A "mulligan" is a second chance, a second ball played from the spot of an original shot that has gone astray. They're frequently "taken" on the tee - particularly the first tee, but they might be used anywhere your partners allow them. They violate the Rules of Golf. Whether the ball used for a mulligan must be played is always a subject for heated debate.

The origins of the term "mulligan" are lost in antiquity - shrouded in the mists of time. The players at every famous golf course in the world claim they used to have a member named Mulligan (or some variant of the name, like "Mel Egan" or somesuch) who would avail himself of a second ball whenever he thought a good excuse warranted it.

One of our favorite legends is that when a group all hit poor tee shots, they would declare they would "Hit 'em all again" in the spirit of fair play.

A handicap is a number that represents your skill as a golfer. Good players have low handicaps. Bad players (uh... less skilled players) have high handicaps. When a good player plays a match against a bad player, the good player must give the bad player strokes based on the difference between their handicaps. In medal (stroke) play competition using handicaps, a player's "net" score is their "gross," or total score, less their handicap.

If you belong to a golf club or association of golfers, your club can compute a handicap for you. The USGA (the United States Golf Association), the RCGA (the Royal Canadian Golf Association), and other organizations have published handicapping systems for use by members of their authorized clubs. Most also have programs for you to form your own club or association which could compute your handicap.

If you don't belong to a golf club, you can compute a handicap however you wish, but you won't be able to use it in "official" competitions. There are lots of different types of handicaps.

A Course Rating is a number, to a tenth, which describes the difficulty of a golf course from a particular set of tees for a scratch (zero handicap) player. Course Ratings are established by an evaluation of the course by members of a committee, usually from your regional golf association. Course Ratings are numbers like 68.5, 71.2, etc.

A Slope Rating is an integer number which describes the difficulty of a golf course from a particular set of tees for a bogey (average) golfer. Slope Ratings vary from 55 (very easy) to 155 (very difficult). The Slope Rating of a course which has not officially been rated is 113, the Slope Rating of a course of "average" difficulty.

A Slope Chart (officially called a Course Handicap Table) is a table of USGA Handicap Indexes and the equivalent Course Handicaps computed for a particular set of tees. Your golf club should have a published chart for men and women for each set of tees. You use a Slope Chart to determine your Course Handicap (from your Handicap Index) when you play.

We can build a Slope Chart for you for any golf club and set of tees.

A Handicap Index is a trademarked (by the USGA) computation of a number that is used to determine your handicap on different golf courses. A handicap index, when used with a SLOPE chart for the course you are going to play, will determine the handicap you use for that round. You may get a higher handicap on more difficult courses, a lower one on easy courses.

A Handicap Index is a number, precise to one decimal place. A Handicap Index is NOT a handicap - it's used to compute a handicap.

A Handicap Index is computed as 96% of the average of your ten best differentials from your last 20 rounds. Your Handicap Index can be adjusted for exceptional tournament scores or adjusted by a Handicap Committee, too.

A Course Handicap is the handicap you play with. It's computed from your Handicap Index and the Slope Rating of the tees that you play. It will be higher from the longer (more difficult) tees, lower from the shorter (easier) tees.

Our Course Handicap calculator can compute a Course Handicap for you.

A Handicap Differential is computed as your adjusted gross score less the Course Rating of the tees you played, multiplied by 113, and divided by the Slope Rating of the tees you played. It's a number, rounded to a tenth.

Your Adjusted Gross Score is your gross score, adjusted for ESC (Equitable Stroke Control), which limits your individual hole scores for unusually high scores, based on your playing handicap. Adjusted gross scores are only used for handicapping.

Yes they can, except it's actually called a "plus" handicap - the number of strokes the player has to add to their gross score to compute their net score. Golfers with plus handicaps are expert players - capable of shooting below par or the course rating.

Yes it is. Almost no one computes their own handicap - or can verify that their handicap is being computed correctly, considering calculated Course Handicaps, Equitable Stroke Control, tournament round adjustments, etc. It's the reason for the handicapping features in Mulligan's Golf Personal - to do these calculations for you.

A scorecard identifies hole handicaps (numbers from 1 through 18 on an 18-hole course) to designate where "strokes" should be given in a match between two players of different handicaps. The hole marked "1" is determined to be the hole on which there is the maximum likelihood that a player would score worse than their lower-handicapped opponent. The No. 1 handicap hole is NOT necessarily the most difficult hole.

For example, if the difference between the playing handicaps of two players is 5 strokes, the higher handicapped player receives their 5 strokes on the holes with handicap numbers 1 through 5.

In stroke play, a player gets his strokes where his handicap falls... a player with a 10 handicap gets strokes on holes with handicap numbers 1 through 10. A player whose handicap exceeds 18 gets a stroke on every hole and 2 strokes on those holes whose handicap reflects the number of strokes by which the handicap exceeds 18.

A player with a "plus" handicap adds strokes beginning with the hole handicapped 18, backward for each plus handicap stroke.

When playing an 18-hole match on a 9-hole course or a course where the hole handicaps are given as 1 through 9 for each nine, the first handicap stroke is given at the no. 1 handicap hole on the front nine, the next at the no. 1 handicap hole on the back nine, then the no. 2 handicap hole on the front nine, etc.

You may notice in the United States that handicap holes are typically arranged such that the odd handicap holes are on the front nine, even handicap holes on the back nine. This allows an "even" allocation of strokes for an 18-hole match, a convenient way of allocating strokes in a 9-hole match, and a fair way to allocate strokes for a match that requires more than 18 holes.

What is a scramble?

A scramble (sometimes known as a Florida scramble) is an event in which 2 or more players play as a team, each hitting a shot from which the team selects the best result, then each hitting a shot from that location until a ball is holed. Special rules and handicapping are usually required to specify how near (one club length, one grip length) players may place or drop the ball they are playing from the selected location, how to proceed in bunkers, etc.

The most commonly violated rule in a scramble is that which specifies that the first ball holed must count. So if A attempts a putt for 3 and taps in for 4 before A's partners have putted for 3, the 4 made by A must stand as the team result.

How do you handicap a scramble?

Generally, a scramble is un-handicapped if the teams are drawn from groups of A, B, C and D players. The USGA doesn't recognize a scramble as a legitimate form of golf, and thus doesn't endorse any system of handicapping for such casual play.

If teams are self-picked, however, it is recommended that a two-person scramble team's handicap is the total of 35% of the A player's handicap plus 15% of the B player's handicap. For a 4-person team, the team's handicap is computed as the total of 20% of the A player's handicap, 15% of the B player's handicap, 10% of the C player's handicap and 5% of the D player's handicap.

Frequently, scrambles are handicapped simply as 50% of the best (A) player's handicap.

What is a "Step Back" scramble?

Sometimes known as a "Drop Out" or "Elimination" scramble, a Step Back scramble requires that the player who hits the shot selected in a scramble may not hit the next shot from that location. Depending on the event rules, this "step back" requirement may continue to the next tee (that is, the person who holed the putt on the previous hole does not hit a tee shot) or all players may play from the next tee.

What is a "Shamble"?

A "shamble" is an event in which teams of 2 or more players all hit from each tee, select the best result, then continue play of the hole from that location with their own ball. The resulting team score may be a total of individual scores or a best ball or total of best balls of the team. A shamble is usually handicapped as a team best-ball event would be handicapped.

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