Colonel Bogy
Preserved but no longer current.
A name given in golf to an imaginary player whose score for each hole is settled by the committee of the particular club and is supposed to be the lowest that a good average player could do it in. Beating Bogy or the Colonel, is playing the hole in a less number of strokes.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Colonel Bogy” mean?
A name given in golf to an imaginary player whose score for each hole is settled by the committee of the particular club and is supposed to be the lowest that a good average player could do it in. Beating Bogy or the Colonel, is playing the hole in a less number of strokes.
Is “Colonel Bogy” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.