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Mulligans in golf tournaments: selling, pricing, and house rules

A mulligan in a golf tournament is a do-over: buy one, and you can replay a bad shot with no penalty. Charity events have turned that little act of mercy into one of golf's most reliable fundraisers — mulligan sales routinely add hundreds or thousands of dollars to an event with almost zero effort. Here's how to sell them, price them, and write house rules that keep the round fair and fast.

What a mulligan is

A mulligan is an informal do-over: after a poor shot, the player drops another ball and replays the stroke, and the first attempt simply never happened — no penalty, no stroke counted. Mulligans appear nowhere in the Rules of Golf; they're a social custom (the name is usually traced to a 1920s-30s club golfer named Mulligan, though the origin stories multiply from there), traditionally offered as a courtesy on the first tee of a friendly round.

Tournaments formalize the custom by selling it. In a charity scramble, a mulligan becomes a ticket the player redeems mid-round: hit a bad drive, hand over a mulligan, hit again, play the better ball. Because a scramble team only needs one good shot per position anyway, mulligans in scrambles are forgiving to pace and huge for morale — which is exactly why they're the default add-on at nearly every charity golf event in America.

Selling mulligans at charity events

Mulligans are close to pure profit: they cost nothing to produce and players genuinely want them. Standard pricing runs $5 to $20 per mulligan, with bundles doing most of the volume — $5 each or 3 for $10, and a team pack (for example, 4 mulligans for $20 or 8 for $40) is the workhorse offer. Always cap the quantity: a common ceiling is 2–4 mulligans per player or 8 per team, which protects both the competitive integrity of your prizes and your pace of play.

Sell them at registration, when wallets are already open — the single highest-converting moment of the day — and let volunteers make a second pass at the turn or on a par 3. Take cards or payment apps, not just cash. Physically, hand out something redeemable: raffle-style tickets, stickers on the cart, or beads players wear and surrender one at a time. A hundred players buying an average of $15 in mulligans is $1,500 of found money for the cause; many events do far better.

One fairness note for events with real prizes: either make mulligans available to every team on equal terms (same cap, same price), or exclude mulligan-assisted scores from any gross-score prizes. Publish which one you chose.

House rules that keep it fair and fast

• No mulligans on putts. The near-universal rule — do-overs on the green slow play badly and cheapen closest-to-the-pin and skins games.
• Replay from the same spot, and you can't retrieve the first ball. The mulligan replaces the shot; it doesn't offer a choice of two balls (unless your event explicitly sells that as a premium "best of two").
• No mulligans out of hazards, penalty areas, or bunkers — a mulligan forgives a bad swing, it doesn't erase a rules situation.
• Limit usage: one per nine (with a per-player or per-team cap) is the classic pacing rule; some events restrict mulligans to tee shots only, which is the simplest rule to police.
• Declare immediately. A mulligan must be used before anyone plays the next shot — no banking a bad drive and deciding after you see how the hole unfolds.
• Put all of this in writing on the rules sheet and cart signs. Every mulligan argument ever had was really an argument about an unwritten rule.

Full guide: Charity golf tournament rules template

String: the perfect companion sale

If you sell mulligans, sell string too. In a string game, each team buys a length of string — commonly $10–$20 for two to six feet, sometimes a dollar per foot or lengths tied to team handicap. Anytime during the round, the team may move its ball without penalty by any distance, cutting off the string they use: move the ball two feet out of a bad lie (or into the cup from the lip), and two feet of string gets snipped away. When the string's gone, it's gone.

String is beloved precisely because it's tactile and theatrical — the scissors come out on the green and the whole group leans in. It also sells to a slightly different buyer than mulligans: mulligans rescue bad swings, string rescues bad luck and short putts. Offer a combo pack at registration (mulligans + string + raffle tickets for one price, often $20–$40) and your per-player add-on revenue climbs without a single extra ask during the round.

Are mulligans legal? The USGA answer

Under the Rules of Golf, there is no such thing as a mulligan. Replaying a shot without penalty means you didn't play the ball as it lies and didn't count all your strokes, so a round with mulligans isn't played under the Rules — it can't be posted for handicap purposes, and mulligans have no place in any official or handicap-qualifying competition. If a player takes a do-over in a real stroke-play event, the Rules treat the situation under the wrong-ball and serious-breach provisions; "mulligan" is not a defense.

None of that matters for your charity scramble. An unofficial, just-for-fun event can adopt any house rules it likes — that's what makes it unofficial. The honest framing for your players: mulligans are perfectly fine here because this round isn't being posted for handicaps anyway, and the do-overs are funding the cause. Just keep sold advantages out of any competition you're presenting as legitimate gross-score golf, and nobody will ever complain about a mulligan that bought a kid a scholarship.

Full guide: Golf scramble rules: the complete guide

Track it live

Mulligans work best at events that feel big-league, and nothing does that like a live leaderboard. ScrambleBoard scores your charity scramble (or stroke play or Stableford event, gross or net, with flights) in real time: players scan a QR code to join — no app, no accounts — enter scores on their phones even where the course has no signal, and watch the standings move on every phone and the clubhouse TV. Built-in skins, closest-to-the-pin, and long-drive games give you more add-ons to sell alongside mulligans and string, and you can print scorecards, cart signs, and posters (put your mulligan rules right on them) straight from the event.

Frequently asked questions

What is a mulligan in a golf tournament?

A purchased do-over: the player replays a bad shot with no penalty and the original stroke doesn't count. Charity events sell them as a fundraiser, typically with house rules limiting where and how often they can be used.

How much should you charge for mulligans at a charity golf tournament?

$5–$20 each is the standard range, with bundles ($5 each or 3 for $10; team packs like 4 for $20) driving most sales. Cap purchases at around 2–4 per player or 8 per team, and sell at registration when conversion is highest.

Are mulligans allowed under USGA rules?

No. The Rules of Golf don't recognize mulligans, and a round that includes them can't be posted for handicap purposes or used in official competition. They're entirely fine in unofficial charity and social events playing under house rules.

Can you use a mulligan on a putt?

Under most house rules, no — "no mulligans on the green" is the most common restriction, both for pace of play and to protect putting-based contests. Many events limit mulligans to tee shots only.

What is the string game in golf fundraisers?

Teams buy a length of string (often $10–$20 for a few feet) and may move their ball without penalty any time, cutting off string equal to the distance moved — including into the hole from short range. It's the classic companion sale to mulligans.