How to Play Golf Solitaire
Deal 35 cards face up into seven columns of five. Turn one card up to start the waste, leaving 16 in the stock. Play the bottom card of any column onto the waste when its rank is one above or one below. Classic rules do not wrap at the Ace, and nothing can be played on a King. Clear all 35 cards to score zero — a hole in one.
The rules, step by step
- 1Deal seven columns of fiveThirty-five cards, all face up, slightly overlapping so every card is readable.
- 2Turn one card to start the wasteThe other 16 cards stay in the stock, face down. That is sixteen chances to restart a chain, against thirty-five cards you have to clear.
- 3Play the bottom card of a columnOnly the last card of each column is loose. It must be one rank above or one below the waste top.
- 4Classic rules do not wrapNothing goes on a King, and only a Two goes on an Ace — unless you have chosen round-the-corner.
- 5Turn the stock when stuckOne card at a time onto the waste. Sixteen flips and the deal is over, however many cards are left on the table.
- 6Score the cards you left behindEvery card still on the table is a stroke. Zero wins the hole.
Try it — the rules above, running
New game deals a fresh shuffle, Hint highlights a legal move, and the three-dot menu at the end of the bar holds redo, auto-finish, today’s deal, the keyboard shortcuts and the rule set.
Classic. Kings are dead ends and Aces only take a Two. The traditional rule, and much the harder game — a King on the waste can strand the whole board.
Your statistics · Classic
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
Kept in this browser, on this device only. Abandoning a deal in progress counts as a loss, so the win rate means something.
Today’s deal
Everyone playing Golf Solitaire today gets the same deal. It changes at midnight UTC.
Track the month on the daily challenge page.
Replay a deal
Every deal is a pure function of its number, so deal #20260726 is the same shuffle on any device, any time.
Keyboard
- U / Z
- Undo
- R
- Redo
- H
- Hint
- N
- New deal (asks first)
- F
- Full screen
- Space
- Turn the stock
- Esc
- Deselect, or leave full screen
What can you play onto the waste?
| Waste card | Accepts |
|---|---|
| Ace | Two only |
| Two | Ace or Three |
| Seven | Six or Eight |
| Queen | Jack or King |
| King | Nothing |
How do you score a round of golf solitaire?
Count the cards still on the table when no move remains. That is your score for the hole. Play nine or eighteen deals and total them, exactly like golf — lowest wins.
How do you win more often?
- Empty the tallest column firstCards buried under four others are the ones you will be left holding. Any time two moves are equal, take the one from the deeper column.
- Look one card ahead, not zeroPlaying a Seven on an Eight is free — unless the Seven was the only card that could take the Six you now cannot reach. Check the next link before you take the current one.
- Kings are traps on classic rulesNothing can be played on a King on the waste. Clear other available cards first, then use the stock to restart the chain after playing the King.
- Spend the stock deliberatelySixteen flips against thirty-five cards means you need chains averaging over two. A flip spent breaking a two-card chain is usually wasted.
Common questions about golf solitaire
- Is golf solitaire winnable every time?
- No. Some deals cannot be cleared even with perfect play. In classic rules a King ends the current chain, so the remaining stock has to provide enough restarts. Round-the-corner permits more links between ranks, but it does not guarantee a win either.
Ready to stop reading? Play golf solitaire on the full board, with controls and statistics tailored to that game.