The Replay Golf Format Explained

There are several formats in golf in which a golfer gets to replay a limited number of strokes per round, formats with names such as Mulligans, Play It Again Sam, and Criers and Whiners. Some of those formats are also known as Replay. But that's not the Replay format we are talking about here. In this Replay, your opponent gets to make you replay strokes.

The difference between these two types of games is obvious. In the first, a golfer choose his own shots to replay, so obviously replays his poor strokes. But in the Replay format we are writing about here, you have to do-over a handful your great shots because your opponent is in control of your replays. And, of course, you are forcing your opponent to hit it again when he pulls off a great shot.

There are two big questions to settle before playing Replay:

1. How many replays does each golfer get to use against her opponent(s)? Golfers of similar abilities can agree to use the same number, and, traditionally, that has been four. But you and your opponent(s) can negotiate any number. Smaller is better for the sake of pace of play. The more replays each golfer can call on her opponent(s), the longer the game is going to take, the more aware you must be to avoid holding up anyone playing behind your group.

2. Can you use one of your replays to make an opponent re-do a putt? Many groups that play Replay do make putts subject to replays. Did your opponent just roll in a 40-footer? Make him putt that again. But many other groups prefer to exempt putts from being recalled by an opponent.

Replay is a game best-suited for golfers of similar abilities. And, again, you'll want to keep the number of replays each golfer gets to use against her opponents to a lower number in the interest of time — and to prevent every good shot someone plays from being canceled by a call to replay it.

To force an opponent to replay a stroke, you must say so immediately after they hit. No walking ahead to determine the position of their ball. They play the stroke, you watch the shot, you immediately say, "replay" to make them hit again. Otherwise, their stroke stands.

Compare this version of Replay with the game called Mulligan/Recall.

Sources:
Golfdom. "Revise Events Program to Increase Members' Play," February 1946.