What Does "Par for the Course" Really Mean?

"Par for the course" means something is normal, expected, or typical, and it usually gets said about a mildly annoying situation. The phrase comes from golf, where par is the number of strokes a skilled golfer is expected to need to finish a hole or a full round.

Most people say it without ever thinking about golf. They know what it means. They have no idea why it means that. So let's fix that. Below we'll cover how the phrase gets used, where it came from, what par actually means on the course, and whether shooting par is something you should lose sleep over. (Spoiler: no.)

What Does "Par for the Course" Mean in Everyday Language?

Think of it as a verbal shrug. Something happened, it wasn't great, and nobody is surprised.

• Work: The meeting that could have been an email ran 20 minutes over. Par for the course.

• Travel: Your flight boarded late and the overhead bins were full by row 12. Of course they were.

• Weather: You booked a Saturday tee time and the one rainy day in three weeks landed right on it. Naturally.

• Golf: You hit the green in regulation, then three-putted from 15 feet on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Par for the course. (And, sadly, a bogey.)

Is "Par for the Course" Positive or Negative?

Mostly neutral, leaning a little negative. It sits closer to "about what I expected" than "great job." You won't hear someone use it about a promotion. You will hear it about the office printer jamming again.

It usually comes with a shrug or a bit of sarcasm. It's the phrase you use once you've made peace with something being mildly disappointing.

Where Does the Phrase "Par for the Course" Come From?

Latin first, then money, then golf.

"Par" is Latin for "equal." English borrowed it in the early 1600s as a finance term. A stock trading "at par" was trading at face value. "Above par" and "below par" meant a premium or a discount. By the late 1700s, people were using "below par" to describe how they felt on a rough morning, and that usage has nothing to do with golf. The Oxford English Dictionary traces all of this.

Golf picked up the word in the late 1800s. The earliest dictionary citation for "par" as a golf score comes from an 1887 book called The Art of Golf. There's also an often-repeated story that golf writer A.H. Doleman used it back in 1870, after two professionals told him a perfect score on Prestwick's 12-hole course would be 49. The USGA set the first yardage guidelines for par in 1911, which is roughly when the modern meaning settled in.

The jump into everyday speech came later. Etymonline dates the figurative use of "par for the course" to around 1928, while the OED's earliest published examples show up in the 1940s. Either way, by the middle of the 20th century the phrase had left the golf course for good.

Par vs. Bogey: A Quick History Twist

Here's the fun part. For a while, "bogey" was the standard score, not par.

The story goes that in 1890, the secretary of Coventry Golf Club in England came up with a "ground score," the number of strokes a good golfer should take on each hole. Members at Great Yarmouth started playing against that score as if it were an imaginary opponent. A music hall song called "Hush! Hush! Hush! Here Comes the Bogey Man" was popular at the time, and the ground score became the "bogey score." A couple of years later a services club gave the imaginary opponent a military rank, and Colonel Bogey was born.

So in British golf, making bogey once meant playing the hole exactly as well as it should be played. Then American golf standardized par by distance, scores kept dropping, and bogey got bumped to one over. That's how a word that once meant "perfect" came to mean "ugh." Scottish Golf History has the full version.

What Does Par Mean in Golf?

Par is the number of strokes a skilled golfer is expected to need to finish a hole. It assumes you reach the green in a reasonable number of shots and then take two putts. On a par 4, that's two shots to the green and two putts to finish.

Notice the word "skilled." Par isn't the average score. It's the expected score for someone who is very good. We'll come back to that, because it matters for your self-esteem.

Par 3, Par 4, and Par 5 Holes Explained

Par is set mostly by length. These are the USGA's current guidelines for men's tees:

Women's guidelines run shorter: up to 220 yards for a par 3, 200 to 420 for a par 4, and 370 to 600 for a par 5. The ranges overlap on purpose. A 460-yard hole can be a par 4 or a par 5 depending on how hard it plays.

What Is Par for a Full Round?

Add up every hole and you get par for the course. Most 18-hole layouts land at 70, 71, or 72, with 72 being the classic mix of four par 3s, four par 5s, and ten par 4s.

Executive courses run shorter, usually a mix of par 3s and short par 4s, and often total somewhere in the 50s or 60s. A true par 3 course is 18 par 3s, which makes it a par 54. If you've never played one, our par 3 course guide is a good place to start.

Golf Scoring Terms Related to Par

Every score in golf is measured against par. Here's the cheat sheet:

Want the longer version? We break down what a birdie is, what an albatross is, and pretty much every other term you'll hear on the course in our glossary of golfing terms.

Other Golf Phrases We Use in Everyday Life

It isn't the only golf phrase that escaped into regular conversation.

• Below par. In golf, under par is excellent. In life, it means you're off your game or feeling sick. Golf and real life disagree on this one.

• Up to par. In golf, you matched the expected score. In life, something meets the standard.

• Hole in one. In golf, one swing and the ball is in the cup. In life, you nailed something on the first try.

• Mulligan. In golf, an unofficial do-over, usually on the first tee while your buddies pretend not to look. In life, a second chance.

• Tee it up. In golf, put the ball on the tee and start the hole. In life, get something started.

Is Shooting Par Realistic for the Average Golfer?

Honest answer: no, and that's completely fine. Par is calibrated for a scratch golfer. Most recreational players aren't close to that, and the game is built to be fun at every level.

For most of us, bogey golf is a solid day. Bogey every hole on a par 72 and you shoot 90, which puts you ahead of a lot of people on the course. Bogeys are, quite literally, par for the course for the average player.

If you want a benchmark, What Is a Good Golf Handicap? breaks down what's typical. And if you're ready to chase a number, start with How To Break 90 in Golf Consistently.

Where Par Feels More Achievable: Par 3 Golf

Sunday Golf started on a par 3 course in San Diego, where hauling a full set around for a handful of clubs felt like overkill. That's still the sweet spot for a lot of our Loma crowd: short courses, 6 to 8 clubs, and a real shot at a few pars before the beer gets warm. If you're deciding what to carry, The Loma vs Loma XL: Which Par 3 Golf Bag Is Right for You? walks through it.

Shop Par 3 Golf Bags

Common Mistakes People Make With "Par for the Course"

• Using it to mean "excellent." It doesn't. It means "as expected," not "better than expected."

• Mixing it up with "up to par" or "below par." Up to par means something meets the standard. Below par means it doesn't, or that you're feeling under the weather. This one is about what's typical.

• Assuming par is the average golfer's score. It's the expected score for a skilled golfer. The average golfer is comfortably above it, and that's normal.

"Par for the Course" FAQs

What's the difference between par, birdie, and bogey?

Par is the expected score for a hole. Birdie is one stroke better. Bogey is one stroke worse. Shoot a 3 on a par 4 and that's a birdie. Shoot a 5 and that's a bogey.

What is par on a par 3 course?

Every hole is a par 3, so an 18-hole par 3 course is par 54 and a 9-hole one is par 27. Some short courses mix in a par 4 or two, which bumps the total a bit.

Is shooting par good for a beginner?

Shooting par on a single hole as a beginner is great. Shooting par for a full round as a beginner is close to unheard of. Celebrate the individual pars and don't sweat the total.

So, Is Your Game Par for the Course?

Quick recap: "par for the course" means normal, expected, nothing to write home about. It comes from golf, where par is the score a skilled player should post on a hole or a full round.

Most golfers aren't shooting par, and that's fine. Grab a few clubs and go make a bogey or two on a short course. If you walk off the last green having enjoyed yourself, you did it right.