From Brent Kelley,
Your Guide to Golf.
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No. Now move along.

OK, a little more explanation. "Par" was a word in use in the general population long before it acquired its golf meaning.

The general meaning of par is average, ordinary, usual. When the term entered the golf lexicon (at least by the 1890s), it was often used interchangeably with bogey. At that time, bogey meant the ideal score, and the term "bogey" was more widely used than the term "par."

Over time, and by the early 1900s, the two terms acquired their current golf meanings. "Par" came to denote the ideal score for the best golfers, while "bogey" was applied to a score that recreational golfers would be happy with.

"Par" was only officially added to the golf lexicon in 1911, when the USGA defined it as "perfect play without flukes and under ordinary weather conditions, always allowing two strokes on each putting green."

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