What Is an Albatross in Golf? The Rarest Score Explained

An albatross is three strokes under par on a single hole — holing out in two on a par 5, or acing a drivable par 4. Americans call it a double eagle. It is roughly 500 times rarer than a hole-in-one, at about 1 in 6 million versus 1 in 12,500, and only four have ever been made at the Masters.

Most golfers spend a lifetime chasing a hole-in-one. Fewer even know the score that beats it for sheer rarity.

What an albatross is

An albatross is a score of three strokes under par on a single hole. Par is the number of shots an expert golfer is expected to take, so going three below it means finishing the hole in dramatically fewer shots than intended.

In practice there are only two realistic ways to make one:

• Holing out in two shots on a par 5.
• A hole-in-one on a par 4 (a rare feat only possible on short, drivable par 4s).

In the United States the same score is commonly called a double eagle, since it is one better than an eagle (two under). Both terms mean exactly the same thing.

Golf’s scoring names, from worst to best

Golf names each score relative to par, and the bird theme runs through the good ones:

Term	Score relative to par	Example
Bogey	1 over	5 on a par 4
Par	Even	4 on a par 4
Birdie	1 under	3 on a par 4
Eagle	2 under	3 on a par 5
Albatross (double eagle)	3 under	2 on a par 5
Condor	4 under	1 on a par 5 (almost mythical)

Why it is so rare

The rarity comes down to distance. A hole-in-one happens on a par 3, where the green is within reach off the tee, and courses have several par 3s. An albatross demands holing a long approach shot on a par 5, often from 200 yards or more, or driving the green and holing out on a par 4. That combination of power and precision, landing in the cup from far away, is why albatrosses are counted in the dozens even across decades of major championship history.

Put numbers on it and the gap is stark. A hole-in-one runs at roughly 1 in 12,500 for an average golfer. An albatross is commonly estimated at about 1 in 6 million — some 500 times less likely. Tour professionals, who play thousands of competitive holes, mostly retire without one.

The shot heard round the world

The most famous albatross in golf is also the oldest one anybody remembers. At the 1935 Masters, Gene Sarazen stood on the par-5 15th at Augusta three shots behind Craig Wood, who was already being congratulated in the clubhouse. Sarazen hit a 4-wood from around 235 yards. It went in.

Three shots erased with one swing. He forced a playoff and won it the next day, and the Masters got the founding legend it needed in only its second year. Sportswriters called it the shot heard round the world, and the name stuck.

Augusta has produced only three albatrosses since: Bruce Devlin at the 8th in 1967, Jeff Maggert at the 13th in 1994, and Louis Oosthuizen at the 2nd in 2012. Four in ninety years, at a course built around reachable par 5s, is the clearest measure of the score’s rarity there is.

Where the name comes from

Golf’s scoring names run on a bird theme that escalates with rarity. A birdie is one under, an eagle is a bigger bird for a better score at two under, and three under needed something rarer still. The albatross — a bird most people will never see, famous for covering vast distances — fits on both counts. The term emerged in Britain in the 1920s.

Americans mostly ignored it and said double eagle instead, which is more literal and less charming. Both are correct, and which one you hear tells you which side of the Atlantic the broadcast is from.

The one that beats it

If an albatross is three under on a hole, the condor is four under, which realistically means acing a par 5. It has been recorded only a handful of times in golf history, usually on unusually short or altitude-aided holes. For nearly every golfer, the albatross is the ceiling of what a single hole can offer.