Buying 'Skirts' at a Golf Tournament: What It Means
When a golfer buys a skirt prior to such a golf tournament, the skirt gives that golfer the right to tee off from the forward tees on a hole of his or her choosing. Buy three skirts, and you get to use the forward tees on three holes.
Selling skirts is a way for a tournament, particularly a charity event, to raise even more money, above and beyond the tournament entry fees. Some tournaments will sell skirts the way that some tournaments sell mulligans (although selling mulligans is more common than selling skirts).
Can a golfer who already plays from the forward tees buy a skirt? Yes, assuming the tournament organizers are on-the-ball enough to consider this. Some women, senior men, recent beginners, very high handicappers or junior golfers might play from the forward tees already (because those are the appropriate tees for the level of their games). A common way for those golfers to use a skirt is to move up to the 200-yard-marker on the hole.
Most tournaments place a limit on the number of skirts an individual player can buy, most commonly three. Some tournaments limit the golfer to just one skirt. (Buying skirts is almost always optional; if you don't want to spend the extra five bucks, or whatever the cost, just ... don't.) In team tournaments, it is common to limit each team to one skirt per player (four skirts total for the team).
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