How do you play a ....mulligan

[TheGeekGolfer]

First, yes i get there are many who think a mulligan is a dirty word but i ask the rule book thumpers to just refrain from their standard....what is a mulligan comment

 

It's early season, swing is rusty, and most are just glad to be out of the house in some areas. So if playing with friends and you decide that each of you will get a mulligan or two for that day, there are two examples and wondering which is the proper way or the preferred way to treat the mulligan.

 

Ex. 1 - Hit a shot, declare you're using a mulligan. Hit the next shot knowing no matter the outcome once you hit your mulligan shot that ball must be played, better or worse than the first.

 

Ex. 2 - Hit your shot, not good not great but you're running out of holes to use your mulligan for the day so you decide to hit your mulligan. You hit the mulligan and its worse than the first, so you decide to just keep the first shot.

 

So which is the correct way, or are both examples common and its just up to you to decide which to use.

Since a mulligan is a made up rule, much the same way as 'house rules' in Monopoly or other home games, whichever way the group decides is fine. This is where 'house rules' mess up, two people of a group is playing for the first time and they all assume their versions of the 'house rules' are how it's always been done. This doesn't get discussed and then things possibly get ugly.

[HatsForBats]

So do you figure your handicap using mulligans? Do you post a score in the clubhouse with an asterisk ( muligan used) or not,

 

So If they did would they have an advantage or disadvantage if they had to play someone, by the USGA rules of golf, who did not 'figure' their handicap using mulligans?

 

Around these parts you can't even record your scores for handicap purposes this early in the season. We have almost another 6 weeks before a score can be used.

[Greenie]

So do you figure your handicap using mulligans? Do you post a score in the clubhouse with an asterisk ( muligan used) or not,

 

I played in a group (20-30 players) many yrs. ago that played mulligans. We kept caps for the group and that was based on including mulligans. There were some in the group that refused to use mulligans so they could post their rounds elsewhere too.

They also played if your ball was in the rough play it as it lies but if it was in the fairway you could roll it around. What I found confusing was their root rule. If you could hit your ball but there was a chance of damaging your club on a tree root you got a free drop. There was this guy in my group one time that had his ball end up in a creek between two rocks. He calls out I m using the root rule. I called him out on it and he claims the rule applied to anywhere you could hit your ball from but there was a chance of damaging your club. I said I don't think there is any chance you could hit your ball from there. The guy grabs a club wades in the creek and blasts a 60 yd shot to three feet from the pin. His shaft looked like a banana and he had a deep gouge in the club head but it was a really nice shot. I was a newer member of the group and I got a bunch of grief after the guy told everyone I had a problem with their rules. After that incident I kept my mouth shut.They were a great bunch of guys. It just took me a little time to figure out what they were all about.

[4Par]

Do whatever keeps you happy.... who cares!!! Lol

 

I play with three guys once a month or so that concoct so many weird rules... lol.... makes your head spin.... I finally got MY RULE in the mix. If you're gonna take a 'mulligan' then you abandon your first ball. And I mean totally abandon.... you can't even go get it!! Leave it lay and play on! That has cut down on their 'mulligan' use...lol

 

But they're a great group of guys and I enjoy their banter. It's all about having fun at many levels.

[bk52]

As with any deviation from the Rules, everything is subject to negotiation. Once we stray from the Rules, there are no accepted parameters and individual interpretation makes determining the "right" way difficult or impossible.

 

If you want to play Mulligans then decide how many, whether they are limited to one nine or the other, can be used for tee shots only or any shot, etc... If you announce "Everyone gets 1 Mulligan", once the round starts I am going to use that to replay a shot or putt that gives me the greatest apparent advantage. You may counter with "Mulligans can only be used for tee shots" and I am going to reply, "Where does it say that?"

[Sawgrass]

I remember an awkward situation I was in when playing a group-of-guys team event at a resort course. I hit into a dangerous, waterlogged bunker on a par 3. I certainly didn't want to play a mulligan (particularly on a once-in-a-lifetime course) but I was entitled to, and my partner desperately wanted me to. I expressed regret to him, and decided to put a new ball in play given that the hole was so short and the position of my original so bad. He stopped me and pointed out that I could "use" the mulligan for the purposes of our competition but count the S&D for my own purposes (and for posting). Problem solved!

 

All of which suggests that the stricter option provided by the OP has that advantage . . .

[augustgolf]

We had a great "mulligan" rule when I was growing up.

 

Use the driving range prior to playing....

