Why Is It Called a Bogey in Golf?

Ever heard someone say they shot a bogey on the 18th hole and wondered why it’s called that? It’s not because the hole is muddy, even though the word sounds like it might be. The term ‘bogey’ in golf has nothing to do with wet grass or bad weather. It’s actually rooted in a 19th-century British song-and a character that golfers used to try to beat.

The Original Bogey Man

In the late 1800s, golfers in Scotland and England didn’t just play for fun-they played against a standard. That standard wasn’t a number on a scorecard. It was a person. Specifically, it was the ‘Colonel Bogey,’ a fictional character from a popular music hall song called ‘The Bogey Man,’ written in 1891. The tune was a hit across Britain, and its lyrics painted the Bogey Man as a mysterious, hard-to-catch figure who always stayed just out of reach.

Golfers loved the song. They started joking that their ideal score on each hole was to beat the Bogey Man. So if you shot the same as the ‘Bogey’ score, you tied the invisible opponent. If you shot one stroke worse, you lost to him. That’s how ‘bogey’ became the term for one over par.

Before this, golfers used terms like ‘standard score’ or ‘par’ informally, but there was no official system. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews didn’t codify ‘par’ until 1911. Until then, ‘bogey’ was the benchmark. So when you hear someone say they shot a bogey, they’re not just saying they missed the target-they’re saying they lost to a ghost from a Victorian-era tune.

From Song to Scorecard

By the 1890s, golf clubs across Britain began printing scorecards with ‘bogey’ as the expected score per hole. It wasn’t called ‘par’ yet. Players would write down their score and compare it to the bogey number. If they shot 5 on a hole where the bogey was 4, they were one over bogey. That’s the origin of the phrase.

As golf spread to the United States in the early 1900s, American golfers started using the term too. But they began to shift toward using ‘par’ as the official standard. The USGA adopted ‘par’ officially in 1911, and ‘bogey’ became the term for one stroke over par. The original meaning-beating the Bogey Man-stuck around in the language, even as the rules changed.

Today, you’ll still hear golfers say, ‘I gave him a bogey on the 7th,’ meaning they scored one over the hole’s par. The connection to the song is mostly forgotten, but the word lives on. It’s one of those rare sports terms that came from pop culture, not from a rulebook.

What About Birdie and Eagle?

Once ‘bogey’ became common, golfers wanted a word for scores better than par. In the 1890s, an American golfer named Charles B. Macdonald was playing at the St. Andrews Golf Club in New York. He and his friends were talking about how great it felt to shoot one under par. One of them said, ‘That’s a bird!’-a slang term back then for something excellent.

So ‘birdie’ was born. And if birdie was one under par, then two under became ‘eagle’-bigger, better, more impressive. A ‘double bogey’ followed naturally: two over par. The whole scoring vocabulary grew from casual talk around the 19th green, not from a committee meeting.

These terms didn’t spread because someone wrote them into a rulebook. They spread because golfers liked them. They were fun. They had personality. And that’s why ‘bogey’ survived when other terms faded.

Why Not Just Say ‘One Over Par’?

You might wonder why we still say ‘bogey’ instead of just saying ‘one over par.’ The answer is simple: golf is full of tradition. The game thrives on its quirks. Saying ‘I shot a bogey’ sounds more natural than ‘I shot one stroke over par.’ It’s quicker. It’s punchier. And it connects you to over a century of golfers who played the same game with the same words.

Think of it like baseball’s ‘double play’ or tennis’s ‘love.’ They don’t make literal sense, but they’re part of the game’s soul. Golf doesn’t need to be efficient. It needs to be alive. And ‘bogey’ keeps that alive.

Even top pros say it. When Rory McIlroy misses a putt and taps in for a 5 on a par-4, he doesn’t say, ‘I shot a +1.’ He says, ‘Bogey.’ And everyone in the gallery knows exactly what he means.

How Bogey Fits Into Modern Scoring

Today, golf scoring uses a mix of terms: par, birdie, eagle, bogey, double bogey, triple bogey. But ‘bogey’ is still the most common score on the PGA Tour. In fact, data from the 2024 season shows that bogeys account for roughly 28% of all strokes taken on tour. That’s more than birdies. Even the best players in the world make bogeys. A lot.

Amateur golfers make them even more often. The average 15-handicap player makes about 6-8 bogeys per round. That’s not a failure-it’s normal. Golf isn’t about avoiding bogeys. It’s about minimizing them. And knowing where the term came from makes those mistakes feel a little less frustrating.

When you shoot a bogey now, you’re not just missing the target. You’re continuing a tradition that started with a catchy song, a made-up character, and a bunch of golfers laughing over tea after a round.

Why This Matters for Golfers

Understanding why it’s called a bogey doesn’t help you lower your score. But it helps you enjoy the game more. Golf is full of odd terms: ‘sand trap,’ ‘dogleg,’ ‘links,’ ‘whiff.’ They sound random until you know the story behind them.

When you know that ‘bogey’ came from a 19th-century British song, it turns a simple score into a piece of history. It turns a frustrating hole into a shared joke with golfers from 150 years ago. That’s the magic of the game.

So next time you card a bogey, don’t groan. Smile. You’re not failing. You’re participating in one of golf’s oldest inside jokes.