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Here are some sample pages from I'm not a Golfer, I Play Golf.

What is a Golfer?

Princeton University’s WordNet defines a golfer as:

Noun, golf player, linksman (someone who plays the game of golf)

Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary’s definition is:

Main Entry: golf

Pronunciation: \`gälf, `go`lf, `gäf, `go`f sometimes `gəlf\

Function: noun

Usage: often attributive

Etymology: Middle English (Scots)

Date: 15th century

: a game in which a player using special clubs attempts to sink a ball with as few strokes as possible into each of the 9 or 18 successive holes on a course

— golf intransitive verb

— golf•er noun

The USGA, in conjunction with the R&A in St. Andrews, Scotland, writes, interprets and maintains the Rules of Golf to guard the tradition and integrity of the game. The two organizations are joint authors and owners of The Rules of Golf and Decisions on the Rules of Golf. Through an agreement with the R&A, the Rules jurisdiction of the USGA includes only the United States, its possessions and Mexico.

The R&A takes its name from The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, which has continuous records dating back to its foundation in 1754, and although the Club continues its long history with 2,400 members throughout the world, The R&A has become a separate entity to focus on its governance role.

The USGA and the R&A are the highest governing bodies in golf. The traditions and standards that they administer are over 250 years old. One could assume that if there was a single correct definition for golfer, these two bodies would decide what that definition should be.

Neither the USGA’s nor the R&A’s “The Rules of Golf” actually have a definition for golfer, nor do they have a definition for player. The Rules of Golf do, however, define a “competitor” as “a player in a stroke play competition”. Actually the word player is used consistently throughout The Rules of Golf. I can only assume that a “player’s” definition should be so obvious that the USGA and the R&A decided not to define the word.

The only place I could find the word “golfer” in the USGA’s “The Rules of Golf” is near the end under “Amateur Golfer”. It is defined as: An “amateur golfer” is one who plays the game as a non-remunerative and non-profit-making sport and who does not receive remuneration for teaching golf or for other activities because of golf skill or reputation, except as provided in the Rules.

Note that a competitor and an amateur golfer are defined as either a player or one who plays golf. This is the same definitions used by Princeton and Merriam-Webster. So if the highest governing bodies in golf do not use the word “golfer”, how did it become so popular? Why do most players and nearly all non-players label people that play golf as golfers? Is it just slang? Is this just a case of semantics? Am I just making something out of nothing?

It may very well be that I am making a mountain out of nothing. But hear me out before you jump to any conclusions. So how did the word golfer come about? And maybe more importantly what does the word really mean to us? Does it conjure a certain level of expectation from oneself? How does it differ from the word player?

If you are lucky enough to own or at least have read some of the golf books or articles from around 1900, you will see the word golfer used frequently. So the word’s origins are not exactly young. But this doesn’t really tell us much about its current meaning. What the word currently implies, suggest or signifies. One only needs to look at the word “gay” and follow its changes in meaning over the last 100 years. According to Webster gay still means, joyous, merry and happy, but I’ll bet you didn’t use the word to describe how you felt after that last birdie. So what does the word golfer mean, imply, suggest and signify today?

One place you will find the word golfer used in abundance is the PGA, the Professional Golfers Association. The next time you watch a PGA, LPGA or any other professional golf event take note of how the announcers refer to the player. I am pretty sure you will find they call the players golfers more often than not. Even current and ex-professional players refer to themselves as golfers. If I were a member of the Professional “Golfers” Association, I would probably also call myself a golfer. But at this point, I’m not a member of the PGA (hey, stop laughing, there’s always hope). So why then should I be able to call myself a golfer?

I swing a hammer, but you wouldn’t call me a carpenter. I take pictures, yet I’m not a photographer. I put Band-aides on my kid’s cuts and bruises, but don’t call me a nurse (not that I have anything against nurses, it’s just that other than Band-aides, I know very little about medicine). My good friend Bill has been playing the piano for 30 years, but nobody calls him a pianist.

I believe that the word golfer invokes the expectation of professionalism. Just as carpenter, photographer, pianist and nurse do. And professionals are held to certain standards. Standards and expectations set by themselves as well as by their industries, the government, their sponsors, the media and the public. And this is why I’m making such a big deal about the word golfer.

I believe that when we refer to ourselves as golfers we transfer that same set of professional standards and expectations onto ourselves. Whether we do it consciously or sub-consciously, we start to establish expectations in our own level of play. We put enormous pressure on ourselves to perform. And then we sometimes forget that golf is just a game and as amateurs we are players of the game.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t expect more from ourselves or that we shouldn’t strive to be better. Actually I believe that we should always strive to do better and have the expectation that we can. All I’m suggesting is that by referring to ourselves as golfers, we may inadvertently be holding ourselves to unrealistic standards. And when we don’t meet those standards, we lose our confidence, our patience and our ability to have fun. We lose focus and forget the reasons we are playing.

I am not proposing that the world should stop using the word golfer. I am proposing that we always remember that we play the game of golf.

“Golf without mistakes is like watching haircuts. A dinner without wine.” Jim Murray

You are not a Golfer; you play the game of golf. It’s that simple