SD messageboards.

I don’t think they used acronyms back then, and this sounds kind of ‘made up’ to me. I’d bet that golf is really an old verb or something like that.

Can anyone provide any insight? Feel free to email me.

Thanks,  
Walgreen

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**Author:** ![mrblue92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@mrblue92](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrblue92)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/2 "2001-01-08T22:49:43Z")

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No, no. It’s “Gaelic, Overbearing Lord’s Fun”.

_d&r_

A quick look at [http://www.webster.com](http://www.webster.com) reveals the etymology is 15th Century Scotland. I’d look more, but I’ve got to go…

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/3 "2001-01-08T23:20:42Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> Golf . . . The name is from a Dutch game played with club and balls. Dutch _kolf_, a club used to strike balls with + Low German _kulf_,hockey-stick. **Walter W. Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary**

You can safely assume any word coined prior to then 1920s is not an acronym.

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**Author:** ![johnson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@johnson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnson)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/4 "2001-01-08T23:27:05Z")

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I doubt Mary, Queen of Scots would have approved of that formulation of the word…

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/5 "2001-01-08T23:51:57Z")

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Any word coined prior to the 1920’s implicitly assumes “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden”. No need to even mention it.

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**Author:** ![WillGolfForFood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/82dd89/32.png) [@WillGolfForFood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillGolfForFood)\
**Post date:** [January 8, 2001, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/g-o-l-f-gentlemen-only-ladies-forbidden/49059/6 "2001-01-08T23:54:33Z")

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I’d always heard that it was called “golf” because all of the other four-letter words were already taken.

(I **have** heard the horror stories concerning the treatment of ladies and minorities at some private golf clubs, and have no doubt that they’re true. Let me just point out that on the public courses that I play on, however, the only thing that counts is the color of your money and the pace of your play.)