@June7 - In the fine old game of golf, a golf
course is made up of 18
holes. One
round of golf is to play the holes in numbered order and count the number of
strokes (swinging the golf club to strike the ball and propel it forward) from the starting point of each hole (hitting from the
tee box) to the ending point (rolling the ball into the
cup) on an area known as the
green. In between the tee and green is an area known as the
fairway. The length of each hole varies and that variance is a contributor to the difficulty of the hole. It might be interesting but is irrelevant to the question to discuss other areas between tee and green.
The estimated difficulty of a hole is expressed as the estimated number of strokes required to get from tee to green, and this estimate is called
par. For professional course, holes will have par values of 3, 4, or 5 depending on length and complexities introduced by the shape (path) of the hole, which does NOT have to be perfectly linear.
Taking the estimated number of strokes to finish the hole is said to
make par (hence the common English phrase "par for the course"). Golfers over the years have made up fanciful names for the actions of taking more or fewer strokes than par. So for example, taking one extra stroke (above par) is a
bogey and taking two extra strokes is a
double bogey and so on. Taking FEWER strokes than par gets the bird names. A
birdie is 1 under par; an
eagle is 2 under par; a
double eagle (also called an
albatross - "a very rare bird") is 3 under par. I don't know that I've ever heard of the name for 4 under par on a single hole because it is so very unlikely, but if it ever happens, it would hit sports headlines.
The only other special name commonly recorded as a statistic is an
ace for a player hitting the ball into the cup from the tee area, in effect taking only a single stroke to start and finish the hole. Because you need a relatively long hole to have at least a par of 4 (or 5), albatrosses are even rarer than aces, which most often occur on short holes.
Andy's question regarding a "skins" game relates to how the scoring works. In most tournaments, it is total strokes from 1st tee to 18th green, or worse, your 4-day total strokes for 4 rounds over 4 days. There are alternate formats where you count individual holes as 18 individual mini-contests. He is describing the latter, with the added bonus that if there is a per-hole prize, low score on a hole wins the prize - but if there is a tie, the prize carries over to add to the next hole's prizes, and prizes continue to accumulate until someone outright wins a hole.
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