What is Golf Solitaire?

Golf Solitaire is a quick, gentle patience game where you clear a tableau of face-up cards by playing them onto a single pile, one rank up or one rank down. That is the whole idea. No suits to worry about, no building long sequences, no hunting for a hidden card.

The name comes from the sport. You play a round of nine deals, each one called a "hole", and the fewer cards you leave behind, the lower your score. As in golf, low is good.

It is one of the older patience games. Solitaire Laboratory traces it to a game called One Foundation, which appears in Tarbart's Games of Patience of 1905, and Wikipedia's entry on Golf (patience) still lists One Foundation as an alternative name. Wikipedia also notes that Golf has a higher ratio of skill to luck than most solitaire games, which is why it rewards a few seconds of thought before each move.

The layout: what you see on the table

• The tableau: 7 columns of 5 cards each — 35 cards, all face up, all visible from the start.
• The foundation: one card dealt to the side. This is your single target pile, and it is where everything ends up.
• The stock: the remaining 16 cards, face down. Each tap turns one card onto the foundation.

That is 35 + 1 + 16 = 52 cards. One ordinary deck, nothing held back.

How to play: the rules, step by step

1. Look at the top card of the foundation pile. If it is a 7, you may play any 6 or any 8.
2. Take that card from the bottom (front) card of any column — only the card nearest you in each column is available.
3. The card underneath is now available, so keep going: 7 → 8 → 9 → 8 → 7 → 6 and so on. Suits and colours never matter.
4. When you run out of moves, turn one card from the stock. That card becomes the new top of the foundation, and you carry on.
5. There is no redeal. When the stock is empty and no more cards will go, the hole is finished.

You win a hole outright by clearing all 35 tableau cards. Long chains are the heart of the game: a single well-chosen start can strip two or three columns in one run.

Scoring like the sport

Your score for a hole is the number of cards left stranded in the tableau. Clear the lot and you score zero. Play nine holes and add the scores up for your round. Many players also use the friendly convention that if you clear the tableau with cards still in the stock, those unused cards count as minus points — your "under par" round.

Wrap-around: the one rule that changes everything

In the strict form of Golf, cards rank A–2–3 up to King, there is no wrapping (no Ace onto a King, no King onto an Ace), and nothing at all may be played on top of a King. A King is therefore a full stop: once one lands on the foundation, only a stock card can rescue you.

Relaxed versions allow wrapping, or allow a Queen or an Ace to be played onto a King. These rules make the game dramatically easier, and they are the main reason you will see wildly different win rates quoted online. Always check which version you are playing before you compare scores.

How to play Golf Solitaire here

Our Golf Solitaire is completely free. There are no ads of any kind, no pop-ups and no paywalls. There is nothing to download or install, no sign-up, no account and no email address to hand over. Click, and the cards are dealt. The site exists for one reason: the simple pleasure of a game of cards. No gambling, no in-app purchases, and no timer nagging you to hurry.

• Large, clear cards and readable text. Comfortable for older players and for anyone with tired eyes. A zoom control makes the whole board bigger if you want it.
• Drag and drop, or simply tap. Tap a playable card and it flies to the foundation — handy on a phone or tablet.
• Hint when you cannot see a move, unlimited Undo when you wish you had chosen the other 8, Restart to begin the same hole again, and Auto Play to finish off a game that is already solved.
• Your figures, tracked for you: wins, time and moves for the current game.
• Comfort settings: sound can be switched off, fullscreen mode is there when you want the table to fill the screen, and you can change the table colour to suit your eyes.
• Any modern browser on desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. Every feature is available to everyone — nothing is held back.

If you would like something slower and more strategic afterwards, try FreeCell, Yukon or Spider Solitaire. For another clearing game with the same satisfying rhythm, Pyramid Solitaire is the natural next step. The full list lives on the games page.

