How Many Mulligans Would You Need To Win The US Open?

[nevets88]

Wonder how many boxes of balls he's bringing.

[NJpatbee]

For me it would be an impossibility.  A solid drive for me is 220 and a mulligan is not going to make a difference.  With unlimited mulligans I believe I could break 95 at Shinnecock set up for the US Open.

[saevel25]

Tough to say... I am not sure what I would shoot on a US Open course. I would say 50 mulligans. Just guess :)

 

[amished]

How many mulligans is 10 per shot?  A friend of mine made it to the second stage of US Open qualifying and I'm not sure if I could score like he does if I had unlimited mulligans.  In all reality, I probably could get close to even par with unlimited mulligans, but I don't know if I could complete it in 5 hours.

[DeadMan]

I played Pinehurst #2 from the furthest back tees they had (which were still about 800 yards up from the US Open tees) and shot a 95. And I drove the ball fairly well that day. To shoot 4 under the US Open tees, on a good day, I would need somewhere between 30-60 mulligans.

[allenc]

I think with 5 1/4 hours, unlimited mulligans, and a golf cart I shoot -4 easily.  I’m a decent putter and that’s enough time to make everything inside 20 feet, for one thing.  No real idea how many mulligans I’d use though.

[iacas]

13 minutes ago, allenc said:

I think with 5 1/4 hours, unlimited mulligans, and a golf cart I shoot -4 easily.  I’m a decent putter and that’s enough time to make everything inside 20 feet, for one thing.  No real idea how many mulligans I’d use though.

People consistently under-rate their ability to hit a chip shot close and to make a putt.

Shooting -4 means you need some birdies, but just hit the green on a few of the par threes, get close enough to scramble on the par fours, don't be a moron (i.e. and take an impossible up-and-down and then stay there hitting that shot for 20 minutes), and most decent golfers could shoot -4 with a cart in 5:15.

[Carl3]

16 minutes ago, iacas said:

Shooting -4 means you need some birdies

Yes, every putt within 20 some feet could be made if you dropped 4 or 5 balls down and made incremental adjustments based on the previous roll.

[rehmwa]

So with every single shot just treat like a driving range until you get the one you want......

sure - even in 5-1/2 hours

(that would be the day I get the shanks)

[dbuck]

Uh, unlimited would not be enough for me.

[Friz]

this doesn't actually seem that difficult if unlimited mulligans is the only requirement.  the 5 hour time limit changes everything, but his original statement makes this absurdly easy if it was actually unlimited mulligans without a time limit.  Disclaimer - I don't know the golf course that well, so if there is something like a 280 yard carry required at any point that would take me out.  But otherwise:

-Hit drives until you're in the fairway

-Hit approaches until you hit the green

-Putt 20-30 times if you need to until it goes in

 

Even on long par 4's if I can't reach the green, just get on in 3 and sink a putt and you're not falling behind.  No reason you should have more than 18 putts on your scorecard in this format. 

[Shorty]

13 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

If it was Tony Romo, I'd say he could shoot 66 in his sleep and probably wouldn't need a ton on mulligans to do so, maybe 1 per hole.

This guy, Dave Portnoy, I'm not sure about. I think he runs out of time before he gets through the round. If he was a decent stick, maybe. But I will tell you right now, Dave could be on the 2nd hole for a while if looking for a GIR on every hole.

If it was Tony Romo one mulligan per hole might mean he'd have a great chance to break 80.

For the majority, they couldn't hit the par 4s in 2 no matter how many mulligans they had. Which means that with unlimited mulligans they'd be having to hole out for birdies. Otherwise, 3 mulligans per hole would probably mean getting on the par fours for three and one putting for par after several tries.

Edited May 21, 2018 by Shorty

[mdl]

I'm pretty sure I could shoot -4 at the US Open with unlimited mulligans.  The five hour limit is a bit of an issue, but if four different people can play a round in 4 hours without hustling at all, it should be pretty easy to average 5+ balls per shot time wise.  Fatigue could be an issue for some then, but I'm pretty sure I'm in good enough shape that it wouldn't kill me when I'm still getting 5+ retries for every shot on 17 and 18!

