# Play Golf solitaire

Golf is a short, open patience game: seven columns of face-up cards and a single waste pile, which you clear by playing cards one rank higher or lower than the waste card. As in golf, the lower your score the better. [Deal Golf now](../index.html?game=golf#play) and play right here, free, with no account and no money.

Your round in progress is saved automatically in your browser, and Golf keeps its own statistics: rounds played, rounds won, best time and fewest moves for wins.

## How to win

Clear all 35 cards from the seven columns onto the waste. Your score is the number of cards left in the columns, so a cleared table scores 0 and counts as a win.

## Rules

### The layout

- One 52-card deck is used.
- Seven columns of five face-up cards each, 35 cards in total.
- One card starts the waste. The other 16 cards form the stock.

### Playing cards

- Move the top card of any column to the waste if it is exactly one rank higher or lower than the top waste card. Suits do not matter.
- There is no wrap-around: a King and an Ace are not neighbours.
- Nothing may be played on a King. A King can still be played from a column onto a Queen, but after that you must draw.
- **Draw** turns the next stock card onto the waste. There is no recycling.

### Score and end of the round

- Score = cards left in the columns. Lower is better.
- **Won:** all 35 column cards cleared.
- **Lost:** the stock is empty and no column card can be played.
- Starting a new deal before the end counts the unfinished round as abandoned.

## Controls

- Tap or click the top card of a column, then tap the waste; or drag the card onto the waste.
- **Draw** (`D`) turns the next stock card onto the waste.
- **Hint** (`H`) highlights one legal move without making it; **Auto move** (`A`) plays the move the hint would show.
- **Undo** (`U`) is unlimited, right back to the deal. **New deal** is `N`.
- Keyboard: `Tab` moves between piles, `Enter` or `Space` selects and places, `Esc` cancels a selection.

## Tips

1. **Plan the whole sequence.** Every column card is face up from the start, so you can trace a run such as 6, 7, 8, 7, 6, 5 across several columns before you touch a card. Looking two or three cards ahead is often the difference between clearing a column and getting stuck.
2. **Treat Kings as full stops.** Nothing can be played on a King, so playing one always ends your current run and forces a draw. Play a King when it uncovers a card you need, ideally when you would have to draw anyway.
3. **Aces are almost as awkward.** Without wrap-around, the only card that can follow an Ace is a 2, and an Ace can only leave its column onto a 2. Free Aces when a 2 is on the waste, or you may not get another chance.
4. **Choose the branch that keeps going.** With a 6 on the waste and both a 5 and a 7 available, count how far each direction can run before you choose.
5. **Ration the stock.** You have just 16 draws and no recycling. Draw only when no column card can be played, so you keep cards in hand for the end of the round.
6. **Dig into long blockages.** If one column holds several cards that do not fit your usual runs, prioritise it early while the stock still has plenty of cards to help.
7. **Play every round to the end.** Even when a clear table is out of reach, each extra card you remove lowers your score.

Find more card terms in the [glossary](../glossary.html), or see how Golf sits next to the other games on the [compare page](../compare.html).

## Related games

- [TriPeaks](tripeaks.html) uses the same one-up-or-down rule, but King and Ace wrap round and some cards start face down.
- [Pyramid](pyramid.html) is another quick game where you clear a layout using the stock and waste.
- [Klondike Draw 1](klondike.html) is the classic seven-column solitaire if you fancy a longer game.