 

No mulligans

 

Your choice

[augustgolf]

I remember an awkward situation I was in when playing a group-of-guys team event at a resort course. I hit into a dangerous, waterlogged bunker on a par 3. I certainly didn't want to play a mulligan (particularly on a once-in-a-lifetime course) but I was entitled to, and my partner desperately wanted me to. I expressed regret to him, and decided to put a new ball in play given that the hole was so short and the position of my original so bad. He stopped me and pointed out that I could "use" the mulligan for the purposes of our competition but count the S&D for my own purposes (and for posting). Problem solved!

 

All of which suggests that the stricter option provided by the OP has that advantage . . .

 

When I read your post (quickly, as I was multi-tasking)....I thought you said the "sphincter" option

 

Now, THAT should be a rule!

[golfdad907]

Player: Hey Caddie, what do they call a Mulligan in Scotland?

 

Caddie: Hitting 3 !!!!

[Vindog]

As with any deviation from the Rules, everything is subject to negotiation. Once we stray from the Rules, there are no accepted parameters and individual interpretation makes determining the "right" way difficult or impossible.

 

If you want to play Mulligans then decide how many, whether they are limited to one nine or the other, can be used for tee shots only or any shot, etc... If you announce "Everyone gets 1 Mulligan", once the round starts I am going to use that to replay a shot or putt that gives me the greatest apparent advantage. You may counter with "Mulligans can only be used for tee shots" and I am going to reply, "Where does it say that?"

 

You raise good points and as we all know, it pays to be as specific as possible. So we say "1 per 18" or "1 per 9 no carry over", and "never on the green" Sometimes we'll even say no mulligans.

 

It should go without saying however, that the reason we got to be so specific is because of the "nobody said that" reply!

[Sawgrass]

 

 

It should go without saying however, that the reason we got to be so specific is because of the "nobody said that" reply!

 

And that, friends, is why the Rule book is long and complicated.

[DaveLeeNC]

So do you figure your handicap using mulligans? Do you post a score in the clubhouse with an asterisk ( muligan used) or not,

 

You would post a score following Rule 4-2 in the USGA Handicap Manual. I used to occasionally play with a cousin and his friends who played a friendly 2 man team game where each player got one mulligan per side (FWIW, you had to take the second shot regardless). Easy to still post a valid "handicap score" (as opposed to a golf score).

 

dave

[Bonneville85308]

My usual group's rule is that you can take one on the first tee if you want, and if the mulligan is worse than the first shot, you can still play the first one.

[Glaze22]

My group plays these rules for the first month of the season, when we try new things and get some rust off. We get 2 off the first tee if needed and 1 mulligan per 18, but the mulligan can only be used from the tee, and the 2nd shot is now the ball in play no matter what. After the 1st month the only time we use a breakfast ball is if we are 1st or 2nd group off the tee, it is cold out and we did not warm up, no mulligans!!! If we are playing for money then it is always by the rules, no breakfast balls, mulligans etc, we play 2 times a month at least for $$.

[madchens]

Neither, mostly because I don't want to. My pursuit is to get better and compete against myself over time. If I take a mulligan I can't really compare my scores.

 

I don't really care if my friends do it. They ask to hit a mulligan occasionally and I always tell them "go for it".

[jmkenn0]

Our club is notorious for, well, among other things, the breakfast ball off the first tee. I generally hit two to be socially acceptable, but always play the first one during scoring season, or if I do play the second one, basically score it as if the first was an unplayable for handicap purposes. Not exactly kosher, but close enough for me.

[Sawgrass]

Our club is notorious for, well, among other things, the breakfast ball off the first tee. I generally hit two to be socially acceptable, but always play the first one during scoring season, or if I do play the second one, basically score it as if the first was an unplayable for handicap purposes. Not exactly kosher, but close enough for me.

 

I certainly respect your decision to "be socially acceptable," but I'm compelled to say that on your behalf I resent your associates pressuring you into feeling a need to play two balls. (Why the hell isn't it good enough for them when you simply allow them their extra shot?)

 

I'm reminded of a time many years ago when I was playing with a stranger with whom I wasn't competing. We ended up next to each other on a big, unmarked bare spot in the fairway. He said, "Ground under repair, right?" I replied, "I'm going to play it down, but please feel free to do whatever you wish." He looked angry, left the ball where it was, skulled it, and then yelled at me for being a jerk.

 

Somehow I still love golf. Must be something wrong with me.

[finleysg]

During simulator season, everyone gets two mullies per round. No using them on the green.

