Golf games
Rules and explanation onlyNo Alibis
Also called Mulligan handicap, Replay handicap.
No Alibis is a stroke play game in which each player is given a number of mulligans in place of handicap strokes, commonly three quarters of their Course Handicap™. Any shot can be replayed, the replay must be used, and the round is scored gross. Lowest total wins.
- Players
- 2 or more, any groups
- Allowance
- Mulligans equal to three quarters of Course Handicap, in the common form
- Replay rule
- The second attempt must be played, good or bad
- Scoring basis
- Gross strokes; the mulligans are the handicap
- Winner
- Lowest 18-hole gross total
How No Alibis works
Every player starts the round with a bank of mulligans instead of handicap strokes. The common form gives three quarters of Course Handicap, rounded to the nearest whole number, so a 12 handicap has 9 replays and a 20 handicap has 15. A scratch player has none. Some clubs use the full handicap, some half; the important thing is that everyone is on the same fraction.
A mulligan can be used on any shot, anywhere on the course, including a putt. The player declares it, plays the shot again from the same spot, and must take the second ball whatever happens to it. There is no third attempt on the same shot. When the bank is empty the player finishes the round with what they have.
The round is scored gross. Because the mulligans replace the strokes, no stroke index is used and no net score is worked out. The card simply shows the strokes taken, with replays counted as one stroke each, and the lowest total wins.
Spending the bank
The game is about where to spend. A replayed drive after a slice out of bounds saves two strokes; a replayed three-foot putt saves one. Players who spend early on tee shots tend to run out on the back nine with putts they would love back. Players who hoard finish with unused mulligans, which is the same as giving strokes back.
Because the second ball must be played, a mulligan is not a free look. A replayed drive into the water is worse than the first one in the rough.
Ties and unused mulligans
A tie on gross total is settled by countback. Unused mulligans carry no value in the common form; a few clubs deduct half a stroke for each one left, which rewards the player who never needed them.
What Parful does
Parful does not score No Alibis. The scoring is trivial, a gross stroke play total, but the mulligans change how the round is physically played: a player replaying a drive is not playing the round the official card describes, and the number of replays used is not something a scorecard can recover. Parful will not offer that as an overlay on an official round.
This page describes the common form of the game. Parful has not ratified a version.
Worked example
A worked example: one player over six holes
Ben plays off a Course Handicap of 12 and starts with 9 mulligans. Each row shows where a replay was used and what it did to the hole.
| Hole | Shot replayed | First ball | Second ball | Hole score | Mulligans left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (par 4) | None | 5 | 9 | ||
| 2 (par 5) | Drive | Out of bounds | Fairway | 5 | 8 |
| 3 (par 3) | Putt from 4 feet | Missed | Holed | 3 | 7 |
| 4 (par 4) | Approach | In the bunker | On the green | 4 | 6 |
| 5 (par 4) | Drive | Rough | Water | 6 | 5 |
| 6 (par 3) | None | 3 | 5 |
- On hole 2 the replay saved the stroke-and-distance penalty as well as the drive, which is why tee shots are the most valuable place to spend.
- Four mulligans in six holes is a fast rate; at that pace Ben runs out around the 14th.
Common variants
- Full or half handicap
- The bank is the full Course Handicap, or half of it, instead of three quarters. Higher fractions make the game closer for high handicaps; lower fractions make it faster.
- Unused mulligans count
- Half a stroke, or a full stroke, is deducted from the total for every unused replay. It rewards clean rounds and stops players spending the bank on the 18th for the sake of it.
- One per hole
- No player can use more than one mulligan on a hole, so a disaster cannot be replayed twice. It spreads the bank across the round and is a common society rule.