DEFAULT is constraint so you must drop constraint instead of DEFAULT:

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[IndividualAttribsMeta] 
      DROP CONSTRAINT [DF_PlaysBridge]

ALTER TABLE [dbo].[IndividualAttribsMeta] 
      DROP COLUMN [PlaysBridge]

But I am with Sergey, generate a script and see how MS did this :-)

>Hi
>
>Sergey gave me a great tip on how to specify a column default and avoid a null being applied, instead of my default.
>
>As this code develops, I know want to drop the column but the default that was created depends on the column, hence, the DROP COLUMN fails.
>
>In order to know the name of the default, I apply a user-defined DEFAULT name like so:-
>
>

>ALTER TABLE [dbo].[IndividualAttribsMeta] 
>   ADD [PlaysBridge] varchar(250) 
>   NOT NULL CONSTRAINT DF_PlaysBridge DEFAULT 'Plays Bridge' 
>

>
>This seems to work fine. However, when I try the following to delete the DEFAULT, SQL server complains:-
>
>

>ALTER TABLE [dbo].[IndividualAttribsMeta] 
>  DROP DEFAULT [dbo].[DF_PlaysBridge]
>  DROP COLUMN PlaysBridge
>
>Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'DEFAULT'.
>

>
>Can anyone see what is going wrong here?
>
>
>Thanks.
>
>-=Gary