Golf Solitaire

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Winning and scoring
6. Tips for beginners
7. Variants

Overview

Golf Solitaire is a quick patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire). Thirty-five cards lie face up in seven columns, and you try to clear them all by moving them, one by one, onto a single pile – each card one rank higher or lower than the one before, whatever the suit. Everything is visible from the start, so careful planning pays off.

The name comes from the scoring: as in golf, you count "strokes" (the cards you could not clear), play nine deals ("holes") and aim for the lowest total. It has nothing to do with the multi-player card game Golf, in which each player tries to lower the value of their own hidden cards.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Paper and pencil if you play a round of nine holes.

Card order

The ranks run A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – J – Q – K. The Ace is low and the ranks do not "turn the corner": only a 2 may go on an Ace, and nothing at all may go on a King – a King ends the run. Suits and colours play no part.

Setup

1. Shuffle and deal five rows of seven cards, all face up. Each row slightly overlaps the one above, so you get seven columns of five cards, spread downwards so every card can be seen. This is the tableau (the layout).
2. Turn the next card face up below the tableau. It starts the waste – the one pile you play onto.
3. The remaining 16 cards go face down beside it as the stock.

In this example only the bottom row (7♦, J♠, 4♥, 8♣, K♥, 9♠, 2♣) can be played at first.

Playing

1. Free cards: only the last card of each column – the one nearest to you, not covered by any other card – can be played. When it is gone, the card above it becomes free.
2. Play to the waste: move a free card onto the waste if it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of the waste. Suit does not matter. You may change direction whenever you like: after putting a 6 on a 5 you may go on with a 7 or with another 5.
3. Keep going: play as many cards in a row as you can. Such a series is called a run.
4. Use the stock: when you cannot (or do not want to) play any more, turn the top card of the stock face up onto the waste. It becomes the new card to play on.
5. Cards never move from one column to another, and there is no redeal: when the stock is empty and nothing fits, the deal is over.

Example: The waste shows a 6♥. The free cards are 7♦, J♠, 4♥, 8♣, K♥, 9♠ and 2♣. You play 7♦ (one higher), then 8♣, then 9♠. The 10♣ above the 9♠ is now free – play it, then the J♠, then the Q♥ (freed when the 8♣ left). Finally the K♥ – and the run is over, because nothing may go on a King. Time to turn up a stock card.

Winning and scoring

You win a deal when all 35 cards of the tableau are on the waste.

For a round of golf, play nine deals ("holes") and write down a score after each:

• Deal not cleared: 1 point per card left in the tableau.
• Tableau cleared: minus 1 point per card still in the stock.

Add up the nine scores; lower is better. According to Morehead and Mott-Smith, a total under 36 beats "par"; Wikipedia puts par at 45 or lower.

Example: hole 1 leaves 4 cards (4), hole 2 is cleared with 3 stock cards to spare (−3): after two holes your total is 1.

Tips for beginners

• Plan the whole run before you move a card. Choose the order that clears the most cards.
• If two free cards have the same rank, take the one that uncovers a more useful card.
• End a run by leaving connected cards free (for example a 7 when an 8 and a 6 are free too).
• Kings are the most dangerous cards. Keep Queens to clear Kings, but only play a King when you can live with the run ending there.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Queen on King: a Queen may be played on a King – easier.
• Putt Putt: the ranks turn the corner, so a King may follow an Ace and an Ace a King (as in TriPeaks).
• Free first card: don't turn up a waste card at the start; play any free card from the tableau as the first card of the waste.
• Tournament golf: two players each play nine holes with their own deck. Compare scores hole by hole: the lower score wins the hole (1 point). The lower total over all nine holes earns 3 more points.