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

[The Recreational Golfer]

Look. On some of the hole at this year's Open you had to carry 260-270 just to reach the fairway. No amount of mulligans would make up for my not being able to do that.

[Aflighter]

I think you guys are over thinking it.You can just accept a few bogeys if its pretty impossible to par because you will make up for it by making more birdies with your mulligans.You didn't say you had to par or better every hole.

[amished]

On 6/29/2018 at 5:40 PM, The Recreational Golfer said:

Look. On some of the hole at this year's Open you had to carry 260-270 just to reach the fairway. No amount of mulligans would make up for my not being able to do that.

Which holes?  I don't see one that requires that type of carry.

[Patch]

After a carefull reevaluation, I wish this (∞) was enough.

[thuthu]

I am olly 4 hours. Im fail

[The Recreational Golfer]

On 7/2/2018 at 12:09 PM, amished said:

Which holes?  I don't see one that requires that type of carry.

The U.S. Open, to be clear. I don't remember which ones, but I remember saying Good Grief! to myself a few times when they showed the flyover view of the hole.

[iacas]

26 minutes ago, The Recreational Golfer said:

The U.S. Open, to be clear. I don't remember which ones, but I remember saying Good Grief! to myself a few times when they showed the flyover view of the hole.

I think he knew the U.S. Open. He was asking which holes required a carry just to reach the fairway.

There may be one or two or three, but it's not like there are an abundance.

[amished]

2 hours ago, The Recreational Golfer said:

The U.S. Open, to be clear. I don't remember which ones, but I remember saying Good Grief! to myself a few times when they showed the flyover view of the hole.

I was asking which holes.  There are definitely some long par 3s depending on tee position where you might not get to the green even with a driver depending on length, but those are the holes you'd have to chip/putt with your mulligans to par.

There were some that looked to be close to 200 yards to carry, but I would say most people here could pull that off once in a while with their mullies.

[Hardspoon]

I think most average golfers could win with unlimited mulligans.  Most people underestimate how (relatively) easy and non-tiring it would be to sink putts of any reasonable length.

[c. lassiter]

Realistically, I doubt one mulligan per hole would be adequate, so I'd say 2 per for an even 36.

Would be fun to try - my guess is 2 per hole I could shoot roughly around par.

[Piz]

If I was given 6 months, and unlimited do-overs, I think I could cobble four decent rounds together on a US Open layout.  I would have to play each hole over and over until I got par or better...and that could take a while.  

[Lihu]

On 7/4/2018 at 7:58 PM, Hardspoon said:

I think most average golfers could win with unlimited mulligans.  Most people underestimate how (relatively) easy and non-tiring it would be to sink putts of any reasonable length.

 

7 hours ago, c. lassiter said:

Realistically, I doubt one mulligan per hole would be adequate, so I'd say 2 per for an even 36.

Would be fun to try - my guess is 2 per hole I could shoot roughly around par.

You might be right. The average golfer might be able to do it? 14 handicap isn’t a slouch.

I didn’t know the forced carries were that long though? 260 yards seems really long considering the average pga carry is 274?

[JonMA1]

39 minutes ago, Lihu said:

I didn’t know the forced carries were that long though? 260 yards seems really long considering the average pga carry is 274?

I know it's been asked, but can someone say which of the 18 holes requires more than 200 yards of forced carry? I don't see any. Perhaps I'm not seeing from which tee they were playing some of the holes.

[Lihu]

34 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

I know it's been asked, but can someone say which of the 18 holes requires more than 200 yards of forced carry? I don't see any. Perhaps I'm not seeing from which tee they were playing some of the holes.

There’s a few holes where if you wanted to make the fairway, but I agree that I didn’t see any where if you didn’t make it that it’s lost. Anyone not able to carry 260 some of the time would definitely need to lay up to a closer tee box then depend upon his 3W to go deep on the 2nd shot with lots of mulligans taken assuming if they were just not happy with that shot. That leaves one or two possible bogies on the 500+ yard par 4s?

[JonMA1]

33 minutes ago, Lihu said:

There’s a few holes where if you wanted to make the fairway, but I agree that I didn’t see any where if you didn’t make it that it’s lost. Anyone not able to carry 260 some of the time would definitely need to lay up to a closer tee box then depend upon his 3W to go deep on the 2nd shot with lots of mulligans taken assuming if they were just not happy with that shot. That leaves one or two possible bogies on the 500+ yard par 4s?

I agree.

I know this topic isn't about players like me, but it's a given that there would be a lot of driver-fairway par 4's. The strategy would be to keep hitting drives until I get that 1-in-10 230 yarder on the fairway. Then, keep hitting 5 wood until I hit that 1-in-10 200 yarder. Of course, if the fairways play the way they do on TV, maybe I'm getting an extra 10 or 20 from those clubs.

Anyway, if I could accomplish those two things, I'd have to keep dropping approach shots until I got one close enough to feel like a 1-putt would be possible within a few tries.

As intimidating as the distances are for a short hitter, it was watching those pros having trouble holding the greens and even putting off the greens that makes me question how likely this would be - even with unlimited mulligans. I believe there was mention of a time limit....

[Lihu]

9 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

I agree.

I know this topic isn't about players like me, but it's a given that there would be a lot of driver-fairway par 4's. The strategy would be to keep hitting drives until I get that 1-in-10 230 yarder on the fairway. Then, keep hitting 5 wood until I hit that 1-in-10 200 yarder. Of course, if the fairways play the way they do on TV, maybe I'm getting an extra 10 or 20 from those clubs.

Anyway, if I could accomplish those two things, I'd have to keep dropping approach shots until I got one close enough to feel like a 1-putt would be possible within a few tries.

As intimidating as the distances are for a short hitter, it was watching those pros having trouble holding the greens and even putting off the greens that makes me question how likely this would be - even with unlimited mulligans. I believe there was mention of a time limit....

Right, but Dave Portnoy’s game is likely better than the average golfer too.

It should be possible for him to shoot under par with lots of Mulligans...

Edited July 7, 2018 by Lihu

[Shindig]

10 minutes ago, JonMA1 said:

As intimidating as the distances are for a short hitter, it was watching those pros having trouble holding the greens and even putting off the greens that makes me question how likely this would be - even with unlimited mulligans. I believe there was mention of a time limit....

I believe on many holes we could roll a ball up to the green instead of having to land on it and stay there, especially at the angles our fairway woods hit the grass.  

[Lihu]

2 hours ago, Shindig said:

I believe on many holes we could roll a ball up to the green instead of having to land on it and stay there, especially at the angles our fairway woods hit the grass.  

I'd have to guess that many shots lost for many of us amateurs on these fast courses would be on the greens. I certainly can't drive350 yard greens like the pros, but given enough mulligans on approach shots and lots of putts it should be possible to birdie the par 3s and birdie the easier par 4s.