 

We did this because the abuse of the subjective "glitch" was getting out of hand. "No way I hit that 7 iron that far!" The exception is when the computer shows either negative spin or spin rates over 12,000. That's an automatic do-over, even if the shot result was good.

 

Outside? Nothing but tough love. Play the shot. If you don't like your first ball, get here earlier and warm up.

[jmkenn0]

Our club is notorious for, well, among other things, the breakfast ball off the first tee. I generally hit two to be socially acceptable, but always play the first one during scoring season, or if I do play the second one, basically score it as if the first was an unplayable for handicap purposes. Not exactly kosher, but close enough for me.

 

I certainly respect your decision to "be socially acceptable," but I'm compelled to say that on your behalf I resent your associates pressuring you into feeling a need to play two balls. (Why the hell isn't it good enough for them when you simply allow them their extra shot?)

 

I'm reminded of a time many years ago when I was playing with a stranger with whom I wasn't competing. We ended up next to each other on a big, unmarked bare spot in the fairway. He said, "Ground under repair, right?" I replied, "I'm going to play it down, but please feel free to do whatever you wish." He looked angry, left the ball where it was, skulled it, and then yelled at me for being a jerk.

 

Somehow I still love golf. Must be something wrong with me.

 

"Socially acceptable" - translate that into a money game, maybe?

[cluner]

you don't :)

[bigchucksr]

With the two guys I play with there are no rules for mulligans. They can hit them anytime as many times as the wish. There is no money changing hands on our rounds, neither of them post scores, neither play in tournaments so it isn't a problem.

I post my scores so I don't take mulligans and get a few double bogeys a round.

Not sure why there has to be a firm "rule" about the use of a mulligan--guy with me hit's one in the river in front of the tee box, who cares if he tees up another ball?

I think the group should simply make their own decisions about how to treat this sort of thing--every group is different.

[TerpFangolfer]

Anti-Mulligan rant...lol, well not really rant, but I don't (or at least hardly ever) use Mulligans

 

But here's one to make us "purists" cringe...driving into work this morning - and heard this local ad (DC area) for the first time...wasn't a fan

 

It starts with a guy telling the story about the 1st time he played golf with his Dad (as a kid), and he hit a terrible shot off the tee...and he's upset, and getting ready to chase it down, when magically Dad says "don't worry son, you can hit another"...the sky brightens, angels sing, and he plays a good shot...cut to today and now we get to the meat of the ad - its a local bible school/preacher saying how wonderful golf is that it gives "mulligans" and how people in real life need "mulligans" and need to follow golf's example!

 

Now not to get preachy or political...and I'm all for second chances or making up for mistakes - but it bothered me how he made the case that "golf does it right" :stop: How about something more along the lines of "you need to own your mistakes, and make up for them...not by some magical free shot, but thru other actions/means"

 

/end rant :taunt:

[DaveLeeNC]

I don't have strong feelings about this, but I play with a couple of friends who are regular mulligan types. We are not competing, they don't keep formal handicaps, so who cares.

 

More than once when playing lift/clean/place (ala' winter rules) I have picked my ball up, cleaned it, and placed it carefully. And they have given me a hard time with "why don't you just tee it up". By 'their rules' you don't' pick up your ball in the fairway (ever) but (always) you are entitled to a good lie in the fairway so you just roll it around with your clubhead until you have a good lie (winter rules or not). That is 'their rules' (I think).

 

Like I said - who cares. And FWIW when I learned the game back in the mid 1960's it was on a 9 hole muni and no water for the fairways. The game as I learned it there was that (in the fairway) you could move the ball with your clubhead but not your hands.

 

dave

[Sawgrass]

Anti-Mulligan rant...lol, well not really rant, but I don't (or at least hardly ever) use Mulligans

 

But here's one to make us "purists" cringe...driving into work this morning - and heard this local ad (DC area) for the first time...wasn't a fan

 

It starts with a guy telling the story about the 1st time he played golf with his Dad (as a kid), and he hit a terrible shot off the tee...and he's upset, and getting ready to chase it down, when magically Dad says "don't worry son, you can hit another"...the sky brightens, angels sing, and he plays a good shot...cut to today and now we get to the meat of the ad - its a local bible school/preacher saying how wonderful golf is that it gives "mulligans" and how people in real life need "mulligans" and need to follow golf's example!

