What it means
گلف (golf) means “golf,” the sport played with clubs and balls on a course with holes. The word is a direct loanword from English “golf,” pronounced with a short “o” in Persian: golf. Persian has no native equivalent and no competing word. The sport itself is phonetically adapted but otherwise unchanged in meaning. گلف is used identically in formal and casual Persian: sports news, casual conversation, and club signage all use the same word. A golfer is گلفباز (golf-bâz, “golf player”) using the Persian suffix -bâz (“player of”) that attaches to imported sport names.
How to use it
- گلف بازی کردن (golf bâzi kardan) “to play golf”
- زمین گلف (zamin-e golf) “golf course”
- چوب گلف (chub-e golf) “golf club (the stick)”
- اون عاشق گلفِه. (un âsheq-e golf-e.) “He is passionate about golf.”
Cultural note
Golf in Iran has a small but real history. The Imperial Country Club in Tehran, established in the 1950s, hosted courses used by members of the Pahlavi-era elite and foreign diplomats. After the 1979 revolution most golf activity contracted sharply, and many facilities changed use. A small number of courses still operate, including one near Tehran, and Iran has had registered members in the Asian Golf Federation. The sport carries associations with pre-revolutionary upper-class culture, which gives it a slightly unusual social coloring compared to mass sports like football or wrestling. It remains a niche activity for a narrow segment of the population.