How Golf Scoring Works: Par, Birdies, Handicaps and Match Play

Each hole is given a par, the number of strokes an expert golfer is expected to need to complete it, and the figure depends mainly on length. A par 3 is short enough to reach the green with one shot, a par 4 needs two, a par 5 needs three, in each case followed by two putts. A standard course has 18 holes with a mixture of the three, adding up to a par of around 70 to 72.

Scores are then read against par. A player who takes 68 strokes on a par-72 course is four under par, written as minus 4. A player who takes 75 is three over. On the leaderboard at a professional tournament the numbers in red or with a minus sign are under par and are the ones to watch; the total is cumulative across the four rounds of the event, so a player at minus 12 after three days has beaten par by twelve strokes so far.

Each hole's score has a name. One under par is a birdie, a term that began as American slang around 1900, when bird meant something excellent. Two under is an eagle and three under is an albatross, the names growing in rarity with the birds. A hole in one is an ace and, on a par 3, also an eagle. Going the other way, one over par is a bogey, two over a double bogey, three over a triple, and beyond that most players stop counting in names.

A round can therefore be summarised as a string of these: four birdies, two bogeys and twelve pars is a round of two under. Television coverage is built around them, because a birdie on the eighteenth to win by one is a better story than 68 strokes.

Almost all professional tournaments use stroke play: add up every stroke over the round or the event, and the lowest total wins. A disastrous hole counts in full, so a single 9 can end a challenge. Ties for first are usually settled by a play-off over extra holes.

Match play is older and works hole by hole. Two players or two sides compete on each hole, the lower score wins that hole, and the match is won by whoever wins more holes. A player leading by more holes than remain has won, which produces results such as 4 and 3, meaning four holes ahead with three to play. Since a hole is either won or halved regardless of the margin, a 9 costs the same as a bogey, and the strategy changes accordingly. The Ryder Cup between Europe and the United States is match play, which is why its scores look nothing like an ordinary tournament's.

Golf's handicap system lets players of different abilities compete on level terms, something few other sports manage. A handicap is a number that estimates how many strokes over par a player typically shoots; a 15-handicap golfer usually scores around 15 over. In a handicap competition each player subtracts their handicap from their gross score to get a net score, and the net scores are compared. The 15-handicapper who shoots 87 has a net 72 and beats a scratch player who shoots 73.

Since 2020 most of the world has used the World Handicap System, which averages the best eight of a player's last twenty rounds and adjusts for how hard each course is. Courses carry two ratings for this: a course rating for a scratch golfer and a slope rating that says how much harder it plays for weaker players. Handicaps are also used within a round, with strokes allocated to the hardest holes first according to each hole's stroke index.

A scorecard lists each hole's number, length, par and stroke index, with space for the player's score. Golfers mark each other's cards in competition rather than their own, and signing an incorrect card is one of the game's few disqualifying offences. Most rules that cost strokes are penalties: one stroke for a ball lost or hit into water, taken from where it entered, and two strokes for most other infringements in stroke play. Putting it together, the words on a leaderboard mean:

• •Par: the expected strokes for the hole or course
• •Birdie, eagle, albatross: one, two, three under par on a hole
• •Bogey, double bogey: one, two over par on a hole
• •Minus 6 (or 6 under): total strokes six fewer than the course's par
• •4 and 3: a match-play win, four holes up with three left
• •Net score: gross strokes minus handicap

Golf counts every stroke and the lowest total wins, but scores are read against par, the expert's expected number for each hole, which gives the birdie and bogey vocabulary. Stroke play adds everything up, match play counts holes won, and the handicap system subtracts a player's usual excess over par so that golfers of any standard can compete fairly.