Colonel Bogey? TM
Who is Colonel Bogey TM 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 BogeyTM 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.