Date Published: 18/11/2025
Golf is full of unique terms – birdie, eagle, and albatross are familiar to most players. But there’s one that even seasoned golfers may never encounter: the condor. So, what is a condor in golf, and why is the term encountered so rarely?
In this guide, we’ll explain everything golfers need to know about the condor in golf, explore its history, and look at how it compares to other scoring terms in the game.
Before we dive into the condor, it’s helpful to recap how these “bird” terms work. Each relates to how a golfer scores in relation to par, the expected number of strokes for a hole.
To put it simply, a condor is when a golfer finishes a hole four under par. It’s the rarest of all golf scores, far rarer than a hole-in-one or even an albatross. That means:
Since most golf courses feature holes up to par 5, a condor typically refers to a hole-in-one on a par 5.
Achieving this would require not only a long and accurate drive often well over 400 yards, but also favourable conditions such as strong tailwinds, firm fairways, and sometimes a dogleg layout that allows a direct line to the green.
To date, there have only been a handful of verified condors worldwide, and none are officially recorded in major professional tournaments.
The odds of achieving a hole-in-one on a par 3 are estimated at around 12,500 to 1 for an amateur. For a condor, however, the odds skyrocket most experts estimate them at over 1 in 12 million.
For context, a condor is even rarer than an ace, which many golfers will at least see or hear about during their playing lifetime.
Given the average golf course layout and climate, achieving a condor would require an extraordinary blend of skill, power, and luck.
There have been very few condors officially recorded across the world. These include:
These instances highlight just how rare and remarkable this achievement truly is especially when you consider that most golfers will never witness one, let alone record it.
The naming follows golf’s long-standing tradition of using bird names for scores under par. Each bird grows larger as the achievement becomes rarer: birdie, eagle, albatross, and finally, condor – one of the largest flying birds on Earth.
The term represents something extraordinary, beyond the realm of normal play fitting for a feat that happens so infrequently.
While highly unlikely, it isn’t impossible. Some courses, especially those with elevated tees, dogleg par 5s, or firm fairways, could theoretically allow for a condor if the conditions were perfect.
Teign Valley Golf Club in Devon remains the only known British course where a condor in golf has been achieved. UK courses are typically shorter and tighter in design than those in the US, making the feat even more impressive. However, as golf technology and athleticism evolve, the chances may slowly increase—particularly for long hitters using modern equipment.
Still, for most golfers, the condor remains a symbol of perfection: a once-in-a-lifetime (if ever) occurrence.
While scoring a condor might be out of reach for most, tracking your personal bests, improvements, and handicap progress is not.
With iGolf, golfers can maintain a digital record of their rounds and access an official World Handicap System (WHS) index without joining a traditional club.
For just £46 per year, iGolf provides a simple way to monitor your performance, set goals, and celebrate your golfing achievements however big or small they may be.