Strategy that actually works

1. Read the board before you touch a card. Everything is face up. Golf is one of the few patience games where you can genuinely plan the whole hole.
2. Attack the long columns first. Cards buried five deep are the ones that will still be sitting there at the end. Shortening the deepest column early is nearly always the better play.
3. When two moves look equal, take the one that opens more choices. Count what sits beneath each candidate. The move that exposes two new playable cards beats the move that exposes one.
4. Respect the Kings. Under strict rules nothing goes on a King. Dig Kings out of the tableau while you still have Queens available to reach them.
5. Aces are nearly as awkward. With no wrapping, an Ace can only ever be followed by a 2. Clear Aces when the chance appears rather than saving them.
6. Save your stock cards. Every stock card you do not need is a card you can spend later when the tableau jams. Squeeze each foundation card for every possible move first.
7. Use Undo as a thinking tool. Play a run out, see where it dead-ends, undo and try the other branch. That is how good Golf players learn to spot chains.

Common mistakes

• Playing the first legal card you notice, instead of looking for a longer chain.
• Emptying one short column for the tidy feeling of it, while a five-card column stands untouched.
• Turning stock cards too early, out of habit, before the tableau is truly stuck.
• Chasing suits or colours. In Golf they mean nothing at all.

Golf Solitaire by the numbers

Published figures vary a great deal, and the reason is the wrap-around rule. Here is what named sources say:

The lesson is not that one figure is right and the other wrong. It is that a clean sweep under strict rules is a genuine achievement, which is exactly why Golf is scored over nine holes rather than won or lost on a single deal. Leaving three cards behind is a good hole. Leaving none is a story worth telling.

Golf Solitaire in New Zealand

Golf Solitaire suits the way a lot of Kiwis actually play cards: in short bursts. A hole takes a minute or two, so it fits a cuppa at morning tea, a wait at the medical centre, the Cook Strait crossing, or a wet weekend at the bach when the forecast has other ideas.

It also travels well through a New Zealand winter. From June to August, when it is dark by half past five, nine holes on the tablet is an easy, quiet way to fill twenty minutes — and because there is no sign-up and no ads here, you are playing within seconds of opening the page.

We do not publish visitor numbers or dress them up as national statistics, and we have not seen any reliable research measuring how many New Zealanders play Golf Solitaire specifically, so we will not invent a figure. What we can say is that Golf is one of the fastest games to learn on this site, and one of the easiest to keep coming back to. If you want to know how you are tracking, the built-in counters for wins, time and moves are right there on the board.

Frequently asked questions

Is Golf Solitaire really free here?

Yes. Completely free, with no ads, no pop-ups and no paywalls, and nothing to download, install or sign up for. There are no in-app purchases and no gambling of any kind.

Do I need to create an account?

No. No account, no email address, nothing. See our privacy page for details.

Can every deal be won?

No. Under strict Golf rules, many deals cannot be cleared no matter how well you play — see the figures above. That is normal and expected, and it is why the game is scored over nine holes.

Can I put an Ace on a King?

Not in the strict form of Golf described by Wikipedia, where there is no wrapping and nothing may be played on a King. Some relaxed variants allow it, which makes the game much easier.

What is a good score?

Fewer cards left behind is better. Zero for a hole is a clean sweep. Over nine holes, steadily reducing your total is the real measure of improvement.

Does using Hint or Undo count as cheating?

Not here. Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play are free for everyone and there is no scoreboard to protect. Use them as learning tools — or ignore them entirely.

Will it work on my phone or tablet?

Yes. It runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet and phone. Tap or drag to move cards, use zoom for bigger cards, switch the sound off, go fullscreen, or change the table colour to whatever is kindest on your eyes.

Which game should I try next?

If you enjoyed the clearing rhythm, try Pyramid. For pure strategy, FreeCell. For a tougher challenge, Spider with two suits and then four suits. Or go back to the classic with Klondike Turn 3. More reading is on the blog.