Golf's 'Drop Out Game' Explained

The Drop Out Game is a golf format, or rather formats: the name is used for a couple different games. We'll explain them all below, and also tell you the other common names by which the Drop Out Game is known.

The format most associated with the name "Drop Out Game" sets a standard score — usually par or bogey — as the must-make for each player to continue in the game. And the golfer who goes the longest without scoring higher than that standard is the winner.

The most-commonly played formats that can also go by the name Drop Out Game are these:

• Par Or Out: In Par Or Out, golfers must make pars or better, and the last golfer to score higher than par on a hole is the winner of the bet. If your group is made up of scratch golfers, you can set gross par as the standard; otherwise, use net par.
• Bogey Or Bust: Same as Par Or Out, except that gross bogey or net bogey (depending on the skill level of the golfers in your group) is the standard. These games are also known as the Drop Out Game becase as each golfer misses the target, they drop out.
• Drop Out Scramble: Also known as a Drop Scramble, Step-Aside Scramble or Florida Scramble. Four golfers on a team each hit tee balls and the one best drive is selected. The other three team members move their balls to the location of that best drive and play their second strokes — but the golfer whose shot was selected "drops out" for the next stroke. This continues on each stroke played until the ball is holed.

Note that the Par Or Out/Bogey Or Bust formula can use any score as the target. A group of high handicappers, for example, can set double- or even triple-bogey as the standard. The wager for these games will probably be won fairly early, so if that happens you can start a new wager on the back nine.

This (Par Or Out, etc.) version of the Drop Out Game can also be played as a tournament format (or a honey pot in a tournament): Teams "drop out" (are no longer eligible to win the tournament or pot) as they score higher than the target score.

More golf games:

• Explaining the Three Blind Mice formate
• How the Blind Bogey tournament works
• How to play the game named Derby or Horse Race