Of course, I hit it pretty far for an amateur, so driver-2h can get me on the green for even the epic 500+ yard par 4s.

Bonus Question:

If you think you could do it with unlimited mulligans, what's the minimum number of mulligans you think you'd need to shoot -4?

[hillis11]

He's 2 under through 13 holes. He started on #3 

[Wally Fairway]

6 hours ago, iacas said:

People consistently under-rate their ability to hit a chip shot close and to make a putt.

Shooting -4 means you need some birdies, but just hit the green on a few of the par threes, get close enough to scramble on the par fours, don't be a moron (i.e. and take an impossible up-and-down and then stay there hitting that shot for 20 minutes), and most decent golfers could shoot -4 with a cart in 5:15.

I agree with @iacas, you should be able to hit all the par 3's and all the par 5's with a relatively low number of mulligans, and make birdie putts if you are within 15-20 feet. One of the 3/s is 250+ yards, so you might have to settle for a par on that one. So you 5 holes you have to count on at making a birdie, but on US Open greens you'd better be able to control your speed, or you might be there a while trying to sink putts >20'

There are some "only" 4 par 4's over 480, so that could be a challenge - time-wise, because with unlimited mulligans and unlimited time I think I could birdie every hole if I had an entire day to play.
Just get a good strategy, and you'd have to know when to move on when you had to settle for a par on a 30' putt. In the end, unless he gets on a roll, I think that the clock will start to build up pressure and that he will not beat his goal, under the USGA time limitation.

 

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Wally Fairway
forgot to attach the scorecard

[iacas]

54 minutes ago, Shorty said:

If it was Tony Romo one mulligan per hole might mean he'd have a great chance to break 80.

Pretty sure even Ben Roethlisberger shot about 80 with no mulligans at Bethpage. Romo wouldn’t need the mulligans if he played a halfway decent round to shoot 79.

[iacas]

 

[Big C]

Looking at that scorecard, I don't see a lot of birdies for the average amateur. For me to get to -4, realistically I have to take bogey off the table on every single hole, because there just aren't a lot of scoring holes available. Hell, even the "short" par 5 is 585 yards. So basically, I have to be in a position to be on or near every single green in regulation. That means no wild drives, no deep rough and no hazards whatsoever. 

My best estimate on the tee ball mulligans is 22. One per "driver/3W" hole, and 2 per par 3.

From there, there about 7 holes where a good tee shot still yields a lengthy approach. Most of the time, I'll hit a decent shot within 2 attempts. There will probably be at least one hole where I mess up and need 4 swings to put one in play. Throw in one more for a 3rd shot into a par 5 that I'll probably mess up and that's another 12 mulligans right there.

The other 7 par 4's that will require a mid/short iron approach should be more manageable. But I will need to stick a few of them close to score. I'm going to guess 10 more mulligans. 

That's 44 mulligans for my full swing. I will probably have hit 14 greens in regulation, with 4 nGIR's. I am going to be extra careful with my chips because I cannot afford to take bogey. So I'll probably use 3 mulligans per shot until I get within 8 feet. Maybe I get lucky and stick it close on my first try once. Let's say 10 short game mulligans.

For the putting, well - it goes without saying that I cannot ever 3 putt. So again, any first putts outside of 8 feet will be replayed. Any side-hill 6 footers that I leave myself will be replayed until they are holed. My long putting shouldn't require too many mulligans (I hope). But it wouldn't shock me if I had to take 5-6 mulligans before holing a tricky mid-range putt. It's probably a light guess, but I'll say I would need 26 mulligans on the putting surface. 

That adds up to about 80 mulligans. 

Truthfully, I have no doubt that I could go 4-under and perhaps even 5 or 6 under with unlimited mulligans. I just think it would take me an awfully long time and be draining as hell by the time I finished.