par for the course

1. 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.

Example Sentences

The United States lost a Pacific Four Series Test to reigning world champions New Zealand 79-14 in May, so England may consider this scoreline par for the course.

From BBC

If doing a few airborne laps of the president's new Scottish golf course are par for the course on board the presidential helicopter and en route to a private dinner with him, so be it.

From BBC

But it’s also par for the course these days, as one institution after another caves to the most serious threat to free speech since the Red Scare of the 1950s.

From Salon

That has become tragically par for the course.

From Slate

Four have fledged since the camera was installed, according to Steers, which she said is par for the course.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cinch