Golf Solitaire

1 Overview

Golf Solitaire is a minimalist solitaire card game using a standard 52-card deck. Cards are dealt into 7 columns of 5 overlapping cards each (35 cards), with the remaining 17 cards as the stock. Players flip stock cards one at a time onto a waste pile, then remove available tableau cards that are one rank above or below the waste top card. Goal: clear all 35 tableau cards in as few stock flips as possible -- scoring like golf (lower is better).

Golf Solitaire is extremely fast (2 to 5 minutes per game) and is one of the most straightforward solitaire variants. The scoring system makes it inherently replayable -- you always try to beat your last score.

2 Setup

1. Deal 35 cards into 7 columns of 5 cards each, overlapping. Only the top card of each column is available.
2. Place remaining 17 cards face-down as the stock.
3. Flip the top stock card face-up to start the waste pile.

3 Gameplay

1. On each turn, either:
   • Play an available tableau card (top of a column) that is exactly 1 rank higher or lower than the waste pile top card (most Golf variants do NOT wrap Ace/King -- Ace is low only)
   • Flip a new card from the stock onto the waste pile
2. Tableau cards played go onto the waste pile and become the new reference card for the next play.
3. Continue until all stock cards are used and no more tableau plays are possible.

Winning: Clear all 35 tableau cards for a hole-in-one. Otherwise, count remaining tableau cards -- that is your score. Lower scores are better.

4 Strategy

• Chain long sequences. A run of consecutive-ranked cards clears multiple tableau cards per stock flip. Look for column tops that form natural ascending or descending chains.
• Clear short columns first. Columns with fewer cards are easier to clear completely. Clearing a column removes a constraint and often opens new chain possibilities.
• Know the no-wrap rule. In standard Golf, you cannot play a 2 on an Ace or an Ace on a King. This breaks chains at boundaries -- plan around it.