[Ads-l] mulligan (golf)--warning: speculative

[Dan Goncharoff]

Since you showed a 1936 cute from Brooklyn, I checked the Brooklyn Eagle
archive. There is a reference to an "Alibi stroke golf tournament" -- every
player received four alibi strokes -- on August 24, 1930.

In the 20s, there are frequent mentions of alibis as excuses for playing
badly, including a quote of Walter Hagen calling golf "the greatest of
alibi games" (December 2, 1927).

On Mon, Jun 7, 2021, 8:41 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com>
wrote:

> While exploring the term "mulligan" I came across a semantically
> related set of terms: a "'No Alibi' golf event" and an "alibi shot".
> An "alibi shot" is a second shot without penalty, i.e., a mulligan. A
> "'No Alibi' golf event" is an event in which each participant is
> allowed a limited number of "alibi shots", e.g., five.
>
> Here is an explanation for the "alibi" term: After a tournament an
> individual who did not win would sometimes complain that one or two
> bad shots ruined their score. These bad shots provided an alibi. A "No
> Alibi" tournament made this type of excuse impossible.
>
> The first citations for "alibi" with the pertinent sense occurred by
> 1927, and they continued into the 1930s. I have not yet located a
> crossover between "alibi shot" and "mulligan". Nevertheless, future
> researchers may find the citations below helpful because they reveal
> that the concept of a "mulligan" was being employed in the 1920s under
> a different name.
>
> Date: August 19, 1927
> Newspaper: The Meriden Daily Journal
> Newspaper Location: Meriden, Connecticut
> Article: Personal Paragraphs
> Quote Page 9, Column 4
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The men of the Highland Country club will hold a "No Alibi" golf event
> tomorrow afternoon. The players will have the privilege of replaying
> five shots without penalty.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: May 17, 1928
> Newspaper: Meriden Record
> Newspaper Location: Meriden, Connecticut
> Article: Golf Schedule
> Quote Page 11, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Saturday, August 18—"No Alibi" event. (Players may replay any five
> shots without penalty.)
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: August 25, 1928
> Newspaper: The Hartford Courant
> Newspaper Location: Hartford, Connecticut
> Article: Hartford Golf Club Host To District Championship
> Author: William J. Lee
> Quote Page 13, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Middletown has the most Interesting Saturday tournament In the
> district today. It is a no alibi contest. A contestant may replay any
> five shots without penalty.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: November 12, 1928
> Newspaper: The Corsicana Daily Sun
> Newspaper Location: Corsicana, Texas
> Article: Numerous Golfers Take Part in Alibi Tournament Monday
> Quote Page 2, Column 7
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt - tournament is misspelled in original text]
> More than forty golfers had entered the “alibi” golf tournement at the
> Corsicana Country club shortly after 1 o’clock Monday afternoon and
> the entry list was expected to be materially swelled.
> . . .
> Each player was allowed half his handicap as "alibi” or second shots
> without penalty.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: November 13, 1928
> Newspaper: The Corsicana Daily Sun
> Newspaper Location: Corsicana, Texas
> Article: Alibi Golf Tournament Held at Corsicana Country Club
> Quote Page 9, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The golfers received their handicaps and then were allowed half as
> many alibi shots as their handicaps. Only one alibi shot was allowed
> to each hole and the golfers could declare their alibi shot without a
> penalty when they desired.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Date: April 23, 1936
> Newspaper: Brooklyn Times Union
> Newspaper Location: Brooklyn, New York
> Article: Dyker Golf Group Remains Active
> Author: Lou Niss
> Quote Page 1A (9), Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> The first event of the season was the No Alibi tournament ...
> In this tournament each player was allowed to replay four shots
> without penalty, checking all possibilities of nineteenth hole alibis.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
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