About Golf

Golf standard definition: Golf is an outdoor sport. Individual or team members strike a small hard ball into a series of small holes in the ground by using different kinds of golf clubs. Most of the courses have 18 holes, and the person who hits the ball the least number of times wins.

PAR

Every hole has a par, and it means the distance between the place you start to play and the hole. There are three kinds of par. Short distance hole is par three, middle distance is par four, and long distance is par five. Par also means the number of times a player should hit the ball to get it into the hole. That is, if you are playing a par three hole, you should hit three times to get the ball into the hole (Actually it is a harsh requirement, more details in the following).

Once you understand the concept of par, we can see that the real meaningful result is the number of times you hit the ball to get it into the hole minus par. Score = number of strokes-Par. If you get a negative score, that means you hit less strokes than par, which is very good.

Score
Term
Definition
Comment
Hole in one or HIO
Hitting the ball into the cup with one shot
life goal, very rare
-3
Albatross or Double-Eagle
three strokes under par
rare
-2
Eagle
two strokes under par
good play, plus luck
-1
Birdie
one stroke under par
good play, plus luck
0
Par
the same as standard
satisfying for new players
1
Bogey
one stroke over par
good play
2
Double Bogey
two strokes over par
normal play

So every time you finish a hole, you have a score. It can be -1 (birdie) or +2 (Double Bogey) or Par, etc. At the end, the scores for all 18 holes are added together for the final score. For example, if you get bogey for each hole, your final score would be 18. Another example, 3 holes have three strokes over par(+3), two holes are double bogey(+2), one hole is birdie(-1), all other holes are par. Total score would be 3*3+2*2-1=12.

Handicap Concept

High handicap: Handicap number is above 25, beginners or players who don't play a lot usually belong to this group

Medium handicap: Handicap number is between 10 to 25, most golf amateurs belong to this group

Low handicap: Handicap number is between 0 to 10, usually only golf trainers or professional players have a low handicap

Single handicap: Handicap number is between 0 to 9, belongs in low handicap group

Negative handicap: Handicap number is negative, which means players need to get a lot of birdies or eagles. Top players such as Eldrick Tont Woods, Philip Alfred Mickelson and Sergio Garcia have negative handicaps.