Grandma’s Stories

In golf, a mulligan happens when a player gets a second chance to perform a specific move or action. The day offers an opportunity for giving yourself a second chance or, as some people call it, a “do-over.”   

According to the United States Golf Association (USGA), three different stories explain the origin of the term. The first derives from the name of a Canadian golfer, David Mulligan, a one-time manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City, who played golf in the 1920s. A different, later, etymology gives credit to John A. “Buddy” Mulligan, a locker room attendant at Essex Fells C.C., New Jersey, in the 1930s. Another story, according to author Henry Beard, states that the term comes from Thomas Mulligan, a minor Anglo-Irish aristocrat and a passionate golfer who was born in 1793.

According to the United States Golf Association (USGA), the term first achieved widespread use in the 1940s.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalMulliganDay

We can all think of something that at one point in time, we have said, “I wish I could do that over.”  Celebrate the day by taking your do-over. Also, be considerate and offer a Mulligan to a few friends and neighbors out there. Some days we all deserve it. Use #NationalMulliganDay to post on social media.

NATIONAL MULLIGAN DAY HISTORY

C. Daniel Rhodes of Hoover, AL, National Mulligan Day as a way to give everyone a day to have a fresh start.  Along with Mulligan Day, Rhodes created Brother’s Day (May 24) and National Garage Sale Day (Second Saturday in August).