Hearing phrases like "he finished at 4 over" or "she's 4 under on the day" can be confusing if you're just starting your golf journey. You're seeing golfers score a 68, but someone scores a 76, so how can they both be 4? This simple guide breaks down exactly what 4 under means in golf, how that relates to your final score, and why it's a significant achievement for any player.
Before we can understand "4 under," we have to get comfortable with the idea of "par." Think of 'par' as the expected number of swings, or "strokes," a skilled golfer should take to get the ball from the tee box into the hole.
Every hole on a golf course has its own par number. You'll almost always see just three types:
To get the par for the entire course, you add up the par of all 18 holes. Most standard golf courses are Par 72, usually consisting of four Par 3s, ten Par 4s, and four Par 5s.
In golf, your score isn't just a total number of strokes, it's almost always talked about in relation to par. This is what 'over' and 'under' refer to. Think of it as a plus/minus system with par being zero (or "even").
When you finish a hole, your result gets a name based on how it compares to that hole's par:
This running plus/minus is how golfers track their performance during a round.
So, we come to our big question: What does 4 under mean?
Most of the time, when you hear "4 under," it's referring to a golfer's cumulative score for their entire round. It means their total number of strokes was four shots better than the course's total par.
Let's use a standard Par 72 course for our examples:
So, "4 under" is just shorthand for a score of 68 on a Par 72 course. On a Par 70 course, a 4-under score would be a 66.
A round of 4-under is an outstanding achievement. Professionals on tour consistently shoot under par, and a 68 is a solid, moneymaking day for them. For most regular golfers, breaking 70 and shooting in the 60s is a monumental milestone - the kind of scorecard you frame and brag about to your friends.
You don't just shoot "4 under." It happens by stringing together a series of great holes that counteract your mistakes. Golf is a game of managing misses and capitalizing on opportunities. To finish at -4, you need your "under par" holes (birdies, eagles) to outnumber your "over par" holes (bogeys).
Here are a few ways a player might arrive at a 4-under-par 68:
Let's look at a fictional scorecard for a golfer who shot 4 under. You can see how the "±, to Par" column adds up as the round goes on.
Hole | Par | Score | Hole Result | Cumulative Score
-------|-----|-------|-------------|-------------------
1 | 4 | 4 | Par | E (Even)
2 | 4 | 3 | Birdie | -1
3 | 3 | 3 | Par | -1
4 | 5 | 4 | Birdie | -2
5 | 4 | 5 | Bogey | -1
6 | 4 | 4 | Par | -1
7 | 3 | 2 | Birdie | -2
8 | 4 | 4 | Par | -2
9 | 5 | 4 | Birdie | -3
-------|-----|-------|-------------|-------------------
OUT | 36 | 33 | | -3
-------|-----|-------|-------------|-------------------
10 | 4 | 4 | Par | -3
11 | 4 | 4 | Par | -3
12 | 3 | 4 | Bogey | -2
13 | 4 | 3 | Birdie | -3
14 | 5 | 5 | Par | -3
15 | 4 | 3 | Birdie | -4
16 | 3 | 3 | Par | -4
17 | 4 | 4 | Par | -4
18 | 5 | 5 | Par | -4
-------|-----|-------|-------------|-------------------
IN | 36 | 35 | |
-------|-----|-------|-------------|-------------------
TOTAL | 72 | 68 | | -4 (4 Under Par)
While "4 under" usually means a total round score, there's a much rarer, more specific meaning: scoring 4 strokes under par on a single hole.
This is known as a Condor, and it is arguably the rarest shot in all of golf. To achieve a condor, you would need to:
To put this in perspective, there have only been a handful of verified Condors ever recorded in history. It requires an immense amount of skill and the right conditions. It's the kind of ultimate feat that most golfers only hear about, much less see. So, if your buddy shoots 4 under on his round, don't ask him if he got a Condor - it's very safe to assume he shot a nice 68.
In short, "4 under par" is simply a way of saying a golfer shot four strokes better than the par for the course - usually a score of 68. It’s a mark of excellent play, achieved by making more birdies than bogeys and demonstrates high consistency and skill.
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