Golf Trivia

Golf has a scoring vocabulary all its own — birdies, bogeys, eagles, and on the rarest of occasions, an albatross — and half the fun of watching is knowing exactly what those words mean the moment the announcer whispers them. This quiz covers that vocabulary, along with the majors, the legends, and the traditions that make golf feel different from every other sport.

Eleven questions on the game's rules, records, and biggest names.

Majors, Legends, and Records

Jack Nicklaus's 18 major championships remain the benchmark every great player gets measured against, while Tiger Woods pushed the sport into a different stratosphere of popularity during his prime. The four majors — the Masters, the U.S. Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship — each carry their own history and traditions, from Augusta National's blooming azaleas to the Open Championship's century-and-a-half legacy on British links courses.

The Language of Scoring

• A birdie: one stroke under par
• A bogey: one stroke over par
• An eagle: two strokes under par
• A hole-in-one: the rarest thrill in the sport, sinking the tee shot directly

Learn that handful of terms and you can follow along with any leaderboard, any Sunday, on any course.