 

Now not to get preachy or political...and I'm all for second chances or making up for mistakes - but it bothered me how he made the case that "golf does it right" :stop: How about something more along the lines of "you need to own your mistakes, and make up for them...not by some magical free shot, but thru other actions/means"

 

/end rant :taunt:

 

The legitimate "forgiveness" in golf is not Mulligans, but rather the fact that you get to tee it up again tomorrow.

[FairwaysToHeaven]

Anti-Mulligan rant...lol, well not really rant, but I don't (or at least hardly ever) use Mulligans

 

But here's one to make us "purists" cringe...driving into work this morning - and heard this local ad (DC area) for the first time...wasn't a fan

 

It starts with a guy telling the story about the 1st time he played golf with his Dad (as a kid), and he hit a terrible shot off the tee...and he's upset, and getting ready to chase it down, when magically Dad says "don't worry son, you can hit another"...the sky brightens, angels sing, and he plays a good shot...cut to today and now we get to the meat of the ad - its a local bible school/preacher saying how wonderful golf is that it gives "mulligans" and how people in real life need "mulligans" and need to follow golf's example!

 

Now not to get preachy or political...and I'm all for second chances or making up for mistakes - but it bothered me how he made the case that "golf does it right" :stop: How about something more along the lines of "you need to own your mistakes, and make up for them...not by some magical free shot, but thru other actions/means"

 

/end rant :taunt:

 

rarely in life to you get to screw up, and get a redo free from any penalty, price, or cost. sure, you get a second chance, but you typically pay a price after a mistake that turns it into a learning experience rather than a simple do over.

[Deceptively Short]

Just to put some context into this discussion, having played golf all over the world, but mainly in the U.K. the only place I have ever seen or heard of players using mulligans or 'breakfast balls' is in the US, as a concept it is really not known of elsewhere. If you were to say you were hitting a mulligan in any even social or friendly game in the .U.K. the reaction would be incredulity at least.

This is golf not tennis.

[dbleag]

Not to insult any particular ethnic group, but ....

 

 

Mulligan = hit another shot, which must be played.

 

 

Shapiro = hit another shot, but have the choice of playing first ball or your Shapiro.

[nbg352]

As a card-carrying "thumper" I'll dutifully refrain from offering an opinion as to which of your two options are "correct."

 

But I will say that your impulse to determine propriety where none can possibly exist is fascinating. Is the option that strays furthest from the legitimate Rules "better" because it strays further within a quest to disregard the rules? Or worse for the same reason? (Not only will I not answer, I'll acknowledge that I certainly don't know the answer.)

Why is it you guys feel you have to chastise everyone with a question outside the rules? OP clearly asked y'all to keep your self righteous indignity to yourselves, but you just can't seem to help yourselves, it seems.

Kindly do as OP requested. Contribute to the question in the spirit intended by OP or just don't come onto his lawn in the first place.

OP I see 1 as the correct way to use a mulligan.

I would be too frightened to take a mulligan in front of our crop of rules experts. Unless it happened to be raining. If it was raining, they'd have drowned......

[hacker49]

I am always amazed at how serious people take the rules of golf. I guess they never speed, jaywalk or break any law what so ever because that would be a violation of the "rules".

 

I occasionally will take a mulligan and it's only on the tee. I'm not out there competing and I never play for money. One I am not a gambler and two I'm not that good. I am just out there for some fun, exercise and social interaction. I try to make sure I know all the rules but in the interest of keeping pace I will sometimes violate them. I'm sure the group behind me would me rather keep up pace than slow them and everyone else behind down because I have to follow the rules exactly.

 

All that being said when I am in a tournament I play by the rules. So I try to make sure I know and understand all the rules.

[Sawgrass]

As a card-carrying "thumper" I'll dutifully refrain from offering an opinion as to which of your two options are "correct."

 

But I will say that your impulse to determine propriety where none can possibly exist is fascinating. Is the option that strays furthest from the legitimate Rules "better" because it strays further within a quest to disregard the rules? Or worse for the same reason? (Not only will I not answer, I'll acknowledge that I certainly don't know the answer.)

Why is it you guys feel you have to chastise everyone with a question outside the rules? OP clearly asked y'all to keep your self righteous indignity to yourselves, but you just can't seem to help yourselves, it seems.

Kindly do as OP requested. Contribute to the question in the spirit intended by OP or just don't come onto his lawn in the first place.

OP I see 1 as the correct way to use a mulligan.

I would be too frightened to take a mulligan in front of our crop of rules experts. Unless it happened to be raining. If it was raining, they'd have drowned......

 

Seems there's plenty of self righteousness in your own post. No?