Inland Northwest Golf 2023: The do’s and don’ts of mulligan management

Today we need to discuss the most important skill in all of golf: mulligan management.

What? You’re going to complain that mulligans have no place in golf? That mulligans are simply a way of cheating?

I’m sorry. You are wrong. Mulligans make golf more enjoyable. I will concede that mulligans have no place in tournaments. Taking a mulligan in a tournament is illegal and grounds for …

Oh, wait. I just saw a downtown billboard for a local tournament with the motto “Cheating for Charity!” That’s right, in this tournament, you are encouraged to buy mulligans for $25 each, which is perfectly ethical because all of the money goes to charity. No one is under the delusion that this is a true competitive tournament. In fact, you can buy a “Cheat Package” for $250, which includes multiple mulligans.

So, I guess mulligans are not illegal in every tournament.

Anyway, how often are you playing in a competitive tournament? Aren’t you playing with your friends for fun, most of the time? And mulligans – I submit to the court – make golf more fun. There is no harm in a mulligan or two, even if you are competing with your friends for money, as long as everybody gets the same number of mulligans.

These thoughts occurred to me the other day on a recent visit to Circling Raven. At the first tee, in my capacity as my foursome’s self-declared Golf Commissioner, I announced that everyone in our foursome was entitled to one mulligan per nine. My playing partners were not complaining – not at all – but they did have one question: Why?

“Because I thought we should try to have fun today,” I said. “We should at least try, at these prices.”

As the day went on, we all realized it did make the game more fun, or at least it reduced the amount of time we spent complaining about our rotten luck. It also introduced an entirely new level of strategy for the game.

Which brings us back to the art of mulligan management. We all realized that we had to use our mulligans correctly if we wanted them to bring best value.

Here are a few of the guidelines we came up with:

Don’t use your mulligan impulsively: Top a drive 100 yards and you will be sorely tempted to angrily tee up another ball. This is probably a mistake, for two reasons. First, you have actually advanced the ball 100 yards. Many of your bad shots, yet to come, will hurt you worse than that. Second, there is no guarantee that you won’t top your mulligan 75 yards – and into the water.

Don’t waste your mulligan on a putt, unless it was a an epically bad putt: See if you can detect why it was wrong for me to declare, “Mulligan!” after missing a 10-foot birdie putt by a half-inch – a half-inch!

Any guesses, class?

Yes, you are correct. I missed the mulligan putt by 3 feet, thus throwing away a mulligan without saving even one stroke. Sorry, I meant, it actually cost me a stroke. Yes, I missed the 3-footer, too.

There are some exceptions, for those of us who are particularly atrocious putters. When you overhit a putt so badly that it rolls off the green and into the woods, it might be worth a mulligan.

This leads us to the No. 1 rule of mulligan management:

Use your mulligan without hesitation when it is likely to save two strokes. A drive out of bounds is the classic, and best, use of a mulligan. Standing on the tee hitting your first stroke is far superior to standing on the tee, hitting your third.

This applies not just to out-of-bounds drives, but any out-of-bounds shot. Use it on an out-of-bounds chip shot, too, if you can somehow pull off that awesome feat.

There’s also a corollary to the above rule:

Consider using your mulligan when your first bad shot is likely to lead to an equally horrendous second shot: These kinds of shots are all too common. One example: hitting into a sand trap and giving yourself a fried egg. Another example: Hitting it into dense woods, with no clear window for getting out. A third example: Hitting it into a passing beverage cart.

Which leads to the No. 2 rule of mulligan management:

Never use it unless it is absolutely certain to save at least one stroke: This rule is simple common sense, but you’d be surprised at how many people ignore it in the heat of battle. See if you can detect the flawed logic of the 21-handicapper who comes up short on a 190-yard par-3 and throws down another ball and says, “Mulligan.”

Correct. He assumed falsely that he has any chance of hitting that green.

Now, let’s not go mulligan-mad. I am not here to advocate mulligan chaos, mulligan anarchy. The following guidelines will keep your mulligan game within reason:

The mulligan policy must be announced on the first tee: On No. 16, you can’t suddenly declare that everyone gets a mulligan – just because your drive dented the siding of a house.

You cannot have more than one or two mulligans per round. Otherwise, everybody will be throwing down a second ball on every bad shot, which is really not a game of golf at all, but something called “practice.” This just slows the round down and causes you to search not just for one errant tee shot, but four errant tee shots.

I know it sounds strict to limit your number of mulligans, but here’s something that should take the sting out:

The Breakfast Ball: This is the common term for a do-over on the first tee. No, it does not count against your mulligans.

The Breakfast Ball is an ingrained golf tradition, separate from the common mulligan, and you always get one even if teeing off at lunchtime, brunchtime, dinnertime and even teatime (not to be confused with tee time). The Breakfast Ball serves a crucial purpose in golf culture, because it causes mediocre golfers to become much more relaxed on what is otherwise the most stressful shot of the day. Most of the time, they are so relaxed they do the unthinkable and hit a perfectly good drive.

But to answer your question: No, you can’t save your Breakfast Ball for later. That’s what your mulligan is for. Use it wisely.