There is quite a long list of golfing terminologies you have to be familiarized with as someone who just started playing the sport. We don’t want to overwhelm you with all these golf terms, so in this article, we are just going to focus on those scoring terms you will certainly hear the next time you visit a golf course like ours.
So what do you call it when you hit the hole with just a single stroke? How about when you stroke more than the ideal number of strikes to complete a hole? Depending on the number of strikes it will take you to complete a round, the sport has a term for it.
Par
To better understand the other scoring terms, let’s tackle what Par in golf means first.
You’ll often hear a hole a golf course be identified as Par-3, Par-4 or Par-5 depending on its length or number of yards. This basically means the normal number of strikes a good player makes. So when a hole is tagged a Par 4 and you completed it in 4 strikes, or better completed under par, you are considered good or in the average.
Ace
Now, imagine a short hole and you are skillful enough to have completed it in just one controlled swing. That hole-in-one, very rare, experience is known in golf as Ace. More on Ace in golf here.
Albatross
For hole completions three strokes under par is recognized in golf as Albatross. This is also known as “double eagle” in relation to the “birdie” and “eagle” theme. More on albatross in golf here.
The reasoning for the name is that albatross is a very rare bird and so is scoring three under par.
Eagle
This scoring term was coined shortly after the birdie scoring tag, basically following the bird theme. It describes a putt for a 3 on a par-5 hole or simply two strokes under par. You are an excellent golfer if you have some eagles in your card. More on eagle in golf here.
Birdie
Birdie is the term used to describe a hole completion when a player completed just a stroke under par. You are considered competitive enough if you have birdies in your scorecard. More on birdie in golf here.
Now, let’s move over to when you’re hitting beyond par.
Bogey
“Bogey” is what you call it when you complete a hole just a stroke over par. As a player who wants to challenge others, you’re aim is to always complete each round right on par or under.
Double Bogey
This is as unfortunate as it sounds. Double bogey is what you call it when you complete 2 or more strokes over par. We have covered double bogey in detail here.
Triple Bogey
Even worse is triple bogey. This is otherwise known as 3-over par. We have covered triple bogey in detail here.
Others
There are also scoring terms that did not stick around. For example, Ringers which were birdies and Curlew which was suggested to describe hole-in-one.
Do you know a scoring term not on this list? Let us know in the comments below.
