What Is 5-Under Par in Golf Called? An Ostrich
What is a score of 5-under-par on a single golf hole called? That's an ostrich. And if you ever make one, you might just be the first golfer anywhere who's ever made one.
The names golfers use for under-par scores on a single hole all have bird names. Starting with "bird" itself: A "birdie" means a golfer played a hole in 1-under par.
So what does an "ostrich" means? A golfer who scores an ostrich is one who played a hole in 5-under par.
Now, most readers probably recognize the problem: A score of 5-under-par is impossible on a par-3 hole, on a par-4 hole, and on a par-5 hole. Five-under on a par-5 hole, after all, is zero.
So in order to score an ostrich, a golfer must be playing a golf hole with a par rating greater than par-5. And, yes, par-6 holes do exist. Therefore, to score an ostrich, a golfer must make a hole-in-one on a par-6 hole. Or hole out in two on a par-7 hole, and up from there if any holes with pars above seven are encountered.
Has anyone ever made an ostrich? No, not that we're aware of. Golfers have scored condors (a condor means scoring 4-under on a hole — making a hole-in-one on a par-5 or holing out in two on a par-6), but condors are exceedingly rare.
And, as we said, as far as we know there has never been an ostrich — a score of 5-under-par on a single golf hole — anywhere, any time.
The first issue is that most golfers go our entire lives without ever playing a par-6 hole. They exist, but they are not common. Unless you travel around and play a lot of different golf courses (or just happen to live near one of the rare courses that has one), you won't play a par-6 hole.
And par-7 holes? Only a handful of those exist in the golf world. So the first issue with trying to score an ostrich is that there are extremely few opportunities where it is even theoretically possible.
The second issue: Even if you play a par-6, you're playing a hole more than 600 yards long. As far as we know, no golfer has ever aced a par-6. A straightaway par-6 is a virtual impossibility to ace. An extreme dogleg par-6 might be aceable, but such holes-in-one on shorter par-5 holes almost never happen.
So a score of 5-under-par on a golf hole might be called an ostrich, but don't expect any golfers to ever make an ostrich.
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