Golf

How to play Golf Solitaire

Golf deals seven columns of five cards, all face-up, with one starter card on the waste pile below. Play any exposed card — the front card of a column — onto the waste when it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the waste's top card. Suits are irrelevant, and the sequence can change direction as often as you like: 5, 6, 5, 4, 3, 4 is a perfectly good run. Clear all 35 column cards to win.

When nothing plays, tap the stock to flip a fresh card onto the waste. There are only 16 flips and no redeal, so the stock is the clock you're playing against. Tap a card to play it, or drag it onto the waste — undo is unlimited, and the cards-left counter is your golf score for the deal.

Strategy tips

• Chase the longest chain, not the first card you see. Before playing, trace where the sequence can go: a single flip should ideally set off four or five plays, and the best line often starts with the other card of two equal choices.
• Prefer plays that expose useful cards. Two columns may both offer a 9, but one has a playable 8 underneath and the other a dead King — take the 9 that keeps the chain alive.
• Use direction changes to sweep pairs. Sequences like 6-7-6 or J-10-J let one waste card collect duplicates of its neighbors — zigzagging clears far more cards per flip than marching straight up or down.
• Watch the edges of the deck. With no wraparound, Aces and Kings have only one neighbor each, so they clog columns. Play them the moment they're legal, and dig out columns hiding several of them early.
• Don't flip the stock while a play exists — a flip buries the waste card you might still be building on, and you only get 16 of them.

Golf Solitaire vs. the Golf card game

Two different games share the name. This page is Golf Solitaire, the single-player patience above. The Golf card game (also called 4-card or 6-card Golf) is a multiplayer game where each player tends a small grid of face-down cards and swaps draws to make the lowest-scoring hand — same golf-style lowest-score-wins spirit, entirely different play. Both are quick, casual, and score like a round on the links.

Frequently asked questions

How do you win Golf Solitaire?

Clear all 35 cards from the seven columns by playing them onto the waste pile. A card plays when it is one rank above or one rank below the waste's top card — suit never matters. When nothing plays, flip a card from the stock; you get 16 flips and no redeal, so the game is won or lost before the stock runs dry.

Can I play an Ace on a King?

Not here. This version uses the most common online rules: no wraparound, so an Ace only takes a 2 and a King only takes a Queen. Some house rules allow the sequence to wrap King-to-Ace (sometimes called playing 'around the world'), and the strictest traditional rules even freeze the pile after a King — this page plays the middle, most popular ruleset.

Why is it called Golf?

Because of the scoring. Traditionally each deal is a 'hole' and every card left on the table when you get stuck counts as a stroke — play nine deals and try to finish under par, the lower the better. The counter above the table shows your cards left, so a cleared table is the hole-in-one.

Is every Golf Solitaire deal winnable?

No. Plenty of deals dead-end no matter how well you play, which is part of the game's rhythm — deals are quick, and the skill is in squeezing the longest chains out of each one. Unlimited undo lets you back out of a bad line, and Restart deal replays the same layout from the top.

Do I need an account to save my stats?

No. Games played, win rate, streaks and best times are stored in your browser on this device. Nothing is uploaded and there is nothing to sign up for.