Current Ruling
MULLIGANS (in effect a do-over)
no longer allowed
In the early 1990’s, the BGA played with one mulligan allowed per side, off the tee box only. This allowed a chance to really reach back and try to hammer at least one shot per round. What the hell, who doesn’t want to drive the ball 300 yards? You had to decide on the tee box if the mulligan was being used and if your first shot turned out better, too bad; you had to use the mulligan. This worked well for a number of years until someone (who will only be referred to as Mr. Four-Skin) wanted a provisional mulligan because he was only 50% sure that his first drive was O.B.
PROVISIONAL MULLIGANS
(a horrendous idea)
never accepted for BGA play
This pathetic attempt to piggy-back USGA rules concerning provisional shots with the accepted BGA rule concerning mulligans brought about the demise of the use of mulligans.
SWING AND A MISS--counts as a stroke
Since it can cause bad feelings if you are really taking an extreme practice swing, the ruling is that, since only the player knows if he was swinging with intent or not, he is responsible to call a penalty for a whiff. Other players are encouraged to add their interpretation of intent to help him make his decision.
GIMMES--There is no such thing
We have seen people miss 6-inch putts, so it ain’t in the hole until it is in the hole.
SLOW PLAY--not tolerated
Just hurry up. No penalty but since we all know that you will miss the shot anyway, just hit it and move on.
BALL RESTING IN DIVOT
We play on public courses where many golfers don’t even have a tool for repairing pitch marks on the greens. So, if a player is fortunate enough to find the fairway he shall not be further penalized (since only bad things seem to happen from the short stuff) and may roll his ball out of a gouge left behind by someone else.