From The Pro Shop
By Robert Bicknell
PGA Professional

While everyone seems to instinctively know that hitting a mulligan means another shot, usually off the first tee, the question which has perplexed golfers since the beginning of time, well maybe not that far back, but its definitely perplexed ME since the Omni Saigon Hotel opened it’s new bar called "Mulligans" and some joker asked me about it, is how the term "mulligan" came about in the first place.

I confess to ignorance and decided to take a deeper look and spare no expense in pursuit of the truth, which for me is easy as I don’t have two Dong to rub together, much less spend it on idiocy such as this…but bear with me.

According to Grahame Harris, Dong Nai’s resident Director of Golf, the term "mulligan" actually sprang from a course in Ireland which had a blind Starter and a policy of fourball matches only. It seems that a threeball group snuck by the Starter through the use of an imaginary fourth player whom they named "Mulligan". After the three players teed off, they’d say, "Alright Mulligan, your turn" and one of the players would hit an extra ball so the blind Starter wouldn’t notice anything wrong.

Now, anyone who believes that story please e-mail me because I have 1,000 hectares of prime Florida swamplands that I want to sell.

However, the Internet does credit an Irish Nobleman named Thomas Mulligan as the inventor of the Mulligan, so perhaps he was the genius who thought up the way to get around the blind starter.

Local Golf Historian, Gordon G. Simmons, says that no-one really knows where it originated, though it can probably be assumed it is associated with the proper name of a particularly inept golfer who insisted on taking a second drive, a description which fits half of the players on the planet.

Gordon also reminds us that it is something actively frowned upon by the golf authorities, certainly not permitted under the Rules, and should be discouraged wherever the game is played. He went on to say that the term appears to have been in common use since about 1950 - and exercised, principally, it should be said, in the United States.

Somehow I just knew that we’d get blamed for it…well, at least they didn’t try to hang it on Bill Clinton for a change. But if they did, it wouldn’t be a lie ‘cause the ex-prez was known to drop a mulligan or two…or three during a round.

Glenn Cassells over at Song Be Resort says that handicaps in Australia are based on tournament rounds, so most clubs have five tournaments per week. Thus, nobody ever takes a "mulligan" in Australia. Yeah, right.

Many theories abound on this subject, including one which believes that the last two syllables rhyme with "again". So "mull over it again" or "have at it again" and several clubs and several people have staked claims about the origin of the term "mulligan."

The non-European stories more widely accepted focus on a gentleman named David Mulligan who played at the St. Lambert CC in Montreal, Canada in the 192o's and hit a very long drive off the first tee into the trees and, acting on impulse, re-teed and hit again. His partners found it all amusing, and decided that the shot that Mulligan himself called a "correction shot" deserved a better named, so they called it a "mulligan."

And yet another version of the story comes from the Essex Falls CC in New Jersey USA. This story is one of the latest, and therefore tends not to be accepted. According to the Essex Fells version, the term was named after a locker room attendant at the club named John A. "Buddy" Mulligan, who worked at the club during the 1930's and was known for replaying shots, particularly on the first tee. However, the time line for this doesn't fit.

While we might never get to the bottom of this mystery, it does seem that the stories mirror the shot itself…if you don't like one, try another.

While mulligans have found their way into golfing lore, they have also found their way into the US law books as well.

In a lawsuit, a player claims that he and the others in his foursome had all taken their tee shots on the 16th hole and moved toward his golf cart to drive up the fairway. One of his group then took a second shot - a mulligan - without telling anybody. The ball veered off line and struck him in the face, breaking bones that required surgery to repair.

In their ruling, the justices said "We conclude that hitting an unannounced and unexpected mulligan from the tee after all members of the foursome have teed off creates such an unanticipated risk to the other members of the foursome, from which they cannot protect themselves, that it cannot be considered an inherent or integral part of the game."

Lastly, one more story involves a player who "purchased" a mulligan at the auction before the tournament and used it on a Par 3. As expected in stories such as this, he made a Hole-in-One which was recognised by the scoring committee.

However, the company which donated the prize refused to honour the recorded ace, claiming that mulligans are NOT accepted under the Rules of Golf.

Song Be Golf Resort will be hosting the World Cup (of Golf) on October 28.

Participating teams will represent their respective countries, but to "promote international friendship" only two players per country will be in each foursome.

A Hole-in-One prize of a trip to Spring City Golf Resort in China and $500 spending money has been sponsored by PreMed Investment Company.

Interested participants should contact the club ASAP to register.