In golf, a "condor" is an informal designation for a score of four under par (-4) on a single hole. This would require hitting a hole-in-one on a par-5 hole, scoring a 2 on a par-6 hole, or hitting for a 3 on a par-7.

Hitting a condor is essentially impossible on most modern courses, which generally do not have par-6 or par-7 holes, and whose par-5 holes are almost always too long to reach the pin in one shot. Hitting a condor on modern courses might be theoretically possible by cutting a dogleg, but would require absurd amounts of luck, as the pin would almost certainly be beyond the range of sight when the ball was struck.

Nevertheless, four condors have been recorded in golf history. The first recorded condor occurred in 1962, when Larry Bruce hit a hole-in-one over a stand of trees to cut the dogleg on the 480-yard par-5 fifth hole at Hope Country Club in Arkansas.

The second recorded condor occurred more than 30 years later, in 1995, when Shaun Lynch cut the dogleg on the 496-yard par-5 17th hole at Teign Valley Golf Club in Christow, England.

The third known condor was scored without cutting a dogleg by Mike Crean at Green Valley Ranch Golf Club in Denver, Colorado, in 2002, when he hit a straight-on hole-in-one on the 517 yard par-5 9th hole. This was not only a condor, but also remains to this day the longest hole-in-one ever recorded, although it was only possible due to the thin air in the "mile-high city" of Denver.

The fourth and last recorded condor took place at the Royal Wentworth Falls Country Club, in New South Wales, Australia, on November 3, 2007, when Jack Bartlett holed the 467-meter par-5 17th hole. Bartlett was just 16 years old at the time.

The origins of name "condor" are lost to the mists of golf's long history, but presumably the name arose by analogy with the other names for single-hole golf scores below par: birdie (1 below par), eagle (2 below par), and albatross (3 below par). The logic here is apparently increasing size of bird.

Other possible terms for a condor include triple eagle and double albatross, although these terms are, of course, mathematically nonsensical.

The notion of someone scoring five below par on a single hole is patently absurd, so there exists no term for a hypothetical score better than a condor.

Con"dor (?), n. [Sp. condor, fr. Peruvian cuntur.] (Zoöl.)

A very large bird of the Vulture family (Sarcorhamphus gryphus), found in the most elevated parts of the Andes.

 

© Webster 1913


Con"dor (kon"dor; in defs. 2 & 3, kOn"dOr), n.

1. (Zoöl.)

The California vulture. [Local, U. S.]

2.

A gold coin of Chile, bearing the figure of a condor, and equal to twenty pesos. It contains 10.98356 grams of gold, and is equivalent to about $7.29. Called also colon.

3.

A gold coin of Colombia equivalent to about $9.65. It is no longer coined.

 

© Webster 1913

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