National Mulligan Day is celebrated annually on October 17. Every golfer needs a mulligan from time to time and every person at one point in their life feels as if they need a second chance or a do-over. In golf, a mulligan happens when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action.

This history surrounding this national holiday isn’t set in stone but according to the United States Golf Association (USGA), there are three different stories explaining where the holiday comes from. 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. Some give credit to John A. “Buddy” Mulligan, a locker room attendant at
Essex Fells C.C., New Jersey in the 1930′s.  Another version of the truth states that the term comes from Thomas Mulligan, a minor Anglo-Irish aristocrat and passionate golfer who was born in 1793. The USGA claims that the term first achieved widespread use in the 1940′s.

So while you are taking your “do-over” on the golf course, remember that today isn’t just about the golf course. It’s about second chances in general. If it is a mistake from your past, someone you haven’t talked to in a long time or had a falling out with, or something else that you would personally consider a wrong that you want to make a right. Some golf courses hold a Mulligan Day in celebration of the holiday where golfers can play again for free at a later date.