What Is a Mulligan in the Game of Golf?

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm PGA member Jay Golden, talking about Mulligans. A Mulligan is hitting a second shot. It's not legal in tournaments, but, sometimes at golf outings you could by Mulligans and other times when you play you could take a Mulligan. Basically what it is, if you're not satisfied with your shot, I'm going to take a mulligan. So, you take another shot, and you hit it. It started hundreds of years ago, as the story goes, a man whose last name was Mulligan, had a wagon and horse, and he would ride to the golf course with his wagon and horse, and the other three golfers would be in the back of the wagon, and he would be the driver. And he would be bouncing around the most, and doing the most work, so on the first tee they gave him a second shot. An that, his name was Mulligan, so it was called a Mulligan. Now, certainly it's not allowed in tournament golf, except in friendly golf outings, and sometimes as a fund raiser, they'll sell Mulligans. They'll say, "It's ten dollars for every Mulligan that you buy." And they'll give you a little ticket for a Mulligan. So if you buy five Mulligans, an extra fifty dollars goes to the charity and you could hit five extra golf shots, to try to improve your score. It's just a fun thing. But certainly it's not allowed in any serious golf. I think it's a good way to play golf, Mulligans. To have a little more fun on the course. In fact, sometimes people will frequently hit a second shot. "Oh I'm going to hit a second one." As long as you don't hold up play too much, and as long as the people with you are going to do the same and play along. In fact, there are some people that will take even more than one Mulligan. And I even made up a little song about people who want to take Mulligan after Mulligan. And you'll play some of your best, happiest golf. And I call it, "Hit til you're happy." "Hit til you're happy, come on everyone, hit til you're happy, hit, hit, hit, hit til you're happy, happy, happy, happy, hit til you're happy. I don't know if the people behind you are going to be happy, but, you're going to get a great score. And that's a Mulligan. And if you want hit til you're happy."