“From one perspective, par-3 courses are a test of precision. More important, I think, they’re a joy to play for golfers of every caliber. Par-3 courses lack the formality you see at quote-unquote real courses, where you have to follow golf’s various conventions, like four players maximum to a group.
There are usually from two to six par-5 holes on a full-sized 18-hole golf course, with four (two on the front nine, two on the back nine) being the most common number of par 5s.
Which makes the case of at-large School Board member Abrar Omeish less an aberration and more par for the course. Omeish gained a degree of infamy in certain circles over recent weeks for social-media screeds about Israel.
It is all about politics rather than security, and this is par for the course. I suppose that is par for the course. I am referring to tides, winds and storms, which are also par for the course with maritime transport and which had to be considered. But never mind, perhaps it is par for the course on this subject.
noun. an equality in value or standing; a level of equality: The gains and the losses are on a par. an average, usual, or normal amount, degree, quality, condition, standard, or the like: above par; to feel below par.
An allusion to golf, in which "par" is the number of strokes that it should take a player to get the ball into a particular hole on a golf course.
A "par" breaches social and common courtesy, eg, a disrespectful comment could be seen as a "par." "Par" can also be used as a verb, eg, "You just got parred." This slang term could be a British abbreviation of the French "faux pas," meaning an embarrassing or tactless remark in a social situation.
Examples of par in a Sentence Noun He made par on the ninth hole. She finished the 18th hole three strokes under par. He made a par on the ninth hole.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "par" derives from the Latin, meaning "equal" or "equality," and dates to the 16th Century. Outside of golf, the word is often used to denote a standard level or to mean average, usual, ordinary. If something is "subpar," it is below average.
"Birdie", meaning a score of one stroke under Par, comes from the early 20th century American slang term "bird", meaning anything excellent. The September 1911 edition of Maclean Magazine described a golf shot as - '"bird" straight down the course, about two hundred and fifteen yards.
For golf purposes, the USGA defined "par" as, "the score that an expert player would be expected to make for a given hole. Par means expert play under ordinary weather conditions, allowing two strokes on the putting green."
Meaning: The phrase par for the course means something that is normal or common; it’s what you would expect to happen. Example: Calvin had lived in Greenland for most of his life, but he has recently moved to California. The warmer temperature wasn’t the only difference he had to get accustomed to; there were also more bugs crawling around.
For example, if you were at a par-five hole at a golf course, that means it should take a total of 5 swings to finish.
Basically, a “par” is considered to be a “normal” score in golf. Eventually, it seems the saying ‘par for the course’ became an idiom that was used for other things that were considered normal or expected.
Don’t be embarrassed. You’re not the first person to ask this question.
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Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th Edition. Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Most material © 2005, 1997, 1991 by Penguin Random House LLC. Modified entries © 2019 by Penguin Random House LLC and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
He said long hours are par for the course. `I'm up every morning at six, or even earlier.'
The school budget is going to be cut again this year, but then that’s par for the course.
These expressions contrast with fixed idioms such as long time no see or par for the course, which occur in a single fully specified form.