The Mulligans Golf Game Explained
Many groups of recreational golfers or groups of friends who play together regularly allow the use of mulligans during their rounds. There are usually strict limitations, though. For example, a group might allow mulligans but only one per nine. (Remember that mulligans are always illegal in rounds played under the Rules of Golf.)
In the Mulligans betting game, however, how many mulligans a golfer gets to use during the round is entirely determined by her course handicap. That is how the Mulligans game works: Whatever your course handicap is, that's how many mulligans you get to use during the round. So, in the Mulligans game, you do not use your course handicap in the standard way (reducing your score by a stroke if, for example, your course handicap allows you do so on a given hole). Instead, you get to play all those do-overs.
Let's say your course handicap is 14. That means, if you are playing the Mulligans game, you get to use 14 do-overs during the round. Typically, groups that play Mulligans allow their use anywhere on the course, even on the putting green.
So maybe you hit a terrible drive off the No. 2 tee. Use one of those 14 mulligans and hit it again. Now you have 13 left. Maybe on the third green you 3-putt by missing a 36-inch putt. Use one of those mulligans and try that putt again. Now you have 12 mulligans left.
The Mulligans game is a simple stroke-play game. Before the round, agree on the value of each stroke. At the end of the round, add up the scores and pay out the differences.
A couple things to keep in mind about the Mulligans game. It goes by many different names, including (but not limited to) No Alibis, Wipe Out, Criers and Whiners, Replay, and sometimes Play It Again, Sam.
Replaying all those strokes can really slow a group down, too. So Mulligans is a game best played on golf courses with very light traffic (or on days/times when you know the course won't be crowded). Don't make golfers playing behind your group wait on your game.
Also note that not all groups allow putts to be replayed. Some groups allow mulligans anywhere on the course except the putting green. But the standard version of the Mulligans game does allow do-overs on putts.
Finally, make sure you don't find yourself very late in the round with a lot of mulligans left to use. Use them judiciously throughout the round — any time you think a do-over will save you a stroke — but just make sure to use them all in situations where they will matter.
More golf games:
- How to play the Mulligan/Recall game
- The game named 24-Second Clock
- The 2-Man No Scotch format explained
Kaspriske, Ron. Golf Digest's Complete Book of Golf Betting Games (affiliate link), 2007, Doubleday.
