Understanding the golf terms ‘bogie’ and ‘birdie’ is pretty easy; that is, if you already have an understanding of ‘par’.

Par (a.k.a. ‘Professional Average Result’) is the expectation the golf course architects had in mind when they designed the hole. It is the average score that is given to a hole, and the number of strokes you should try to achieve as you play it. For example, if a hole is a ‘par 4’, it is anticipated that it will take you four chances to sink the ball.

So, knowing that – what are bogies and birdies? They’re not just funny sounding golf terms; instead, they translate into scoring during your game. A bogie means you sank your ball with one stroke over par, or in the example above, it took you five shots, not four. A birdie, on the other hand, is when you sink your ball with one less stroke than par, or in three shots, if we continue with the above example. Put simply, a birdie is good… and a bogie, well, keep practicing!