# What is the origin of the word GOLF **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818 "2002-10-18T13:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/1 "2002-10-18T13:43:04Z")
Not the game, just the name of the game, and it CAN’T mean “gentlemen only ladies forbidden” - can it? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/2 "2002-10-18T13:52:44Z")
HA! Shows how much you know. It was obviously named when Bullroarer Took swiped off the head of the Goblin King Golfimbul and it fell down a rabbit hole. Silly Scotsmen just picked it up thereafter. ---
**Author:** ![Bindlestiff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bindlestiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bindlestiff)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/3 "2002-10-18T13:52:44Z")
Check this link [http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-gol1.htm](http://www.quinion.com/words/qa/qa-gol1.htm) to see what World Wide Words has to say about it. Personally, I prefer the notion that it’s “flog” spelled backwards. But then, maybe that only applies to the way I play the game. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/4 "2002-10-18T14:08:09Z")
My dictionary says it’s from the 15th century and “perhaps from Middle Dutch _colf_, club”. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/5 "2002-10-18T14:19:46Z")
Thanks for the link **Bindlestiff** But > [@](#): > > …since the true origin of golf is unknown. > There is a Scots word gowf for a blow or slap, but > the experts thing this probably comes from the game, > rather than being its source. > The name of the game may be related to a Dutch word > kolf for a club or bat. ``` Things like "may be" and "it's similar to" and just rejecting the origin out of hand saying it is unknown, with out even telling us where you looked, just doesn't cut here at the Straight Dope Boot Camp of fact! Now if Cecil told me the origin is unknown I would believe it (not only because I'm a chump) but he would say where he looked, and quote other experts saying they didn't know either - SO back to the trenches! ``` ---
**Author:** ![TheNerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/858c86/32.png) [@TheNerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheNerd)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/6 "2002-10-18T16:36:41Z")
I always just figured that all the other good four letter words were taken. ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/7 "2002-10-18T21:26:23Z")
When in doubt, it’s probably safe to disregard anything anyone tells you about the origin of a word (unless very modern) deriving from some ostensibly-clever acronym. Quoth one source, “There are probably no pre-twentieth century words with acronymic origins” – although as Mencken noted, “There is […] an unhappy tendency among amateur etymologists to derive words from the initials of proper names.” See generally [http://www.wordorigins.org/errors.htm](http://www.wordorigins.org/errors.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/8 "2002-10-18T21:34:26Z")
[Snopes’s take on the subject](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/golf.htm) ---
**Author:** ![xcheopis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bc8723/32.png) [@xcheopis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xcheopis)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/9 "2002-10-18T21:39:34Z")
And yet another [informative source](http://www.word-detective.com/070599.html#seedgolf) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/10 "2002-10-19T00:26:08Z")
Actually, it was a cross-cultural misunderstanding: > [@](#): > > \*\*Sandy MacReedy: I want you to kill every gopher on the course. > > Carl Spackler: Correct me if I’m wrong, Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key. > > Sandy MacReedy: Gopherrs! You grreat git! Not golferrs! The little brrown furrry rrodents! > > Carl Spackler: We can do that. We don’t even have to have a reason. \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-origin-of-the-word-golf/132818/11 "2002-10-19T14:00:32Z")
Thank you all ! So (after reading the other links dug up\*\* by Loopus\*\* and **xcheopis** ) you might say, that in a way, golf _IS_ flog speeled backwards! COOL! 🆒