Terms
What is an eagle in golf?
An eagle is a score of two strokes under par on a single hole. On a par 4, that means holing out in two. On a par 5, three. It's rarer than a birdie and more achievable than an albatross, and it always gets a reaction.
An eagle sits between a birdie (one under) and an albatross (three under) on the scoring ladder. On a par 3 it means a hole in one. On a par 4 it means holing out in two, which usually means a long approach shot or a holed chip. On a par 5 it means reaching the green in two and sinking the putt - that's the route most golfers will see.
The name follows the bird theme golf borrowed for under-par scores in the 1890s: it's bigger than a birdie, which is why it got the bigger bird. A birdie came first, and the bigger birds followed logically: an eagle is bigger than a birdie, an albatross bigger still.
How rare is it? We have no sourced figure for amateur golf, and any exact number you see quoted should be treated as unverified. What is not in doubt is that it is substantially rarer than a birdie and substantially more common than an albatross. Most club golfers remember every eagle they've made, which tells you something.
How an eagle happens
| Hole | Par | Strokes for an eagle | The usual way |
|---|---|---|---|
| Par 3 | 3 | 1 | An ace |
| Par 4 | 4 | 2 | A drive and a holed approach, or an ace off the tee on a short hole |
| Par 5 | 5 | 3 | Two good shots to reach the green, then one putt |
The par 5 eagle most golfers dream of
If you only have one eagle in you, a par 5 is where it will most likely come. A strong drive and a fairway wood onto the green leaves a putt of twenty or thirty feet, and a good putt then drops. For a golfer with a handicap in the teens it might happen once in a few years, which is why the scorecard tends to get kept. An ace on a par 3 is an eagle too, being two under par on that hole.
It sits above the birdie and below the albatross, and it is a score people remember for the rest of their golfing lives.
On the scorecard
An eagle is worth four points in Stableford, one more than a birdie and two more than a par. If you receive a shot on the hole, a gross birdie is a net eagle, which is how higher handicappers pick up four points on an ordinary day. In stroke play it takes two shots off your total against par. Mark it on the card the moment you hole out, and ask your partner to check the score, because those are the holes people forget they ever played.
The eagle closes the under-par ladder in the game: par is the baseline, a birdie is one under, an eagle is two under, and an albatross is three under.
Written by Craig Fearn, The Golf Gift Co. Last updated .