Golf Scoring Terms:
Every Term Explained Simply

Here's the complete list of golf scoring terms from best to worst. Bookmark this page — you'll want it next time someone at the clubhouse mentions an "albatross" and you're not sure if they're talking about a bird or a golf score.

Notice the pattern: every term below par is named after a bird (birdie, eagle, albatross), and they get bigger and rarer as the score improves. The terms above par are all variations of "bogey" — the golfing term for a score you'd rather not have.

Par

Par is the number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to need on a given hole. A par 3 means a skilled player should reach the green in one shot and two-putt. A par 4 means reaching the green in two shots and two-putting. A par 5 means three shots to reach the green, plus two putts. Most full-length golf courses are par 70, 71, or 72 for 18 holes.

When someone says they "shot par," they scored the course's total par for 18 holes — usually 72. That's scratch golf, and it's genuinely difficult. For context, the average male golfer shoots around 96, which is 24 over par.

Birdie

A birdie is one stroke under par on a hole. Score a 3 on a par 4? That's a birdie. Get down in 2 on a par 3? Birdie. Birdies are what make golf addictive — that feeling of holing a 15-footer for one under is why people keep coming back to this frustrating sport.

The average 15-handicapper makes roughly 1-2 birdies per round. PGA Tour players average about 3-4 per round. If you're making birdies regularly, you're playing solid golf regardless of your overall score.

Bogey

A bogey is one stroke over par. It's the most common score for the average golfer on any given hole, and honestly? There's nothing wrong with bogey golf. If you made bogey on every hole, you'd shoot 90 on a par-72 course. That puts you in the top 25% of all golfers. Bogey golf is respectable golf.

The term "bogey golfer" refers to someone who averages about one over par per hole across a round — roughly a 17-20 handicap. These players mix pars and birdies with double bogeys and the occasional blow-up hole.

Double Bogey

Two over par on a hole. Doubles are the score-killers that separate 80s-shooters from 90s-shooters. Most high-handicappers make 4-6 double bogeys per round. Eliminating even two of those — turning them into bogeys — drops your score by two strokes instantly. That's the fastest path to breaking 100 and eventually breaking 90.

Triple Bogey (and Worse)

Three over par. This is where rounds fall apart. A triple bogey usually means something went seriously wrong — a penalty stroke, a chunked chip, a four-putt, or some combination of disasters. The key to scoring improvement isn't making more birdies; it's eliminating triples. If you can turn your two worst holes per round from triples into doubles, that's two strokes saved without hitting a single better shot.

Eagle

Two under par on a single hole. Holing out from the fairway on a par 4, or reaching a par 5 in two and sinking the putt. For recreational golfers, eagles are rare and memorable — most amateurs might make a handful in their entire playing career. On par 5s where you can reach in two, eagle is at least a possibility; on par 4s, it typically requires holing a long approach shot.

Albatross (Double Eagle)

Three under par on one hole. This means a 2 on a par 5 or a hole-in-one on a par 4. The odds of an amateur making an albatross are estimated at 1 in 6 million shots. It's called an "albatross" because it follows the bird theme and the albatross is one of the largest, rarest birds. Americans sometimes call it a "double eagle," though that name is technically inaccurate — it's three under, not double the two-under eagle.

Gene Sarazen's famous "shot heard round the world" — a 235-yard 4-wood on the 15th at Augusta in 1935 — was an albatross that helped him win the Masters.

Condor

Four under par on a single hole. A condor requires a hole-in-one on a par 5 or a 2 on a par 6 (which barely exist). There are only a handful of verified condors in golf history, all on par 5s with significant elevation drop or dogleg shortcuts. It's about as close to impossible as golf gets without actually being impossible.

Ace (Hole-in-One)

Making the ball go from tee to cup in a single stroke. On a par 3, that's an eagle. On a par 4 (extremely rare), that's an albatross. The odds for an amateur golfer are about 1 in 12,500 on any given par 3. For tour pros, it's roughly 1 in 2,500. Most golfers who play their whole lives will make one or two — or zero. It's almost entirely luck layered on top of a reasonable shot at the green.

Snowman

An 8 on any hole. The name comes from the number 8 looking like a snowman. It's an informal term, not an official scoring term, but every golfer knows the pain of writing an 8 on the scorecard. A snowman on a par 4 is a quadruple bogey. On a par 5, it's a triple. Either way, it's the kind of hole you'd rather forget.

Other Slang Terms

Turkey: Three birdies in a row. Borrowed from bowling.

Buzzard: An old term for double bogey, rarely used today.

Ostrich: A theoretical 5-under-par (never achieved in competition).

Skin: Not a score itself, but winning a hole outright in a skins game — the format where the lowest score on each hole wins the pot.

Why "Birdie"?

The word "birdie" originated in 1899 at Atlantic City Country Club in New Jersey. The story goes that Ab Smith hit his second shot on a par 4 to within inches of the cup and declared it a "bird of a shot" — slang at the time for something excellent. He and his playing partners agreed that scoring one under par would be called a "birdie" from that point forward. The term spread from Atlantic City to other clubs and eventually became universal.

