October 17th is Mulligan Day

In a game, a mulligan happens when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action.

This day was created as a day for giving yourself a second chance or, as some people call it, a “do-over”.   

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

According to the USGA, the term first achieved widespread use in the 1940′s