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Am I overreacting to this situation or am I in the wrong?

Papatortuga

Papatortuga

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The last 2 rounds I've played with a friend something has come up that just keeps on bugging me. Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

As a beginner golfer I'm all for mulligans. They are my best friend on the course haha. But, the other round my friend proceeds to miss his par putt, pick up his ball and say he's taking a mulligan. He immediately starts raising his voice that I've taken some mulligans throughout the round so he was going to. My mulligans consisted of OB tee shots and nothing within 100 yards probably and he helped himself to several thoughout the round too. Unfortunately, he "made the par putt" and then proceeded to brag that he "broke 100". I instantly brought up his mulligan on the green and he's saying he rushed the putt because the random single who joined us was hitting out of the bunker? The random never even swung the club in the bunker and just picked up his ball btw. I let him know anyways that if I ever heard him brag about our round that I was instantly going to call him out on it. He wasn't too happy.

Fast forward to yesterday and I play with my friend and his roommate that we play with frequently as well. We always take jabs at each other and talk smack, so I bring up how egregious his mulligan was the previous round a few times to mess with him. So, on a par 3 he ends up in the bunker on his second shot. He proceeds to hit the ball poorly and the ball ends up a foot to the right after rolling around. He goes ahead, picks up his ball, and says he's taking a mulligan because his club hit sand during his backstroke! I let it go in the moment, but after the hole he tries to say he scored a bogey for our scorecard. I lost it. Especially since when he got out of the bunker on his second shot he sailed it over the green, chipped it, then 2 putted. I called him out we "settled" on a 6.

I'll always be the first person to tell someone to take a mulligan, but never in a bunker and especially not on the green. Atrocious and egregious were my most commonly used words after that happened.

So, am I being ridiculous or do I have a point here? Sorry for the rant.
 
I mean Mulligans are Mulligans.

He seems a little more dick about it but I had similar experience with one of my good buddies.

The idea is to get better that you don't need those Mulligans anymore. That way you know exactly how you score and he will sit there still complaining while you're having a lot more fun, scoring better and not giving him an excuse to blame you.


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Well it sounds like you guys have entered into the "golf twilight zone" for lack of a better word. This is the zone where players take Mulligans yet still try to compete and still keep a score for some unknown reason. Technically your Mulligan on an OB tee ball is shaving off two strokes, and his mulligan on a putt or bunker shot is shaving 1. To answer your question I'd say yes, you're overreacting.

My advice to you guys if you want it? Just start playing by the rules and counting every shot. There's no reason not to other than ego is there? Once you guys start doing this you can compete, you can brag, and you can quit worrying about what the other guy is doing or not doing.
 
More power to anyone who wants to take mulligans. But to take them and think there's any legitimacy to a score is just silly.

It's like getting fanned on three straight pitches, calling for another chance, hitting the ball out of the park and calling it a homerun.

It's not.

For the purposes of your competition, make some rules. Some say a gimme must be within the leather, set a maximum distance from the green for a mulligan.

Something other than a greenside bunker or the darn green, I'd think.
 
ArmyGolf said:
Well it sounds like you guys have entered into the "golf twilight zone" for lack of a better word. This is the zone where players take Mulligans yet still try to compete and still keep a score for some unknown reason. Technically your Mulligan on an OB tee ball is shaving off two strokes, and his mulligan on a putt or bunker shot is shaving 1. To answer your question I'd say yes, you're overreacting.

My advice to you guys if you want it? Just start playing by the rules and counting every shot. There's no reason not to other than ego is there? Once you guys start doing this you can compete, you can brag, and you can quit worrying about what the other guy is doing or not doing.
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Lol! I like the term "golf twilight zone". I have a good friend and neighbor who takes lots of strokes off his round in the way of mulligans or liberal drops and then competes for score. He will actually brag that he shot an "84" when anyone in the group knows it was actually 6-10 strokes higher than that. Last year he got mad at me because I gave my buddy who is a great putter, a 2-foot straight uphill putt but I wouldn't give him a putt that was a super fast 3-foot sidehill putt that had a foot of break.

