Par for the Course

In golf, "par" is the standard number of strokes a skilled player should need to complete a hole or a full course, from the Latin "par," meaning equal. The figurative sense, describing anything ordinary or exactly what you'd expect, developed out of that golfing standard during the early-to-mid 20th century. There's a neat irony built into the phrase: in golf, shooting par is a genuinely good score, achieved only by a skilled player, while in everyday speech "par for the course" has drifted to mean merely average or unremarkable, sometimes even with a faintly disappointed tone.