Albatross

[ks8829]

I just saw an albatross on TV at the BMW International Open with Rafa Echenique on 18th hole.

[retexan599]

Yes I saw it also...cool...I prefer the term 'double eagle' because 'albatross' can have a negative connotation as in this reference:

"The word albatross is sometimes used to mean an encumbrance, or a wearisome burden.[1] It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).

In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship – being followed by an albatross was generally considered an omen of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). To punish him, his companions induce him to wear the dead albatross around his neck indefinitely (until they all die from the curse, as it happens). Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried (as penance).

The symbolism used in the Coleridge poem is its highlight. For example:

Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks
Had I from old and young !
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."

I would be happy to experience a double eagle (or an ace) once in my lifetime!

[shankapotamus]

Yes I saw it also...cool...I prefer the term 'double eagle' because 'albatross' can have a negative connotation as in this reference:

I am so confused.

[mcfc_nick]

i dont understand why you call it a double eagle as surely that means that you should make 4 shots (seeing as an eagles 2) instead of 3 which is why i call it an albatross!

[AmenCorner]

i dont understand why you call it a double eagle as surely that means that you should make 4 shots (seeing as an eagles 2) instead of 3 which is why i call it an albatross!

Huh?

By the way, an Eagle is 2 under par, not specifically a score of 2 which you indicated.

[AmenCorner]

Another fun fact, Wikipedia says there is such a thing as a "Condor" which is a hole in 1 on a par 5. Seriously, is that even possible and who made up such a term?

[Williamevanl]

I've actually had two condors since I started playing this morning.

[iacas]

By the way, an Eagle is 2 under par, not specifically a score of 2 which you indicated.

He was saying that an eagle is two under par, so a "double eagle" should be 4 under.

You corrected someone who was right to begin with. Yes, he could have been clearer in what he was saying, but he's also from the UK where "make" has slightly different usage.

[VOX]

Even more impressive is that that gave him a score of twenty-seven (nine under) on the back nine.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Maybe this should be turned into a poll. Which do you prefer, albatross or double eagle.

I'm definitly fall on the eagle side. Albatross has a pretty well know negative connotation outside of golf.

birdie - 1 under par
eagle - 2 under par
double eagle - 3 under par
etc...

Or maybe we could make up a new name for 3 under par? bald eagle? lucky shot?

[pchaney301]

Another fun fact, Wikipedia says there is such a thing as a "Condor" which is a hole in 1 on a par 5. Seriously, is that even possible and who made up such a term?

I'm guessing you would have to have a lot of help with a cart path or have an extremely short par 5. MAYBE if you had somebody who could bomb the ball, get some outrageous bounces, and is lucky enough to somehow wind up on the green, I guess in theory its possible. I don't know how it would happen, but I guess it could.

[albatross]

Albatross of course. It's also the name of my home brewery.

[RichF]

Yes I saw it also...cool...I prefer the term 'double eagle' because 'albatross' can have a negative connotation as in this reference:

All I can post after reading this is: