This is a word problem having to do with negative and positive integers.

Question

Joe played golf with Sam on a special par 3 course: they played 9 holes. The expected number of strokes on each hole was 3. A birdie is 1 below par. An eagle is 2 below par, and a bogie is 1 above par. A double bogie is 2 above par.  On 9 holes,  Frank made par on 1 hole,  got 2 birdies,  one eagle,  four bogies, and one double bogie. How many points above or below par was Frank's score?

Answer 1

Hi Dalinda,

 

I don't play golf either, but let's try to figure this out.

 

Let's make par equal to zero and strokes more than par, positive and strokes less than par, negative.  In golf, the lower your score, the better so negative numbers are good.

 

So let's assign values to Frank's scores:

 

par = 0

2 birdies = 2 (-1) = -2

eagle = -2

4 bogies = 4(1) = +4

double bogie = +2

 

0 - 2 - 2 + 4 + 2 = +2 which is 2 points above par.

 

Dan