Home › Games › Golf Solitaire — rules and strategy

Golf Solitaire: seven columns, no wrap from king to ace

By Gleb Tkatchouk · last updated 2026-10-03

Golf is TriPeaks without the mercy. The same idea — take cards one rank above or below the top of the waste — on seven flat columns of five, all face up, and with one hard rule that changes everything: a king does not connect to an ace. The chain does not wrap.

Golf with no wrap from king to ace, exactly as the rules say. Free to download; daily game limit without Premium.

Scan with your phone to install

Rules of Golf Solitaire

The layout. Thirty-five cards in seven columns of five, all face up. The remaining seventeen cards form the stock; the first is turned onto the waste to start.

Moves. Take the top card of any column onto the waste if its rank is one above or one below the waste's top card, regardless of suit.

King and ace. There is no wrap: nothing follows a king upward and an ace takes only a two. A queen may be played on a king and a king on a queen, so a king on the waste can still be followed by a queen.

The stock. Out of moves, turn a card from the stock. One pass; the stock is not dealt again.

Winning. Clear all seven columns. Cards left in the stock do not matter.

With these rules — a queen may go on a king, an ace takes only a two, no wrap from king to ace — Politaire's solver won 45.1% of 100,000 random deals (its 'Golf-B'). If nothing could be played on a king it won 26.1% ('Golf-A'); if king and ace wrapped, 93.0% ('Golf-C').

Strategy

1. Kings end upward chains; plan around them. A king on the waste can only be followed by a queen. Note where the kings and queens are before the first move.
2. Long chains. With seventeen stock cards for thirty-five table cards, you need to clear about two cards per stock card. Look for the longest run before each move.
3. Everything is visible — use it. Unlike TriPeaks, nothing is face down. The whole deal can be read at the start, and a good player reads it.
4. Even out the columns. A tall column left at the end with no chain to reach it is the usual loss. Take from the tall columns when the choice is otherwise equal.
5. Aces and twos are safe landings. With no wrap, an ace on the waste takes only a two. Play aces when you have a two to follow, not before.

Golf in Decks

A rules page one tap away, undo without penalty, and a history of every round with its deal code. No ads, no account, works offline. Free to download; daily game limit without Premium.

Frequently asked questions

How do you play Golf Solitaire? Take column cards one rank up or down from the waste; turn the stock when stuck; clear the columns.

Why is it called Golf? Traditionally the score is the number of cards left on the table — like strokes, lower is better. Decks counts a clear table as a win.

Does ace connect to king in Golf? No. That is the defining rule of Golf; in TriPeaks they connect.

How many passes through the deck? One.

Where does Golf sit among other solitaires? On the clear-tableau, face-up, rigid-move, short-round end of the map — see Which solitaire to play.

Golf with no wrap from king to ace, exactly as the rules say. Free to download; daily game limit without Premium.

Scan with your phone to install