Golf, or GoFF

[Ger. kolbe; D. kolf, a club.) (Games.) A game played with a club and ball, which is peculiar to Scotland. A series of small round holes, several inches in depth, are cut in a tract of smooth turf, at distances of from 100 to 400 or 500 yards apart from each other, in a circular order. The rival players are either two in number, or four (two on each side). The balls, weighing about 2 IMG:content-0408.jpg:[graphic] oz., are painted white and made of gutta-perch a. An ordinary golf-club consists of two parts spliced together viz., the shaft and head ; the former is made either of hickory or lance-wood, with the handle cov- Fig. 1177.-HEAD OF GOLF-CLUB. ered with leather, while the head (sometimes weighted with lead behind, and faced with horn) is composed of well-seasoned apple-tree or thorn. Every player has an attendant, called a caddy, who carries his clubs, and "tees" his balls. The method of playing the game is to start from the first hole and drive the ball into the next hole with as few strokes as po ible; and so on all around the course or circle. The players (or pair of players) whose ball is holed in the fewest strokes has gained that hole; and the "match" is generally determined by the major number of holes gained in one or more rounds. This game is now coming into some vogue in America. Golfing, η. The act of playing at the game of golf. Golgotha. [Heb., "a skull," or " the place of a skull."] The Calvary, the scene of the crucifixion of Christ, was situated without the gates of Jerusalem, on the E. side of the city, although the common opinion handed down from the Middle Ages fixes it in the N.W. It is probably the ordinary spot of execution, though this is to be inferred rather from the fact that, in the eyes of the Roman officers of justice, Christ was simply a common criminal, than from any supposed connection between the word "skull" and a place of execution; G. receiving its name in all likelihood from its round skull-like form. A church was built over the spot in the 4th cent. by Const an tine. What is now called the "Church of the Holy Sepulchre" to the N.W. of Jerusalem, but within the walls of the city, has manifestly no claim whatever to be considered the building erected by Const an tine; but while recent biblical scholars and travellers generally have a umed that the scene of our Saviour's crucifixion and sepulture is not ascertainable, a writer in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible offers strong reasons for believing that the present mosque of Omar, called by the Mohammedans "The Dome of the Rock," occupies the site of the sacred Golgotha. Golgotha, in Georgia , a former post-village of Cobb co., about 123 m. N. W. of Milledgeville. Go'liad, in Tezas , a S. co.; area, about 820 sq. m. Rivers , San Antonio river and Coleto creek. Surface , diversified; soil , fertile. Cap . Goliad. Pop . (1897) about 7,000. -A post-village, cap. of the above co., on the San Antonio river, 120 m. S. by E. of Austin. Pop . (1897) about 1,250 IMG:content-0409.jpg:[graphic][subsumed][subsumed] Gomorrah. See SODOM. Gomphi'as is, n . [Gr., from gomphios , Bc. odous, a grinder-tooth, from gomphos , a bolt, a nail.] ( Med . ) A disease of the teeth, when they loosen and fall out of the sockets.