How to play Golf Solitaire
Golf is a quick patience game where every card in play is face up. Seven columns of five cards sit above a single waste pile; play the bottom card of any column onto the waste if it is one rank higher or lower than the waste’s top card.
When nothing fits, turn the next card from the stock. Clear all 35 column cards before the stock runs out — or get as close as you can.
Rules
- Thirty-five cards are dealt face up in seven columns of five. One card starts the waste; the other sixteen are the stock.
- You can play the exposed card of any column onto the waste if it is one rank above or below the waste’s top card, in any suit: a 7 can take a 6 or an 8.
- Classic rules don’t turn the corner: nothing goes from a King to an Ace or back. Pick “Wrap K–A” to allow it.
- When no column card fits, turn the next stock card onto the waste. The deal ends when the columns are clear, or when the stock is empty and nothing fits.
- The traditional count is strokes: cards left in the columns, or minus the stock cards left over if you clear everything. Your score is 35 − strokes, so higher is better, from 0 up to 35 for a clear plus a point for every stock card you didn’t need.
- Undo takes back column plays, but turning the stock is final, so you can’t peek at the next card and change your mind.
Controls
- Click / tap a column card
- Play it onto the waste
- Drag
- Drag a column’s bottom card onto the waste
- Click / tap the stock
- Turn the next card
- 1–7
- Play the bottom card of that column
- Space / D
- Turn the stock
- U / Ctrl+Z
- Undo a column play
- N / W
- New deal / toggle Wrap K–A
Tips
- Look for the longest chain before you play: a run of 6-7-6-5-4 clears more than grabbing the first card that fits.
- When two cards fit, prefer the one that keeps a chain going, or that uncovers a card you can play next.
- Kings and Aces are dead ends under classic rules. Clear them when you can, because they only ever take one neighbour.
- Don’t be afraid of the stock: each turn is a new chance, and the score only counts the cards left in the columns.
Golf Solitaire strategy
Know the pace you need
You have 17 waste cards to build on: the starter plus the 16 in the stock. To clear all 35 column cards you need an average of just over two plays for each of them. A turn with one play falls behind; a chain of five buys slack for later. Before each draw, count the cards left against the turns left, so you know how greedy the next chain has to be.
Count the stock
Every card in the columns and on the waste is face up, so you know exactly which cards are in the stock, if not their order. When you have a choice, say a 6 or an 8 onto a 7, count how many neighbours of each column card are still to come. Leaving exposed the cards with the most partners left in the stock gives the next turn a better chance of a play.
Kings and Aces end chains
Under classic rules a King on the waste takes only a Queen, and an Ace takes only a 2. Play them last in a chain, not in the middle. Put a King on a Queen while a Jack and a 10 are waiting, and you lose the rest of the run. Played at the very end, just before you turn the stock, they cost nothing, because the next card covers them anyway. With Wrap K–A on they work like any other card.
Explore with undo before each turn
Undo takes back column plays, but turning the stock wipes the history. The moment before a draw is your last chance to rethink. Play the chain one way, undo it, try another order, and compare what each leaves behind. Two chains that clear the same number of cards can leave very different columns. Prefer the one that exposes cards with partners still to come.
About Golf Solitaire
Golf is a traditional patience game named for its scoring: each deal is a hole, the cards you fail to clear are your strokes, and the lowest total wins. Card players traditionally play nine deals as a round. It is close kin to the newer TriPeaks, which borrowed the one-up-or-down rule.
This version keeps the classic layout of seven columns of five, adds an optional wrap rule for an easier game, and flips the count into a higher-is-better score so it can sit on a leaderboard: 35 minus your strokes.
Questions
How do you score Golf solitaire?
Traditionally by strokes: the cards left in the columns, or minus the stock left over if you clear them all. Here your score is 35 minus strokes — one point per column card cleared, plus a bonus point for every stock card left when you clear the table.
Can you play a Queen or an Ace on a King?
A Queen, yes. An Ace only with Wrap K–A switched on; classic rules stop at the King and the Ace.
How often can Golf be won?
Clearing every column is rare under classic rules — in our simulations a careful player cleared about one deal in fifty. With Wrap K–A switched on it becomes several times more common.
Why can’t I undo turning the stock?
Because you would be able to see the next card and then take your move back. Undo still works for plays from the columns between turns.