What's the right term: albatross or double eagle?
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What’s the right term: albatross or double eagle?

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Pop quiz: When you make a 2 on a par 5, what is it called? Albatross? Double eagle? Something else?

Well, it might depend on who you ask, but the correct answer is albatross. Let us explain.

For a long time, you've probably heard albatross and double eagle used interchangeably, but logic tells us that double eagle simply doesn't work as a term. We all accept an eagle as a score of 2 under on a hole, meaning a 3 on a par 5, a 2 on a par 4 or a 1 on a par 3 (which we'd all just call a hole-in-one or an ace). Alright, so then a double eagle should hypothetically mean 4 under on a hole -- which would be a hole-in-one on a par 5 or a 0 on a par 4. Neither of those things happen.

RELATED: Watch Zach Johnson make an albatross on No. 16 at Bay Hill | Daniel Berger did it on No. 6 | How rare is an albatross (double eagle)?

So, use albatross for 3 under on a hole. If you want, you can use double eagle -- something that doesn't exist -- for those impossible scenarios we just described.

However, before we go, consider one more bird. The day after Gene Sarazen made an albatross in the final round of the 1935 Masters using a 4-wood from 235 yards, he called it a dodo.

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Ryan Ballengee

Ryan Ballengee is the founder, owner and operator of Golf News Net.

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