Lemon Drop is a golf game where you play all 18 holes, then throw out your worst par 3, your worst par 4, and your worst par 5 and count the other 15 for your score. Low net wins. A “lemon” is a dud hole, and you get to drop three of them, one from each par family.
It plays as a single-round game for any group size, and it is a favorite for mixed-handicap outings because a disaster hole can quickly be forgotten.
How to Play Lemon Drop
Everyone plays their own ball for their own score across a normal 18-hole round. Nothing about how you play a hole changes. The game plays out at the scoring table after the round is over.
The Drop Rule
Once the round is in, each player finds three holes to throw out:
- Your worst par 3. The highest score you made on any of the par 3s comes off the card.
- Your worst par 4. Same idea, from among the par 4s.
- Your worst par 5. And one from the par 5s.
The other 15 holes are your score. You cannot drop three par 4s even if your three ugliest holes were all par 4s. One lemon per par type, no substitutions.
Scoring and Handicaps
Lemon Drop is almost always played net. Apply handicap strokes to the 18 holes the normal way, by stroke index, then do the dropping on your net scores.
Our free golf handicap calculator gives you each player’s number for the tees and course you are playing. If the goal is to stop leaving lemons on the card in the first place, our practice games and drills library has a short-game section aimed at securing the up-and-down.
Lemon Drop vs Three Little Pigs
The two games look identical on the surface. Both drop three holes and count 15. The difference is the choice.
Three Little Pigs lets you throw out your three numerically worst holes, whatever their par. If your card blew up on three par 4s, all three come off. Lemon Drop refuses that. You take one par 4, one par 3, and one par 5, whether that is the smart trade or not.
If your group wants pure chaos instead of damage control, Three Blind Mice goes the other way and hands the entire result to three holes drawn at random.
Variations and Group Play
- Drop nine, half handicap. A wide-open play-day version throws out your nine worst holes and applies half your course handicap. It is built for big, mixed fields where the goal is a fun number, not a fair fight.
- Gross Lemon Drop. Skip handicaps entirely and drop on raw scores. This favors the low ballstriker and turns it into a straight test, best for an even group.
- Team lemon. Two-player teams take a better ball on every hole, then drop the team’s worst par 3, 4, and 5. It smooths the swings even further and works well as an outing format.
- Two par 4s. Because par 4s outnumber everything, some groups let you drop two of them plus one par 3 or par 5. It hands back the forgiveness the standard rule takes away.
Lemon Drop works from a foursome up to a full field, which puts it among the more flexible golf games for 4 players and a natural fit for an outing where handicaps are all over the map. For more formats that survive a wide field, our tournament golf formats guide sorts them by group size.
Running It in Your Group
Lemon Drop is the game to reach for when the field is uneven and you want everyone to finish with a score they are not embarrassed by. The format does the mercy for you. A wild player can post one horror hole per par type and still turn in a card that looks a lot like the steady player’s.
