golfo

Golfo is a large arm of sea reaching into the land: the Reta Vortaro's definition is vastega parto de maro eniĝanta en la teron, a very large part of the sea going into the ground. A smaller one is a golfeto, which is the -et- suffix doing exactly what you would expect and giving you a cove or an inlet.

Now the question everybody asks. Yes, the sport is golfo too. The dictionaries record it as a homonym rather than a second sense, because the two words come from different places entirely: the bay is Greek kolpos through Italian, and the game is Scots golf through English. Reta Vortaro adds a bare remark on the entry, golfo estas ankaŭ nomo de sporto, and leaves it there.

In practice, writers who need to be unambiguous say golfludo for the game, and it is a sensible habit. Li ludas golfon is understood, but golfludo cannot be misread as a stretch of water, and in a language built for clarity that is usually the deciding argument. Keep golfo for the coastline and reach for the compound when you mean the clubs.