putt

/pət/

/pət/

Other forms: putting; putts; putted

To putt is to hit a golf ball softly with a club, usually when you're close to the hole. Golfers use a special club called a putter when they're ready to putt.

The distance between your golf ball and the hole determines how you putt, but the stroke is generally gentle, intended to get the ball on the green or all the way into the hole. Unlike other golf strokes that send the ball arcing through the air, a putt is always meant to simply roll it. Putt is a Scottish word that originally meant "to shove" or "to push," and came to include the golf meaning in 1743.

Definitions of putt

1. verb

   strike (a golf ball) lightly, with a putter
   “he putted the ball several feet past the hole”

   type of:

   hit

   cause to move by striking
2. verb

   hit a putt
   “he lost because he putted so poorly”

   type of:

   play

   participate in games or sport
3. noun

   hitting a golf ball that is on the green using a putter
   “he didn't sink a single putt over three feet”

   synonyms: putting

   type of:

   golf shot, golf stroke, swing

   the act of swinging a golf club at a golf ball and (usually) hitting it