Golf Solitaire

Golf solitaire is a one-player card game where you clear seven columns of face-up cards onto a single pile, one rank up or down at a time. Play it free below: no sign-up, no download, no money. The rules and tips follow the game.

How to Play Golf Solitaire

1. Deal seven columns of five cards, all face up and overlapping so every card can be seen.
2. Start the foundation with one card from the deck, face up. Put the other 16 cards face down as the stock.
3. Play from the columns. Only the bottom (uncovered) card of a column can move. It goes onto the foundation if it is one rank above or below the top card there: on a 7 you can play a 6 or an 8, in any suit. Runs can go up and down, such as 7, 8, 7, 6, 5.
4. Turn a stock card when no column card can be played. It becomes the new foundation card.
5. The hand ends when the columns are empty, or when the stock is used up and no column card fits. There is no second pass through the stock.

Golf Solitaire Scoring

Like the sport it is named after, the lowest score wins. Each deal is a hole, and a round is nine holes.

Golf Solitaire Odds: How Often Can You Win?

Strict Golf is hard. To find out how often it can be won at all, 1,800 random deals were solved by computer, trying every possible order of moves with all cards known, including the order of the stock, and turning a stock card whenever that helps. That gives an upper limit: a real player can’t see the stock, so wins fewer.

The gap between perfect play and a simple rule of thumb shows how much the game rewards planning. With perfect play and every card known, the average strict deal still leaves 2.0 cards, about 18 over nine holes. The simple strategy averages 11.5 cards a hole, about 104 over nine, so beating par (45) under strict rules takes careful play.

Golf Solitaire Strategy

• Plan the whole run first. Before you move, trace the longest chain you can make from the columns, going up and down (8, 9, 8, 7, 6…). The first card that fits is often not the best start.
• Kings end a run. Under strict rules nothing goes on a King, so play one only as the last card of a run, just before you would turn a stock card anyway.
• Free the deep columns. When two cards fit, prefer the one that uncovers a card you can use next, or that opens a column with many cards still in it.
• Keep the bridges. A card that can follow several others (a 6 when 5s and 7s are showing) is worth saving for when you need it.
• Count the ranks. All 52 cards are in play. If three 9s are already on the foundation, an 8 in the columns has only one 9 left to follow it.
• Use Undo to learn. In the game above, undo a few moves and try another route: it is the quickest way to see which plans work.

Golf Solitaire Rules Questions

Golf Solitaire Variations

• Queen on King: a Queen can be played on a King, so a King no longer ends a run.
• Putt Putt (turning the corner): King on Ace and Ace on King are allowed, so ranks wrap around.
• Jokers: one or two jokers are added as wild cards.
• Empty foundation: the foundation starts empty and you choose any column card to begin with.
• Related games: TriPeaks, Black Hole and Pyramid Golf use the same one-up, one-down play with different layouts.
• Golf for two or more: each player plays the same number of holes and the lowest total wins, or players compare hole by hole, as in match play.

More Solitaire and Card Games

For the classic seven-pile game, see how to play solitaire (Klondike). Golf solitaire is not the same as the Golf card game for two or more players. If you like playing one rank up or down, try Spit, a fast two-player game built on the same idea, or Kings in the Corner.

Like Golf but with hidden cards and streak scoring: play TriPeaks solitaire.

Try a pairing game next: Pyramid solitaire, free to play.

Golf solitaire: frequently asked questions