IMO it makes no sense to keep track of your score at all if you aren't playing by the rules. If you insist on not playing by the rules, at least have a set of agreed-upon rules such as "1 mulligan per round" or good inside the leather. You'll never know your handicap is if you don't follow all the rules but at least you'll be able to avoid conflict with you buddies if everyone is playing by the same modified rules.

And yes, you are overreacting.
 
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ArmyGolf said:
Well it sounds like you guys have entered into the "golf twilight zone" for lack of a better word. This is the zone where players take Mulligans yet still try to compete and still keep a score for some unknown reason. Technically your Mulligan on an OB tee ball is shaving off two strokes, and his mulligan on a putt or bunker shot is shaving 1. To answer your question I'd say yes, you're overreacting.

My advice to you guys if you want it? Just start playing by the rules and counting every shot. There's no reason not to other than ego is there? Once you guys start doing this you can compete, you can brag, and you can quit worrying about what the other guy is doing or not doing.
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I agree completely with this answer!
 
As others have said: stop taking mulligans or stop keeping score. You can't legitimately do both, simultaneously.

If your group insists on still playing mulligans, set parameters before your round so there's no whining about when/where they can be taken. Limit mulligans to shots off the tee box (I've never heard of a mulligan used anywhere else anyway, to be honest) and a max of one per side if he wants to "compete". Also, (because I can be a stickler for the rules of the game) let your friend know that when he "hit sand" on his back stroke out of the bunker, that's no gimme. It's a stroke penalty for grounding his club in a hazard.
 
I think you are perfectly in the right. I’m all for mulligans, it don’t brag for breaking a mark when you know full well it is not true.


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skinsscalper said:
As others have said: stop taking mulligans or stop keeping score. You can't legitimately do both, simultaneously.

If your group insists on still playing mulligans, set parameters before your round so there's no whining about when/where they can be taken. Limit mulligans to shots off the tee box (I've never heard of a mulligan used anywhere else anyway, to be honest) and a max of one per side if he wants to "compete". Also, (because I can be a stickler for the rules of the game) let your friend know that when he "hit sand" on his back stroke out of the bunker, that's no gimme. It's a stroke penalty for grounding his club in a hazard.
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Two strokes, actually.
 
I love seeing a discussion about rules for something that isn't a real rule. :)

Not that I am against an occasional mulligan or breakfast ball. But I love seeing this thread!
 
Quit relying on so many mulligans or just quit keeping score -- limit yourself to one mulligan per round, if any.
 
I've never played with Mulligan's but it sounds like you both are fudging yourselves and i wouldn't think I've Mulligan is better than another one after all it's a free stroke right or doover ?

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I never worry about my playing partners score so if he wants to think he broke 100, let him. I'd just worry about your own game. If there's money on the line then that's a different story....and the reason i very, very rarely place wagers on the course. It instantly sucks the fun out of what should just be an enjoyable afternoon because eevryone is too busy trying to catch one another breaking rules or scoring wrong. That's not how I play the game.
 
A mulligan is a mulligan so you’re definitely overreacting. Play it as it lies, give everyone one mulligan or none per 18 and now you can compete and earn bragging rights.
 
Papatortuga said:
The last 2 rounds I've played with a friend something has come up that just keeps on bugging me. Any thoughts/comments are appreciated.

As a beginner golfer I'm all for mulligans. They are my best friend on the course haha. But, the other round my friend proceeds to miss his par putt, pick up his ball and say he's taking a mulligan. He immediately starts raising his voice that I've taken some mulligans throughout the round so he was going to. My mulligans consisted of OB tee shots and nothing within 100 yards probably and he helped himself to several thoughout the round too. Unfortunately, he "made the par putt" and then proceeded to brag that he "broke 100". I instantly brought up his mulligan on the green and he's saying he rushed the putt because the random single who joined us was hitting out of the bunker? The random never even swung the club in the bunker and just picked up his ball btw. I let him know anyways that if I ever heard him brag about our round that I was instantly going to call him out on it. He wasn't too happy.

