“I’m gonna hit another one.” Every golfer has said it at some point. The phrase is so common that it barely registers anymore. Someone strikes one into the trees, chunks an iron twenty yards short, or blows a drive into the next zip code, and almost instinctively, another ball appears. The real question isn’t whether golfers do it. The question is why.
A recent debate sparked by a harmless golf meme exposed a surprisingly deep divide on the subject. The joke centered on Scottie Scheffler’s brief frustration at the Memorial Tournament after he and caddie Ted Scott misjudged the wind on the par-3 16th. It was the kind of moment every golfer understands. A shot goes nowhere near where you intended, and your immediate reaction is simple: give me another ball.
Then came a response that shifted the conversation. The argument was straightforward. If you’re in the middle of a round, why are you hitting extra shots at all?
When Another Ball Is Actually Necessary
At first glance, that sounds unnecessarily strict. Golf is supposed to be fun. But the more you think about it, the more complicated it becomes.
There are obvious exceptions. If you’ve launched a drive toward out-of-bounds territory or into a place where the ball may never be found, the Rules of Golf practically demand a provisional. In casual rounds, many groups simply agree to play a lateral drop and keep moving. Nobody wants to spend ten minutes searching through knee-high weeds.
The real issue arises when the extra ball serves no purpose other than satisfying curiosity or frustration. You hit a terrible shot and immediately want a do-over. That second swing may feel harmless, but if three other people are standing there waiting, it can start to look a little selfish. After all, the rest of the group showed up to play golf, not watch someone conduct a mid-round practice session.
The argument becomes even stronger when money is involved. If you’re playing a match, even a modest Nassau, the round is the round. Nobody gets unlimited mulligans disguised as “practice.” Nobody gets to spend a hole rediscovering their swing while everyone else waits.
The Green-Side Debate
Around the greens, the discussion gets even more interesting. Many golfers were surprised to learn that in USGA events, players are allowed to take practice putts or chips on a completed green, provided they are not delaying play. That revelation even caught some experienced observers off guard.
Former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk admitted the rule was news to him, and plenty of golfers watching along had the same reaction. On the PGA Tour, local rules generally prohibit the practice, so many players naturally assume the restriction exists everywhere.
Still, legality and etiquette are not always the same thing. Some golfers don’t care whether the rules allow it. Their position is simple: finish the hole and keep moving.
Plenty of players, myself included, are guilty of raking back a missed putt and immediately hitting another. The problem is that the second one almost always drops. Instead of making you feel better, it usually makes the miss sting even more.
Context Changes Everything
As with most golf arguments, context matters.
If you’re out for a relaxed evening nine with a friend and nobody is waiting behind you, hit as many extra shots as you want. Work through the shanks. Experiment with a different swing thought. Figure something out. Golf is hard enough without pretending every casual round is the final round of a major championship.
A buddy who is struggling to get the ball airborne probably benefits more from an extra swing than from another lecture about pace of play. In those situations, nobody is keeping score with any real consequences attached.
But when you’re in a foursome, keeping score, competing, or simply trying to maintain the pace of play, the standard changes. At that point, the round is the round. Hit the shot, accept the result, and move on.
For those settings, the anti-mulligan crowd has a point. The rest of the group signed up to play a legitimate round, not stand around while someone turns the course into a driving range.
Unless, of course, you happen to be playing in a USGA event. Then, apparently, the conversation changes all over again.
