# Mulligan **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 15, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027 "2002-08-15T15:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rhapsody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rhapsody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhapsody)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/1 "2002-08-15T15:05:10Z")
[/QUOTE] [Original Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mmulligan.html) > [@](#): > > In the late 1920s, David Mulligan, a Canadian, played golf with a group of friends at St. Lambert Country Club, outside Montreal. The course was some distance from the city, and since he had the only automobile, Mulligan drove everyone there. The trip was over rough roads and an especially bumpy bridge at the entrance to the course. Because Mulligan’s hands at the wheel suffered the shock of the ride, he was graciously given a second try with his drive off the first tee. Hence, the “Mulligan.” This from a pretty good article about many of Golfs terms from [Golfweb.com](http://www.golfweb.com/u/ce/multi/pgatour/0,1977,4633515,00.html) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/2 "2002-08-16T00:40:49Z")
Speaking of “mysteries that may never be solved”, was the report in question by Dex (as per the Straight Dope Home Page) or by Sam (as the byline to the actual article asserts)? I’ll bet that just about every golf clup dating back to the early 20[sup]TH[/sup] century has some variant of the “David Mulligan” story floating around. When I was a kid, every summer camp I went to claimed to be the source of that “hook for a hand” story, too. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/3 "2002-08-16T01:59:14Z")
**Rhapsody**. That link to _golfweb_ which you gave actually is a well-researched piece. I started out with my back up automatically, but when you realize the guy used the OED, it helps. But his article about **mulligan** has no basis in fact that I can find. It is just another repeated proposed story. Jon Lighter(Random House Slang) can only cite it from 1949, and from the dictionary which **staff SAM** cites. I would say that anyone making another claim has to come up with a cite. I found another website [http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/golf/events/1997/pgachamp/news/1997/08/12/huber\_history/](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/golf/events/1997/pgachamp/news/1997/08/12/huber_history/) which claims it comes from > [@](#): > > In a moment of trouble, perhaps an old member of this club will come to the aid of this field. His name is David Mulligan, and yes, it was his routine reload after a bad drive in 1937 that gave weekend golfers forever a second chance. Were both David Mulligans the same person? I found another cite which added that the earlier David Mulligan was a _hotelier_ from Canada. I’ll try to email the fellow who wrote the article referring to the 1937 David Mulligan at the Wingfoot NY course. It has the right time frame, but I’ll be surprised if anything exists in print. ---
**Author:** ![Rhapsody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Rhapsody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhapsody)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/4 "2002-08-16T05:53:33Z")
here is something to consider… Syllables: maul Parts of speech: noun , transitive verb Part of Speech noun Pronunciation mawl Definition 1. a heavy hammer, sometimes with a wooden head, used to drive stakes, piles, or the like. Synonyms sledge2 , sledgehammer Similar Words mallet , hammer Part of Speech transitive verb Inflected Forms mauled, mauling, mauls Definition 1. to injure by beating, clawing, bruising, or the like. Example The child was mauled by a tiger. Crossref. Syn. savage , lather Similar Words savage , injure , attack , wound1 , mutilate , maim , claw Definition 2. to handle or treat (a person or animal) roughly. Synonyms rough up {rough (vt 2)} Similar Words manhandle , maltreat , beat up {beat (vt)} , knock around {knock (vt)} Related Words trounce , disfigure , batter Derived Forms mauler, n. and then the definition of “mulligan” AGAIN Maul-Again 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/5 "2002-08-16T06:17:59Z")
[Mulligan Golf Balls](http://www.mulliganball.com/mulligan_origin.html) have a different explanation. > [@](#): > > The DICTIONARY OF WORD AND PHRASE ORIGINS quotes Milton Gross as reporting that it originated in family-type saloons where a free bottle called a Mulligan was always on the bar. Still another legend attributes it to a political hanger-on from Boston named Mulligan. This Mulligan worked for a popular politician and had the pleasant duty of handing out largesse. He gave hams and an occasional brisket of beef to the placard-carrying workers at the polling places, balls, bats and water buckets to local athletic teams, patronage jobs to loyal and hardworking supporters, and of course floral wreaths to departed voters. > > On retiring, he moved progressively south, first to the Massachusetts Irish Riviera and then to the Cape Cod town of Pocasset where he joined a beautiful golf club of the same name. Apparently, old habits die hard, and he continued his giving way by tossing a ball to any of his partners who dumped their tee shots, accompanying the gesture with the words “Have a Mulligan”. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/6 "2002-08-16T12:44:50Z")
The report is by SDStaff Sam, the credit to me on the front page was a goof because I help with the administration and some editing of Staff Reports, so my name got stuck on the report duing the editing process. We’ll fix the typo. I don’t do golf, it’s a capitalist activity exploiting the masses, and I’m gonna organize some Indians to throw the tees in Boston harbor in protest. Sam doesn’t do the Message Boards, he’s a big business typhoon who usually helps research for Cecil behind the scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Paint\_The\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e9a140/32.png) [@Paint\_The\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paint_The_Cat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2002, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/7 "2002-08-17T00:38:29Z")
I have heard the term used in cards as well as golf. ---
**Author:** ![Coil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Coil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coil)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/8 "2002-08-20T10:25:34Z")
In Sweden mulligans are referred to as _Pilsner boll_, that´s beer ball in english. Anyone taking a mulligan/beer ball is supposed to buy a drink for his fellow players after the round. ---
**Author:** ![SDFMacross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@SDFMacross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDFMacross)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/9 "2002-08-21T07:00:21Z")
I had heard the term “Mulligan” in referance to the game Magic: The Gathering. Basically, if you had a lousy starting hand (for those who know what I’m talking about, usually this means you can’t put out a “land” your first turn) the Mulligan rules allow you to recirculate your cards and draw a new starting hand, but with one card less than a standard opening hand. You can do this as many times as you want until you get down to only one card. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mulligan/124027/10 "2002-08-22T21:14:39Z")
Of course, by the time that Magic: the Gathering was being played (and by the time that “no-land mulligan” caught on, which was even later), the term “mulligan” was already well-established in the golf world, and the use in Magic was clearly derived from that. By the way, the “official” version of the no-land mulligan in the optional rules is that when you take a mulligan your opponent also has the option to do so, regardless of what his hand is, and you can do it only once. I think that you might also forfeit your turn, if you were to go first.