Fast forward to yesterday and I play with my friend and his roommate that we play with frequently as well. We always take jabs at each other and talk smack, so I bring up how egregious his mulligan was the previous round a few times to mess with him. So, on a par 3 he ends up in the bunker on his second shot. He proceeds to hit the ball poorly and the ball ends up a foot to the right after rolling around. He goes ahead, picks up his ball, and says he's taking a mulligan because his club hit sand during his backstroke! I let it go in the moment, but after the hole he tries to say he scored a bogey for our scorecard. I lost it. Especially since when he got out of the bunker on his second shot he sailed it over the green, chipped it, then 2 putted. I called him out we "settled" on a 6.

I'll always be the first person to tell someone to take a mulligan, but never in a bunker and especially not on the green. Atrocious and egregious were my most commonly used words after that happened.

So, am I being ridiculous or do I have a point here? Sorry for the rant.
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Here's my approach to this. I play how I want and let others play how they want. No skin off my back. If the person is a friend, I don't want to do anything to ruin the friendship.
 
If you actually want to keep score and improve, scrap mulligans altogether.

If you do insist on playing with mulligans, one per person, per round is what I would suggest.

This may sound a bit deep but golf is a lot like life, you make mistakes and you learn from them - you don't get do-overs in the real world.
 
wadesworld said:
Two strokes, actually.
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I told myself this was a great thread for my buddy Wade. Were your eyes bleeding reading about mulligans and grounding clubs in the hazard?


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I have a friend who topped one off the tee on a par 3, took a mulligan and skulled it. It rolled into the hole. To this day, he still claims it as a hole in one and is still mad at us for saying it isn’t.

Admittedly, we played two off the first, if you needed it, but that was it. This wasn’t the first hole.
 
either you count all the strokes or you don't what good does it do to give a fake score?

some oof my friends are picking up golf and hit a lot of bad shots, they do not keep score and will sometimes pick their balls and drop them near my drives, just to keep up the pace, but they do not keep scores, they are just there to have fun. the do remember however if they do a (real) par or bogey
 
Parrot said:
I have a friend who topped one off the tee on a par 3, took a mulligan and skulled it. It rolled into the hole. To this day, he still claims it as a hole in one and is still mad at us for saying it isn’t.

Admittedly, we played two off the first, if you needed it, but that was it. This wasn’t the first hole.
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that's one hell of a way to save par
 
MPlefty said:
that's one hell of a way to save par
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Haha, true - that's still a hell of a story even if not a hole-in-one, and you'd have something in common with Freddie Couples.
 
Oh, and re: Mulligans, I will say that some of my best rounds have been after disasters on the first hole. I'd rather play everything out, because you never know!
 
ArmyGolf said:
Well it sounds like you guys have entered into the "golf twilight zone" for lack of a better word. This is the zone where players take Mulligans yet still try to compete and still keep a score for some unknown reason. Technically your Mulligan on an OB tee ball is shaving off two strokes, and his mulligan on a putt or bunker shot is shaving 1. To answer your question I'd say yes, you're overreacting.

My advice to you guys if you want it? Just start playing by the rules and counting every shot. There's no reason not to other than ego is there? Once you guys start doing this you can compete, you can brag, and you can quit worrying about what the other guy is doing or not doing.
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This 110%. Need not expand any further.
 
I'm with the others here on pretty much all of it. No way to know where you stand or improve with mulligans. No reason to worry much about what he's doing if you aren't competing. If you are, it's one thing if everyone is on board with a breakfast ball off one etc... but you can't really play for a beer, buck, or bragging rights the way you guys are doing it. The lines are too blurry. Best is to count everything, play real golf. I'm OK, if pace allows, that golfers (especially new golfers) hit an extra ball here or there for practice or to learn something etc... I still do that too, but I count/play in my first one.
 
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