Respectable army officer left pinching golf equipment (7)
I believe the answer is:
genteel
'respectable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'army officer left pinching golf equipment' is the wordplay.
'army officer' becomes 'gen' (general).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'pinching' indicates putting letters inside (taking inside).
'golf equipment' becomes 'tee' (tee is a kind of golf equipment).
'gen'+'l'='genl'
'genl' enclosing 'tee' is 'GENTEEL'.
(Other definitions for genteel that I've seen before include "Polite and well-bred" , ""Refayned"" , "Suited to polite society" , "Cultured; polite" , "Courteous, well-bred" .)