What Is a Mulligan in Golf?
A mulligan is a do-over. You hit a bad shot, and instead of playing it as it lies, you tee it up again and take another go, with no penalty added to your score. It’s one of the most widely known terms in golf, and also one of the most misunderstood, because a mulligan isn’t actually part of the Rules of Golf at all.
That’s the part that trips people up. There’s no rule anywhere that permits a mulligan. It’s a casual-round convention, something groups agree to among themselves before teeing off, usually limited to the first tee shot of the day to smooth over the nerves of a cold start. In any round that counts, whether that’s a club competition, a handicap round, or anything played under the actual rules, a mulligan doesn’t exist. Play the ball as it lies, or take the correct relief and penalty for the situation.
Where the Word Comes From
The origin is fuzzy, but the most common story traces it to a Canadian golfer named David Mulligan in the 1920s, who reportedly re-teed a poor drive after a shaky, nerve-rattled start to a round and jokingly called it a “correction shot.” His playing partners started calling it a mulligan instead, and the name stuck far beyond that one clubhouse.
Whether the story is entirely accurate or not, the spirit of it explains why the term has survived. A mulligan isn’t really about the shot itself. It’s about giving a nervous or rusty player one clean shot to settle into the round before the scoring starts to matter.
How Mulligans Are Actually Used
In practice, mulligans show up almost exclusively in social golf. A weekend fourball with friends, a corporate day out, a charity scramble. The group agrees beforehand, usually one mulligan per player, usually only on the tee, and usually only on the first hole. Some groups extend it to one mulligan anywhere during the round, but the more generous the rule, the further the round drifts from anything resembling a real score.
Charity and fundraising events sometimes sell mulligans outright, letting players buy an extra shot or two as part of the entry fee. It’s a harmless way to raise a bit more money on a day where nobody’s really counting strokes against a handicap anyway.
Why They Don’t Belong in a Real Round
If you’re playing a round that affects your handicap, or any kind of competition, a mulligan has no place in it. The Rules of Golf already have a mechanism for a shot that might be lost or out of bounds, which is the provisional ball. That’s a genuine rule, with a genuine procedure and a genuine penalty attached if the original ball isn’t found. A mulligan skips the penalty entirely, which is exactly why it can’t be part of a scored round.
It’s worth knowing the difference clearly, because new golfers sometimes hear “mulligan” used casually at their club and assume it’s an option in any round. It isn’t. Save it for the friendly stuff.
Keeping Score Honest
None of this makes the mulligan a bad tradition. It’s a good one, and a useful bit of etiquette for social rounds where the point is enjoying the walk rather than posting a card. The trick is knowing when it applies. If you’re playing ready golf with friends and nobody’s tracking handicaps, take the mulligan and move on. If the round counts for anything official, play it as it lies and lean on the actual rules, provisional balls included, when something goes wrong.
