How to play Golf solitaire
Golf is quick: clear seven columns of cards by playing them onto a single pile, each one rank higher or lower than the card before.
Setting up
One deck. Seven columns of five cards, all face up. One card goes face up to start the foundation pile, and the other 16 are the stock.
How to play
Only the top card of each column is available. Play it onto the foundation if it's one rank higher or lower than the foundation's top card, whatever the suit: a 6 or an 8 on a 7.
In classic Golf, aces and kings don't wrap round and nothing at all can be played on a king. The "Wrap K-A" option lets a king go on an ace and an ace on a king, and lets you play on kings.
When nothing fits, tap the stock to turn its next card onto the foundation. There's no redeal.
Winning and score
You win by clearing all 35 column cards. Golf is traditionally scored like the sport: the cards left in the columns are your score for the hole, so lower is better. The site shows how many are left.
Tips
Look for long chains before you start: 5-6-7-6-5 clears cards from several columns. Save a card that can follow a king for the moment you're stuck, and avoid ending a chain on a king in classic rules, since that blocks the pile until the next stock card.
Options on this site
- Kings and aces: No wrap (classic) (default), Wrap K-A
Questions
Is Golf usually winnable?
Not often under classic rules. Wrapping kings and aces helps a lot. With "Only deal games that can be won" on, the solver looks for a winnable shuffle first and says so if it can't find one quickly.