Blow-Up Hole
A blow-up hole is a single hole where a golfer scores much higher than normal, usually a double bogey or worse. It is the one hole that ruins an otherwise solid round.
What is a blow-up hole?
The term describes any hole where the score jumps well above what a player would normally card. What counts depends on who is playing. For a scratch golfer, a double or triple bogey qualifies. A beginner might not feel it until an 8, 9, or 10 shows up on a par 4. There is no fixed number, because the label is relative to the golfer.
Most definitions land on double bogey or worse as the practical threshold. Golfity, a strokes-gained tracking service, defines it plainly as any hole scored double bogey or worse. Some sources set the bar higher: the handicap app TheGrint uses net triple bogey or worse so the measure works fairly across skill levels. Either way, the idea holds. A blow-up hole is the score that feels out of place next to the rest of the card.
Golfers reach for the phrase after the round, usually with a hint of regret. “If it weren’t for that blow-up hole, I’d have broken 90.” It captures a specific kind of frustration: the sense that one hole, rather than a whole day of poor play, is what pushed the total higher.
How a blow-up hole happens
A blow-up hole rarely comes from a single bad swing. It usually builds from one mistake that leads to another. A tee shot out of bounds adds a penalty stroke and forces a replay from the tee, so a routine par 4 becomes a 6 or 7 before the green is even in view.
According to Golfity’s strokes-gained data, a single out-of-bounds drive costs roughly 1.2 to 1.5 strokes on that hole alone. The other common path runs through the short game: a missed green, a chunked chip, a bladed follow-up, then two putts. That sequence adds up to a double bogey built entirely around the green.
The hero recovery is the third culprit. A player blocked behind a tree tries to thread a low iron through a narrow gap rather than chipping back to safety. When it fails, a bogey turns into a triple.
Blow-up hole vs bogey, double bogey and triple bogey
A blow-up hole is not an official score. It is slang, so it sits on top of the real scoring terms rather than replacing them. Knowing where it falls on the scoring ladder clears up most of the confusion.
| Score | Strokes relative to par | Counts as a blow-up hole? |
|---|---|---|
| Par | Even | No |
| Bogey | +1 | No |
| Double bogey | +2 | Usually the starting point |
| Triple bogey | +3 | Yes |
| Quadruple bogey or worse | +4 or more | Yes |
A bogey is never a blow-up hole. It is a normal part of most rounds, even for good players. The disagreement is over the double bogey. Some golfers count any double as a blow-up, while others reserve the term for triple bogey and up. The distinction often comes down to skill: a +2 stings more for a low-handicapper than for someone still learning the game.
How common are blow-up holes?
Blow-up holes happen to everyone, but the rate climbs sharply as handicap rises. TheGrint analyzed 1,000 golfers from each of five handicap groups and found that scratch players (0 handicap or better) recorded a blow-up hole in just 4.5% of rounds, while players in the 15 to 19.9 range hit one in 24.3% of rounds.
Golfity’s data shows the same pattern in raw counts. A scratch golfer averages about 0.7 holes of double bogey or worse per round, and a 20-handicapper averages around 6.0. Mark Broadie, the Columbia professor behind strokes gained, found that scoring variance rises faster than the average as handicap goes up, which is another way of saying higher handicappers lose most of their strokes on a handful of disaster holes.
There is one more finding: a blow-up hole does less damage than it feels like. TheGrint found that golfers played at close to their normal level right after a blow-up hole, with the gap in scoring before and after measuring around 0.01 strokes per hole.
Net double bogey: the scoring cap
For handicap purposes, a blow-up hole can only count for so much. Under the World Handicap System, the highest score a player can post on any hole is a net double bogey: par, plus two strokes, plus any handicap strokes received on that hole.
Take a player with a course handicap of 12, who gets one extra stroke on the 12 hardest holes. On a par 4 rated stroke index 10, the maximum posting score is 4 plus 2 plus 1, which equals 7, no matter how many strokes were actually taken. This cap, once called Equitable Stroke Control, keeps one disastrous hole from inflating a handicap unfairly.
Related Golf Terms
- Air mail — Slang for flying a shot well over the intended target or green.
- Hand mashie — Slang for improving a lie by tossing the ball by hand.
- Foot wedge — Slang for illegally nudging the ball into a better lie with your foot.
- Reload — Slang for hitting another ball after the first is likely lost.
- Going low — Slang for shooting an unusually low score.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many strokes is a blow-up hole?
There is no set number. Most golfers count double bogey (two over par) or worse, though some reserve the term for triple bogey and up. For a beginner, it might mean scoring 8 or higher on a single hole.
Is a double bogey a blow-up hole?
Often, yes. A double bogey is the most common starting point for the term, though a low-handicap player may only call it a blow-up hole at triple bogey or worse.
Do blow-up holes ruin your round?
They feel worse than they are. Data from TheGrint shows golfers tend to return to their normal scoring right after a blow-up hole, so a single big number rarely defines the whole day.
Where does the term come from?
It is casual golf slang. “Blow up” borrows the everyday sense of something falling apart quickly, which is how a good round can feel when one hole runs away from a player.
Sources
- TheGrint. “Does a blowup hole derail a round?” Sam O’Brien. Accessed July 2026.
https://thegrint.com/range/post/does-a-blowup-hole-derail-a-round - golfity. “What Blow-Up Holes Cost You: A Statistical Analysis.” Accessed July 2026.
https://golfity.com/blog/what-blow-up-holes-cost-you - The DIY Golfer. “Golf Slang: Blow Up Hole.” Zach Gollwitzer. Accessed July 2026.
https://www.thediygolfer.com/golf-terms/blow-up-hole - SoCal Roundup, SCGA. “Blow Up Hole? Here’s What to Write Down.” Accessed July 2026.
https://socalroundup.scga.org/blow-up-hole-heres-what-to-write-down - USGA. “Net Double Bogey — World Handicap System.” Accessed July 2026.
https://www.usga.org/content/usga/home-page/handicapping/world-handicap-system/topics/net-double-bogey.html - Caddie HQ. “What Is It Called When the Golf Ball Goes in the Hole?” Spencer Lanoue. Accessed July 2026.
https://www.caddiehq.com/resources/what-is-it-called-when-the-golf-ball-goes-in-the-hole - BRUCE BOLT. “Golf Terminology for Scoring.” Accessed July 2026.
https://brucebolt.us/blogs/news/golf-terminology-for-scoring
