What do par, birdie and bogey mean in golf?
Par is the number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to need on a given hole. Every other term describes performance relative to it.
On a par-4 hole, par is four strokes. Finishing in three is one under par; five is one over.
The scoring names run in both directions from par:
- Albatross (or double eagle) — three under par
- Eagle — two under
- Birdie — one under
- Par — level
- Bogey — one over
- Double bogey — two over
- Triple bogey — three over
A hole-in-one is exactly what it says, and on a par-3 it is also an eagle.
Par for an individual hole is set mainly by length. Short holes are par 3, mid-length par 4, long holes par 5. A full 18-hole course typically totals par 70 to 72, so a round scored at 68 is described as four under par.
The bird terminology comes from American slang. In the early 1900s "bird" meant something excellent, and a bird of a shot is recorded at Atlantic City Country Club around 1903; the sequence then extended upward to eagle and albatross, keeping the theme.
Bogey is older and originally meant something closer to par itself — a standard score to play against, named after a popular song's "Bogey Man". As equipment improved, par tightened and bogey slipped to mean one over.
A player's handicap exists so golfers of different standards can compete: it is subtracted from the gross score to give a net score.