Terms
What is a birdie in golf?
A birdie is a score of one stroke under par on a hole — two under is an eagle, three under the rare albatross — and the most commonly celebrated good score in amateur golf.
The term dates to American slang — "bird" meaning something excellent — used at Atlantic City Country Club around 1899 for a superb shot, before it settled into meaning one under par specifically. It sits one rung below an albatross, three under, and directly opposite a bogey, one over, on the same par-relative scale — an eagle, two under, sits between the two. For most club golfers a birdie is the score that gets mentioned in the clubhouse afterwards — genuinely good shots or putts, rather than the routine outcome of a well-played hole. Scorecards and stroke-play totals track it the same way as any other score; it only becomes "a birdie" in conversation, as shorthand for how the hole was played relative to its par. Whatever hole earned the story, our golf gift ideas put it on the wall properly.
Written by Craig Fearn, The Golf Gift Co.
From the journal