Mulligan (golf)

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The term mulligan is used in golf for an unofficial agreement whereby a golfer is allowed to repeat a failed shot without penalty. The regulation is not part of the official golf rules and only applies to private golf rounds. The regulation is particularly widespread among amateur golfers from English-speaking countries and is increasingly being used by golfers from other countries.

application

Whether and how the regulation is applied is decided by the playing partners in a round of golf (" flight ") either before or during a game. If the players agree on the application, a player may repeat a stroke if he believes the attempt has failed. This can be the case if, for example, the ball has landed out of bounds or in the rough. How often a player can repeat a failed stroke is determined differently by players around the world. Often there is no limit here.

Origin and Distribution

When and how the regulation came about is controversial. A frequently cited variant goes back to David Mulligan, a hotel manager from New York with Canadian citizenship who is said to have repeated a failed shot several times during a round with friends on a golf course near Montreal in the 1920s. Another theory relates to John A. "Buddy" Mulligan, who is said to have done something similar on the Essex Fells Country Club golf course in New Jersey in the 1930s. The version by John Mulligan found widespread use in the United States after it was reported on the television program "Today Show" in 2005.

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