September 15, 2026

Golf scoring can feel like its own language when you first step onto a course. Par, birdie, eagle, and bogey get thrown around so casually that keeping track of what each score means can become harder than keeping track of the ball. I find that golf scoring becomes much simpler once every term is connected back to par. If you are trying to understand what is a bogey in golf, that same approach makes the term much easier to remember. Once the basic scoring pattern clicks, reading a scorecard and following a round starts making far more sense. Quick Answer: What is a Bogey in Golf? A bogey in golf means completing a hole in one stroke more than its par. If a hole is a par 4 and you take five strokes to finish it, you have made a bogey. Par represents the number of strokes a golfer is expected to need to complete a particular hole. A bogey simply adds one stroke to that number. For example, taking four strokes on a par-3 hole is a bogey. Taking six strokes on a par-5 hole is also a bogey. The specific number of strokes changes according to the hole’s par, but the relationship stays the same: par + 1 = bogey. Where Did the Term “Bogey” Come From? The term “bogey” in golf originated in England in the late 19th century and today means scoring one stroke over par. Around 1890, Hugh Rotherham, secretary of Coventry Golf Club, helped establish a target score known as the “ground score,” representing how many strokes a good golfer should take on each hole. During a similar competition at the Great Yarmouth Club, a player reportedly told the club secretary that his opponent played like “a regular Bogey man,” a nod to a […]