Golf Questions You're Afraid To Ask: Where Did Mulligans Originate?

In golf there are no (legal) do-overs, but that doesn’t stop many golfers from taking them anyway.

We speak, of course, of that most curious of golfing customs: the mulligan.

But where did the mulligan originate? And how did it get its name? There are many theories, but two seem more credible than the rest.

Let’s start with a definition. In his book The Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms: From 1500 to the Present, Peter Davies wrote, “Mulligan n. [Origin obscure.] Permission by a player (forbidden under the rules) to an opponent to replay a misplayed shot, especially a tee-shot.”

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Yes, we kind of already knew that, but it’s nice to have it spelled out with authority. What Davies doesn’t provide is the term’s origin. And all the plain old dictionary offers is, “early 20th century: apparently from the surname Mulligan.”

But which Mulligan?!

Enter two golfers, David and Buddy, whose tales played out at courses separated by 370 miles: one in Montreal, the other in Essex Fells, N.J.

We begin in the Great White North. Our protagonist is one David Bernard Mulligan, who back in the 1920s often frequented St. Lambert Country Club, in Montreal. David Mulligan was a part owner of the famed Biltmore Hotel in New York City, along with some other hotels in Canada. There are a few versions of the David Mulligan origin story.

Mr. Mulligan had a regular foursome with whom he played. One morning, after a terrible drive off the 1st tee, he instinctively placed down another ball and whacked it again. Simple enough, something you might do any time you play and not think twice about. But to this group, the re-do was a stunning moment.

In 1985, Mulligan told journalist Don Mackintosh, “I was so provoked with myself that, on impulse, I stooped over and put down another ball. The other three looked at me with considerable puzzlement, and one of them asked, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I’m taking a correction shot,’ I replied.

“Thinking fast, I told him that I called it a ‘Mulligan.’ They laughed and let me play a second ball. After the match, which Mulligan and Spindler won by one point, there was considerable discussion in the clubhouse about that free shot.

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“It all worked out amicably enough, but after that it became an unwritten rule in our foursome that you could take an extra shot on the 1st tee if you weren’t satisfied with your original. Naturally, this was always referred to as ‘taking a Mulligan.’ From that beginning, I guess the practice spread, and the name with it.”

How and why Mulligan felt compelled to take a do-over is unclear. There are two variations on this story. One is that he was late arriving and in such a rush that he was too rattled to hit a proper tee shot. He calmed himself down and took a second swipe.