Who is Colonel Bogey™ and What is a Bogey?

Today, everyone knows that a “bogey” is one over par but it was not always so. The “bogey” score evolved in the 19th century to serve as a standard for good but not scratch or professional golfers whose standard was “par.” As the scorecard information below (taken from a 1927 book on golf course architecture) shows, at one time both the bogey and par scores were listed because bogey was not automatically one over par. Rather, it was set for each hole and on a typical course the bogey score would be the same as par on 4-6 holes and one or even two strokes over par on the rest. Thus, the bogey score was usually in the 83-86 range.

Golfers, who were pretty good but did not have a single number handicap would compete against bogey which was sometimes referred to as “Mr. Bogey.” Members of a British country club where most of the members were active or retired military decided that “Mr. Bogey” should have a rank as most of them did so they made him a Colonel. Often a single would be asked as he came off of 18, “Did you beat the Colonel today?”

Today’s Colonel Bogey™ is a latter day incarnation of the mythical Colonel invented a little over 100 years ago. You too can compete with Colonel Bogey™. He consistently scored in the 80s and so can you.

© 2008 Bogeybreakers, Inc., All rights reserved.

2007-06-25 15:11:00 ET

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A couple of years ago Phil Mickelson clearly changed his approach to course management and it won him three Majors. It appeared that Phil had taken Johnny Miller’s advice and “learned the value of a par.” Then Phil reverted to his old style of play (always aggressive, often dumb) but since he would not admit that he had changed anything he appeared doomed to many more close finishes as at Winged Foot. Phil did not really lose the 2006 U.S. Open on the 72nd hole. Had he been playing smart on the previous 71 holes he would have been leading by several strokes going into the 72nd. Now Phil has turned to Butch Hamon and the payoff has been almost immediate. Frankly the Colonel does not believe that Butch has limited his advice to getting more control off the tee with a shorter backswing as important as that is. Butch has Phil playing smarter and Cololnel Bogey believes that if Phil does not continue to play smart Butch will abandon Phil. Do you think that Phil is capable of playing smart over the long run??

Vote:
YES
NO