What Does 'E' Mean In Golf?

If you see a capital 'E' on its own on a golf leaderboard, you might be wondering what it means?

In golf, it could mean many things: Erratic. Errors. Embarrassed. Emotional. Edgy... However, generally, an uppercase 'E' means one thing - even, or even par.

Every hole has a par score, which is the number of shots you should take - usually 3, 4 or 5.

Let's say a golfer played the first two holes (both par 4s) in 10 shots, this would be two more shots than par, so a player would have a '2' or '+2' next to their name.

Should a player make two pars on these two holes, so eight shots, they'd be on even par, so they'd have an 'E' next to their name, or '0' (zero).

Get it?

If you're one step ahead, you'll have already worked out that '-1' means one under par - so that means a player has played one fewer shots.

To clarify, to get under-par, a player has to take fewer shots than par on a hole; for example, a three on a par 4, which is a birdie.

You'll have heard of eagles, too, and these are very good - that's two under par on a hole; for example, a three on a par 5.

However, an 'E' does not mean eagle, remember - it means even.

Generally speaking, 'E' is good, because it means a player has taken the number of shots they're supposed to - they are level par.

For most club golfers, finishing a round of golf on even par would be celebrated wildly.

Tour professionals, however, would typically expect to make a bunch of birdies and record a score under par.

For example, Scottie Scheffler posted a winning score at the 2024 Masters of -11 (11 shots under par over the course of four rounds/72 holes of golf).

If you had an 'E' next to your name that week, as Will Zalatoris did, it was a score only good enough for tied 9th. Shooting level par in Majors tends to be a good result on the whole, though - as we found via a little bit of research of the past decade.

And there are weeks when players make so many birdies, staying on 'E' would be considered poor.

So, 'E' for even. Simple.