par for the course

Normal, typical, or to be expected (especially when something is a source of annoyance or frustration). An allusion to golf, in which "par" is the number of strokes that it should take a player to get the ball into a particular hole on a golf course. Of course we're not getting raises again this year—that's just par for the course at this point. Our son has been having awful tantrums lately, but he's two years old, so that's par for the course.

As good as what was expected, required, or demanded; satisfactory or adequate. A: "How's your dinner?" B: "It's up to par with this place's usual standard." It's nice to see that Jenny's work is up to par again lately.

typical; about what one could expect. (This refers to golf courses, not school courses.) So he went off and left you? Well that's about par for the course. He's no friend. I worked for days on this proposal, but it was rejected. That's par for the course around here.

Fig. as good as the standard or average; up to standard. I'm just not feeling up to par today. I must be coming down with something. The manager said that the report was not up to par and gave it back to Mary to do over again.

An average or normal amount; just what one might expect. For example, I missed three questions, but that's par for the course. This term comes from golf, where it refers to the number of strokes needed by an expert golfer to finish the entire course. Its figurative use for other kinds of expectation dates from the second half of the 1900s.

Also, up to scratch or snuff or speed or the mark . Satisfactory, up to a given standard, as in She didn't feel up to par today so she stayed home, or I'm sure he'll come up to scratch when the time comes, or She's up to snuff again. Nearly all the versions of this idiom come from sports, par from golf, scratch and mark from boxing (after being knocked down a fighter had eight seconds to make his way to a mark scratched in the center of the ring), and speed from racing. However, the allusion in the variant with snuff, which dates from the early 1800s, has been lost.

COMMON If something that happens is par for the course, it is not good but it is what you expect. Note: In golf, `par' is the number of strokes a good golfer is expected to take for a particular hole or for the whole course. There's leaves and branches all over the streets, and the power is out. But that's all par for the course in a hurricane. Long hours are par for the course in his job.

Usual; typical: Unfortunately, such short-sightedness is par for the course these days.

Just about average or typical. The term comes from golf, where par means the number of strokes set as a standard for a particular hole or for the entire course, a score not attained by the majority of players. The term was transferred to other activities in the 1920s, but often with a mildly derogatory or deprecatory connotation, as in “He’s nearly half an hour late; that’s just about par for the course.” To be up to par also means “to meet a standard or norm,” while below par means “less than satisfactory,” and by extension in poor spirits or health. Thus C. E. Montague (1867–1928) wrote (Fiery Particles), “I was born below par to the extent of two whiskies.”