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Is "golf" a verb?

I miss hockeying... haven't had the money recently.
 
There are exception to this, particularly with the younger players. But, if I come across someone from my generation using golf as a verb, almost invariably, the person took the game up late in life and is less skilled(nothing wrong with that).
I have never heard a pro or even a golf announcer use it as a verb.
 
[h=3]golf[/h]/gälf/

Noun
A game played on a large open-air course, in which a small hard ball is struck with a club into a series of small holes in the ground,...

Verb
Play golf.


Ok, I admit it, I googled it.
 
Fourputt said:
I don't golf. I play golf. Sometimes I practice golf.

You don't tennis. You don't baseball. You don't hockey. Why would you golf?

Golf has only recently become slightly accepted as a verb, and I think it just goes with the general deterioration of the English language, which goes hand in hand the decline of the education system in general. People are too lazy to learn, or they just aren't taught in school to write or speak correctly, so they don't bother. Nobody corrects them. Teachers don't seem to care any more.

Despite that, I will continue to converse, both verbally and in writing, as I was taught to to do it.

And I will continue to play golf.

And this is the attitude which contributes to the decline.
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Because people who play golf are golfers, not golf players. There aren't tennisers, baseballers and hockeyers.

I golf, and I golfed the other day.
 
Maybe golf can be a verb because it only has one syllable.
 
I use it as both a noun and a verb, fwiw
 
Someone would first need to explain to me the definition of a verb.
 
Yes it is. Or is it an adjective? I golfing hate it when my dad cuts up a perfectly good laundry basket.
 
It depends on the context. ex. I love the game of golf. It is a noun. I like to golf. It is a verb. I bought a new golf club. It is an adjective.
 
It is a noun. We don't say I'm going basketballing or soccering or baseballing. We use the word golf incorrectly but who cares :)
 
Jody Keith Wong said:
It is a noun. We don't say I'm going basketballing or soccering or baseballing. We use the word golf incorrectly but who cares :)
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As I said above, people who play golf are golfers, not golf players. There aren't basketballers, baseballers and soccerers. So playing golf or going golfing or having golfed is all OK in my book.
 
Smallville said:
As I said above, people who play golf are golfers, not golf players. There aren't basketballers, baseballers and soccerers. So playing golf or going golfing or having golfed is all OK in my book.
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well, that gets into preferance. i used to play golf, but i got good at it and wanted to get better, and did get better, so i became a golfer.

grammatically, though, yes, it is golfer.
 
adwillingham said:
I know people use it as a verb, but that really does drive me nuts and is one of my pet peeves.

You don't hear pros say "I golfed really well today".
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I have actually heard some say "I golfed my ball pretty good today" in interviews.
 
TripleBogieTim said:
I have actually heard some say "I golfed my ball pretty good today" in interviews.
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But, but, hearing those words come out of the mouth of Boo Weekly or Bubba Watson doesn't count as them being grammatically correct :act-up:
 
Guess it depends on how your using it. Yes it's a noun in the sense of "i'm playing golf" but if you saying, "I'm golfing" it's a verb. It's one of those words where depending on how you use it, makes the English language so hard to people trying to learn it.

Remember the commercials from a couple years ago? "Verb. It's what you do!"
 
Smallville said:
Because people who play golf are golfers, not golf players. There aren't tennisers, baseballers and hockeyers.
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Beg to differ. Read the rules. Player, opponent, partner, fellow competitor. Not one time is a golfer mentioned. :eyepoke:
 
One word- Bowler.
 
Kobey said:
One word- Bowler.
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I guess I should have read all new posts before posting this. Smalls beat me to it in the Rant thread. Don't you ever sleep?
 
I like to think of it as a noun. I'm in the minority though. I'd rather say "I'm going to play golf today" than "I'm going golfing today." Just sounds better to me.
 
Language changes and evolves, always has. I tend to use it as a noun..."I like playing golf" instead of "I like golfing". Either gets the point across.
"I golfed my ball well today" just makes me grind my teeth for some reason. I react to that like I do to "synergize" and "paradigm".
 
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