A plaque at what's now called the Shore Course at Atlantic City Country Club still marks the spot where the term was coined. Whether the story is perfectly accurate doesn't matter much — it's become golf's founding myth for scoring language.

Why "Eagle" and "Albatross"?

Once "birdie" caught on, the bird theme extended naturally. Eagle (two under) uses a bigger, more impressive bird than the birdie. Albatross (three under) uses one of the largest flying birds on Earth. The pattern makes intuitive sense — rarer and more impressive scores get named after bigger, rarer birds.

The term "eagle" first appeared in print around 1919. "Albatross" came later and is used primarily outside the United States. Americans tend to say "double eagle," which sounds more impressive but is mathematically confusing since it's actually three under, not double the two-under eagle.

Why "Bogey"?

This one has a stranger origin. In the 1890s, British golfers used "bogey" to describe the ideal score for a hole — essentially what we now call "par." The name came from a popular music hall song about "The Bogey Man" — an elusive figure you could never catch. Golfers played against "Colonel Bogey," the imaginary player who always scored the expected number.

When American golf adopted the term "par" (from the stock market — "par value" meaning the expected standard), "bogey" shifted meaning. It went from being the target score to being one over the target. So bogey went from a compliment to a mild insult within about 20 years. The British military march "Colonel Bogey" was composed in 1914, inspired by a golfer who whistled instead of shouting "fore" — keeping the golfing connection alive.

Why "Par"?

Par comes from the Latin word "par" meaning "equal" — as in "on par with" or "par for the course." It entered golf terminology in the early 1900s from the financial world, where "par value" means the face value or expected standard of a stock or bond. In golf, par is the expected standard — the score a scratch golfer should make on a hole under normal conditions, assuming two putts per green.

Golf is one of the few sports where a lower score is better. You count every stroke from tee to hole, and the goal is to complete 18 holes in as few total strokes as possible. That's stroke play — the most common format.

Each hole has a par rating (3, 4, or 5) based on its length. A par-72 course has 18 holes that add up to 72 total expected strokes. If you complete the course in 72 strokes, you "shot par" or "shot even." Fewer than 72 is "under par" and better. More than 72 is "over par."

Your score on each hole is counted individually, then totaled at the end. If you make a birdie (one under) on one hole and a bogey (one over) on the next, they cancel out — you're back to even for those two holes combined.

Gross vs. Net Scoring

Gross score is your actual number of strokes — no adjustments. If you took 92 strokes to complete 18 holes, your gross score is 92.

Net score subtracts your handicap from your gross. If you're a 20-handicap and shoot 92 gross, your net score is 72 (92 minus 20). Net scoring is what makes it possible for golfers of different abilities to compete fairly against each other. A 20-handicapper shooting net 72 played equally as well (relative to their ability) as a scratch golfer shooting gross 72.

Stableford Scoring

Stableford is an alternative scoring system that awards points instead of counting strokes. You get 0 points for a double bogey or worse, 1 point for a bogey, 2 for a par, 3 for a birdie, 4 for an eagle, and 5 for an albatross. The highest point total wins. This format rewards aggressive play because a bad hole only costs you 0-1 points, while a great hole can earn 4-5. It also speeds up play since you can pick up your ball once you've reached double bogey. Many casual rounds and club competitions use Stableford, especially in the UK and Australia.

Match Play Scoring

In match play, you don't count total strokes. You win, lose, or tie each individual hole. Win more holes than your opponent over 18, and you win the match. A match can end early — if you're 4 holes up with only 3 to play (called "4 and 3"), the match is over. This is the format used in the Ryder Cup and WGC Match Play. Because you're only competing hole-by-hole, a blowup on one hole only costs you one point rather than wrecking your entire round.

When you hear a golfer say they're "3-under through 12," they mean their cumulative score through 12 holes is three strokes better than the combined par for those holes. If the first 12 holes add up to par 48 (say, four par 3s, six par 4s, and two par 5s), being "3-under" means they've used 45 strokes.

This relative-to-par system makes it easy to compare performance without knowing the specific course par. "I shot 4-under today" tells you exactly how well someone played regardless of whether the course was a par 70 or par 72.

Here's a reference for what different scores relative to par look like on a par-72 course:

One thing I want to be clear about: there's no shame in any number on that chart. Golf is insanely hard. If you're shooting 95 and having fun, you're doing it right. The terminology exists to describe performance, not to judge it. A bogey golfer who loves the game is a better golfer than a scratch player who's miserable on the course.

If you're working on lowering your scores, the most effective approach isn't chasing birdies — it's eliminating the big numbers. Turning double bogeys into bogeys will drop your handicap faster than turning pars into birdies. Smart course management is the foundation, and a Garmin R10 can show you exactly where you're losing strokes so you know what to work on.

And if your swing itself is the problem? The Stress-Free Golf Swing program takes a simplified approach to swing mechanics that's helped a lot of golfers stop overthinking and start scoring. Sometimes fewer thoughts equals fewer strokes.