How Golf Scoring Works: Par, Birdies and Handicaps Explained

Golf has a language all its own, full of terms like par, birdie, bogey, and handicap that can leave newcomers baffled. But golf scoring is actually built on one beautifully simple idea: the fewer strokes you take, the better. Once you understand that, and the vocabulary around it, following the sport becomes easy.

A round of golf is normally played over 18 holes. On each hole, the player tries to hit a small ball from the starting area (the tee) into a hole in the ground, marked by a flag, using as few strokes as possible. A "stroke" is simply one swing at the ball. Add up the strokes across all 18 holes, and, in the most common format, the player with the lowest total wins. This format is called stroke play, and it is what most professional tournaments use.

The key reference point is "par." Every hole is assigned a par, the number of strokes an expert golfer would be expected to need to complete it. Par is usually 3, 4, or 5, depending on the length of the hole. A full course typically has a total par around 70 to 72. Par is the benchmark against which every score is measured, which is why golf scores are so often described in relation to it rather than as raw numbers.

From par comes golf's colourful scoring vocabulary. Completing a hole in one stroke fewer than par is a "birdie," a good result. Two strokes under par is an "eagle," and the rare three under is an "albatross." On the other side, one stroke over par is a "bogey," two over is a "double bogey," and so on. Completing a hole in exactly par is simply called making par. So when you hear a golfer is "three under," it means their total score across the holes played is three strokes better than the combined par.

Not every competition uses stroke play. In match play, players or teams compete hole by hole, and the winner of each hole (the one who takes fewer strokes on it) goes one "up." The overall winner is decided by who wins more holes, not by total strokes. This format, used in some famous team events, produces a very different, more tactical kind of drama, since a disastrous hole costs only that one hole rather than wrecking a whole round.

One of golf's most distinctive features is the handicap system, which allows players of very different abilities to compete fairly. A handicap is a number representing a golfer's ability, roughly how many strokes above par they typically play. In a handicap competition, each player's handicap is subtracted from their raw score, so a weaker player receives a head start of extra strokes. This means a beginner and an experienced club player can enjoy a genuinely competitive match, a rare and wonderful feature that helps explain golf's broad appeal as a lifelong game.

At the professional level, the sport's most prestigious events are its four major championships, and winning them is the ultimate measure of a golfer's career. Professionals do not use handicaps, competing instead purely on total strokes over four days of play.

Once you understand par as the benchmark, the birdie-and-bogey vocabulary built around it, the difference between stroke play and match play, and the clever handicap system, golf's scoring reveals itself as both simple at heart and rich in nuance, a game where the goal is always, elegantly, to do more with less.