Golf Solitaire is a fast single-deck patience built around a 35-card tableau and a single rule: play any uncovered card one rank above or below the top of the waste. Suits are ignored. There's no Ace-King wrap, which is the rule that gives Golf its bite — Aces only play on 2s, Kings only on Queens, and either one can stall the round if buried. Scoring follows the sport: lower is better, and a negative score is excellent. Free in your browser, no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded.
Goal: remove all 35 tableau cards by playing them onto the waste. Score as few points as possible — negative is better than zero.
Golf Solitaire is named after the sport, and the scoring follows: every card you couldn't clear is one stroke against you, every stock card you didn't need is one under par.
| Outcome | Score |
|---|---|
| Each tableau card remaining at end | +1 point |
| Cleared the tableau exactly as the stock ran out | 0 — par |
| Each unused stock card after clearing the tableau | −1 point |
A −5 round means you cleared the tableau with five stock cards still face-down — five strokes under par, the equivalent of a great golf round. Most rounds end with cards left in the tableau (positive score). A consistent average below +10 over many rounds is strong play.
The two share the ±1 rank matching but differ on layout, scoring, and the wrap rule.
| Aspect | Golf | TriPeaks |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | 7 columns × 5 cards | 3 overlapping pyramids + bottom row |
| Tableau cards | 35 | 28 |
| Stock | 17 cards | 23 cards |
| Ace–King wrap | No | Yes |
| Scoring | Lower is better (golf style) | Streak multiplier (higher is better) |
| Practical win rate | ~5–10% | ~70–85% |
Golf Solitaire dates to the early 20th century, when the golf-themed scoring caught on among patience players who wanted a quick round between tasks. The base mechanic — play one rank up or down on a single waste pile — predates Golf in older patience anthologies, but the seven-column layout and the lower-is-better scoring are what define the modern game. The variant has appeared in Microsoft solitaire collections and most modern multi-game packages, though Microsoft has not made Golf one of their headline solitaire games.
This Golf runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. Unlimited undo, statistics, and a daily challenge that gives every player the same deal that day so you can compare scores.