Golf Solitaire is one of the fastest, most approachable games in the patience family. There are no foundations to build up and no face-down columns to dig through — every tableau card is visible from the start, and your only job is to play them off, one by one, onto a single pile. This page is a complete rules reference: what the layout is, exactly which moves are legal, and how a hand is won or lost. If you'd rather learn by doing, you can play Golf Solitaire in your browser right now.
What is Golf Solitaire?
Golf is a single-deck game played with a standard 52-card pack. The name comes from the traditional scoring format, in which you play a series of deals as "holes" and add up the cards you fail to clear, aiming for the lowest total — just like golf. Each CardHearth deal stands on its own: the aim is simply to clear the table. Suits are irrelevant throughout; only the rank of each card matters.
Setup
Shuffle the 52-card deck and deal 35 cards face up into seven tableau columns of five cards each. Every card is visible, and only the bottom (lowest) card of each column is exposed for play. The next card off the deck is turned face up to start the waste pile (sometimes called the foundation in Golf), which is where you play cards. The remaining 16 cards form the stock, dealt face down. That accounts for all 52 cards: 35 in the tableau, 1 on the waste, and 16 in the stock.
Objective
Win by clearing all seven tableau columns, moving every one of the 35 column cards onto the waste pile. Empty all seven columns and the hand is won. The waste pile and the stock do not need to be empty — only the tableau matters.
Legal moves
On your turn you have at most two kinds of move:
- Play a column card to the waste. Take the bottom-exposed card of any tableau column and place it on top of the waste pile, but only if its rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the current top card of the waste. For example, on a 7 you may play either a 6 or an 8. Suit does not matter.
- Draw a card from the stock. When no column card plays — or when you simply choose to — turn the top card of the stock face up onto the waste. That card becomes the new target, opening up fresh plays.
Two limits are worth stating plainly, because they shape every game:
- The rank does not wrap. A King and an Ace are not adjacent. Only a Queen plays on a King, and only a 2 plays on an Ace — the chain stops dead at each end. This makes Kings the trickiest cards on the table.
- The stock does not recycle. You may turn each of the 16 stock cards exactly once. There is no redeal: once the stock is exhausted, those cards are gone for good.
How you win, and how a hand ends
You win the moment the last tableau card leaves the table — all seven columns empty. A hand ends without a win when two things are true at once: no column card can legally be played onto the current waste card, and the stock is empty so you cannot draw a new target. At that point the cards still sitting in the columns are stranded, and the deal is over. Because there is no recycle, careful sequencing matters: every stock card you spend is one you can never get back.
A note on variations
Golf has several common house rules. Some versions allow the sequence to wrap around, so an Ace plays on a King and a King plays on an Ace, which makes long chains far easier. Others let you redeal the stock, or change the number of columns. CardHearth's Golf uses the classic, stricter rules: no wrap-around and no recycling. If you've played a wrap-around version elsewhere, expect Kings to feel much more dangerous here.
Frequently asked questions
Does Golf Solitaire wrap from King to Ace?
No. On CardHearth, the rank sequence does not wrap: a King and an Ace are not adjacent. Only a Queen plays on a King, and only a 2 plays on an Ace. The chain simply stops at each end.
Can you recycle the stock in Golf Solitaire?
No. The stock is dealt face down and turned one card at a time. Once it is empty, it is gone — there is no recycling or redealing. When no column card plays and the stock is empty, the hand is over.
How many cards are in Golf Solitaire?
A standard 52-card deck. Of those, 35 are dealt face up into seven columns of five, one card starts the waste pile, and the remaining 16 form the face-down stock.
Keep going
Now that you know the rules, the next step is playing them well. Our Golf Solitaire strategy guide shows how to plan long chains and tame those Kings, and the solitaire glossary defines any term you're unsure about. When you're ready, play Golf Solitaire — or browse the full guides hub for more games.