Getting rid of mulligans

[mapa94]

go ahead and take the mulligan if you want, but play by the rules of golf. That says if you flubbed your second shot, your "mulligan" is now 4 after taking the stroke-and-distance for what you're calling an unplayable lie. It doesn't take long to realize that unless your shot was really truly awful, you'll score better trying to recover a poor shot than to play a legal mulligan.

This is good advice. If you don't want to play a poor drive go ahead and take the stroke and distance penalty and tee it up again. If you want to play golf you should play by the rules otherwise your "score" is meaningless.

[SteelDriver]

May be true for you.... never was for me. I've never been a fan of mulligans, even when I was a raw novice at the game. I think you learn faster when you do your practicing in the practice area where you aren't holding up others who are really trying to play golf. When each swing actually counts for something, I focus more and try that much harder to execute it properly. When I get a "do over" then the first shot just doesn't mean as much, so I tend to not concentrate as hard.

IMO...I will do whatever the heck i feel like doing out there when I dropped good money to spend a day out on the course.

For me, it never took any time at all to drop another ball and work out a better shot for practice. When you're new, you dont know how to execute properly and the course poses more obsticles than a range will.... I used to get my moneys worth back when I was starting out. Dropped 12 to 15 strokes faster than anything else. Also, i bet you'll find most tour pros play a course to improve vs a range....just sayin.

[Fourputt]

IMO...I will do whatever the heck i feel like doing out there when I dropped good money to spend a day out on the course.

And I'll bet the players following you had a wonderful time watching and waiting on you. Read my entire post... I said it's ok when you aren't holding up other golfers. But I've been stuck behind guys who think that once they pay the fees they can do anything they want... sorry but it doesn't work that way. You still have to respect that the other players on the course paid

their fees to play golf, not to watch some beginner hack 3 or 4 balls on every shot, then chase them all over the course before deciding which one he's going to play. And the 2 most important aspects of the game CAN be practiced off the course. Driving and short game. Most places the short game can be worked on for as long as you like without ever paying a dime... and that is how I went from an 18 to an 11 almost overnight. I lived in the chipping area for several weeks... I have 3 courses within 20 minutes of my house with good short game practice areas. I spent an hour chipping before every tournament. I also played a local par 3 course for iron practice... over and over when I could get out there on a weekday morning and avoid the crowds. But when I went out to play the 18 hole course, it was to play golf. I still consider that practice if I'm not scoring for any particular reason, but I make it as real as possible. No mulligans, and I never held up the other players on the course.

[Elvisliveson]

But when I went out to play the 18 hole course, it was to play golf. I still consider that practice if I'm not scoring for any particular reason, but I make it as real as possible. No mulligans, and I never held up the other players on the course.

Exactly right. Too many people think that just because they paid green fees, they can turn the course into their private practice facility.

As Natalie Gulbis says in the SkyCaddie commercial , "you don't go to the course to work at golf, you go to play golf and have fun!".

[wachesawgolfer]

And I bet these folks do not take mulligans on the short game where the game is won or lost. Replaying long shots on the course is really useless unless you are alone out there and then nobody cares. The pros practice on a course for distances and strategy, not to simply rehit a poor five iron shot. Use the long clubs simply to advance the ball as a general rule and then practice the short game at the range for the quickest improvement. Learn to get near a green in reg and then knock the next one close and sink the putt. Not much to this game.

[Fat Slice]

If there really is nobody behind me waiting, I might hit a second ball from a really strange lie, like THICK rough, or a steep slope or angle. Anything I can duplicate easily on the range I won't bother with, but for some odd shots I like to take a few whacks at them, sometimes with different clubs. Once again, this is when I am SURE it won't slow down (or even irritate) anyone. My rule is if the green is open behind me, I am good to go.

[PiKapp23]

It's funny what a difference mulligans and 'favorable lies' make in scores. The guys I play with the last few years were always using 1 mulligan per 9 'rolling' the ball on fairways and rough to give themselves better lies. One of those guys was always in low 80's (about the same as me and that guy had only been playing 2 years as opposed to me at over 20 years). I never made an issue of it because I wanted them to have fun, but this year I brought it up and they all agreed to play 'by the rules'. It's amazing how many bad lies you get when doing this (ball in divots, bad spots in rough, etc.) Suddenly these guys were shooting in 90's and even over 100 on occasion. Now (about 7 or 8 months later), they have gotten into it and have found scores coming back down and are having more fun with the game and are improving their all-around games.

The point of this is that mulligans and favorable lies are fine (maybe even good) when you're learning the game, but need to be eliminated once you're good enough to hit those shots with some consistency. My PGA Pro father even goes so far with new players as to have them hit shots off a tee from fairways for a while, then pick up ball and move to flat 'perfect' lies after that. He believes this is good because it teaches them to make good swings and hit good shots which helps them learn and develop confidence. Sometimes the course can hinder learning, confidence and fun with bad lies and ackward shots. As Dad always says to newbies:

Rule 1: Have Fun!
Rule 2: Know and follow the rules!

The only exception I ever use for the 'no mulligans' rule is off the first tee if the course doesn't have a range or I have been unable to warm up first.

[SteelDriver]

And I'll bet the players following you had a wonderful time watching and waiting on you. Read my entire post... I said it's ok when you aren't holding up other golfers.

you know what? I did that years ago, and I'll bet you that if I slowed anybody down, their over it by now. But you know what else? The strokes I dropped off from it are still off after all these years later.

Wow! see why i could care less back then? I dont drop balls or take milligans, but I did when i began, so Im the last one to feel the way you do when some "hack" needs an extra shot or two. The time I lose aint worth the skills that can be gained by practicing on a course vs range.

[zeg]

Sorry dude, if you're holding up the group behind you, it's rude as hell. If you're keeping up with the group ahead, or at least with the pace (for the number of players in your group) and being reasonably efficient, that's fine with me.

Otherwise, it doesn't matter if it improves your game or not. You paid to play a round of golf, so you ought to play something very similar to that. I'm sure it'd probably improve your game faster if you played the course 3 times in a row on a single green's fee, BUT THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU PAID FOR.

Anyway, all that said, notice that no one said it's wrong to play a second shot here and there (or a second ball if it's ok with the course management). It's wrong to fall behind pace in the name of practice when you paid to play a round.

[Fourputt]

Sorry dude, if you're holding up the group behind you, it's rude as hell. If you're keeping up with the group ahead, or at least with the pace (for the number of players in your group) and being reasonably efficient, that's fine with me.

Yup... that about the size of it. Good post.

[SteelDriver]

Sorry dude, if you're holding up the group behind you, it's rude as hell. If you're keeping up with the group ahead, or at least with the pace (for the number of players in your group) and being reasonably efficient, that's fine with me.

uhhh no! thats stealing. If i dropped a ball or two in the past to better my game, that has NOTHING to do with dishonesty or stealing. not the same.

[zeg]

Read the next paragraph after your highlight. I already said that there's no problem dropping a ball here and there, and no one is saying there is. We're complaining about people playing in such a way that they take a substantial extra amount of time on the course, and that's not so different.