Golf Solitaire

Golf is a short, pure counting game: you clear seven columns of five face-up cards by playing the bottom card of each column onto one pile. A card may go on the pile when its rank is one higher or one lower than the pile’s top card, in any suit.

There is no building inside the columns and no face-down card among them. Every column card is in view from the first second, so the whole game comes down to the order in which you take cards.

Rules step by step

1. The deal. 35 cards are dealt face up into seven columns of five, overlapped so you can read every rank. One more card is turned up to start the pile in the middle, called the foundation. The 16 cards left over form the stock.
2. Only the bottom card plays. In each column, only the card at the bottom, the one with nothing on top of it, can move. The cards above it stay put until it is gone.
3. Play one rank up or down. Move a bottom card to the foundation if its rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the foundation’s top card. Suits and colors do not matter. A 7 takes a 6 or an 8.
4. No wrap-around. An ace takes only a 2, and a king takes only a queen. Nothing can follow a king upward and nothing can go below an ace, so a run of ranks stops there.
5. Draw when you are stuck. If no bottom card fits, click the stock to turn its top card onto the foundation. That card becomes the new target. You may draw even when a play is available, but every draw is gone for good.
6. One pass only. The stock is never turned back over, and an emptied column stays empty.
7. Win when all 35 column cards are on the foundation. Cards left in the stock do not matter. The game ends when the stock is empty and no bottom card fits.

The page shows your current streak, the number of cards left on the table, and how many cards remain in the stock. You can tap a card or drag it onto the foundation.

Strategy

• Count the ranks you need. Before the first move, see how many cards of each rank sit at the bottom of the columns. A 6 with a 5 and a 7 both free is a fork, and the cards under each of them tell you which side to take first.
• Dig the tall columns. A column with five cards left holds more future plays than one with a single card. When two plays are equal, favor the fuller column.
• Look one layer down. Taking a card exposes the one above it. Choose the play whose newly exposed card keeps the chain going, such as a jack coming up after a queen.
• Watch the ends. Aces and kings have only one neighbor each. A king buried at the top of a column can only be played after a queen, and an ace only after a 2, so find where they are early.
• Keep the stock for last. Sixteen draws are all you get. A draw also changes the target, so use it when no column offers a play, or when the next stock card would start a chain you can see.
• Use undo to look ahead. Undo is free. Try a line to its end, see whether it strands a card, and take it back.

Frequently asked questions

Is every Golf deal winnable?

No, and that is true of the real game too. Published research on solitaire solvability puts the share of Golf shuffles that can be won at about 45 percent, even when every card is known. The default deals on this page come from a pool that an offline solver has checked: it found a full line that clears all seven columns. The solver sees the stock order, which you do not. Because only solved deals are kept, pool deals lean toward easier wins than a random shuffle, and the solver turns down roughly half of the shuffles it is given.

Why can I not play a card in the middle of a column?

Golf is played from the bottom of each column only. That limit is the whole puzzle, since it decides which cards you can reach and when.

Can I go up and down in the same run?

Yes. Each play only has to be one rank from the foundation top. You may go 6, 7, 6, 5.

Can I turn the stock over again?

No. There is a single pass through the 16 stock cards.

Can I undo a move?

Yes, without limit, and redo too. Using the hint marks the game as played with help in your own stats.

Related games

If you like clearing cards by rank, TriPeaks uses the same one-up or one-down rule on a layout with covered cards, and Pyramid pairs cards that add up to 13. For a slower game of planning, try FreeCell or Spider, or play Klondike. All the basics are on the how to play page, and the shared deals of the day are on the daily page.

Last updated 2026-10-30