How to Play Golf Patience

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Golf Patience is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. The aim is to clear seven columns of face-up cards by transferring them, one at a time, onto a central discard pile in ascending or descending sequence regardless of suit. It is fast to deal, quick to play, and a round rarely takes more than ten minutes, making it one of the most popular patience games in the British tradition.

Players love it for the same reasons they love a brisk round of golf: you are always chasing a better score, luck and judgement are both in play, and a bad hand can be recovered with careful thinking. It sits equally well on a kitchen table or a commuter train, needing nothing more than a deck of cards and enough space for seven short columns.

A little history

The name and broad structure of Golf Patience are well documented in patience-game literature from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with the golf scoring analogy, counting uncleared cards as strokes over par, appearing consistently across British and American card-game compendiums of that era. Its precise origins are unclear, and no single inventor or date of invention has been reliably recorded.

Setting up

1. Shuffle the full 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal five cards face up in a column for each of seven columns, working left to right one card at a time, so all 35 cards are visible. These 35 cards form the tableau.
3. Place the remaining 17 cards face down in a single pile to form the stock.
4. Turn the top card of the stock face up and set it beside the stock as the first card of the discard pile. Play begins from this position.

How to play

1. On your turn, look at the top card of the discard pile. You may move any card from the bottom (exposed end) of any tableau column onto the discard pile, provided it is one rank higher or one lower than the current top discard card. Suit is irrelevant.
2. Sequence is continuous in both directions: for example, a 6 can be covered by a 5 or a 7. The sequence can change direction at any point, so a run can go 5, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4 and so on.
3. Aces are low: an Ace can only be played onto a 2, and only a 2 can be played onto an Ace. Kings are high: a King can only be played onto a Queen, and nothing can be played onto a King (Kings do not wrap around to Aces).
4. You may play as many eligible tableau cards as you can find in succession before drawing from the stock. Each card you move uncovers the card above it in the column, which then becomes eligible for play.
5. When no tableau card can be played onto the current top discard, turn the next card from the stock face up onto the discard pile. This new card becomes the target for further play.
6. Continue alternating between playing tableau cards and turning stock cards until either all tableau cards have been cleared or the stock is exhausted and no further play is possible.
7. If the stock runs out before the tableau is cleared, play ends. Count the remaining tableau cards for scoring.

Winning and scoring

The object is to clear all 35 tableau cards before the stock is exhausted. If you clear every card, you have scored a hole-in-one or, in extended play across multiple rounds, a perfect round. In the more common scoring system, each card left in the tableau at the end of play counts as one stroke. Over an agreed number of rounds (traditionally nine or eighteen, to mirror a golf course), you total your strokes across all rounds: the lowest cumulative score wins. A score of zero over a round is a hole-out. Cards left in the stock at the end of play do not count against you; only uncleared tableau cards are scored.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns Kings and Aces. The standard ruling, observed in the great majority of published references, is that Kings are a dead end: nothing plays onto a King. This means a King in a buried position in a column is relatively harmless, but a King at the foot of a column will block that column completely until a stock card opens another sequence. Some players allow Aces to wrap around to Kings (treating the sequence as circular), but this is a variant, not the standard game, and should be agreed before play begins.

A second point that causes confusion is whether you must play a valid tableau card when one exists, or whether you may choose to draw from the stock instead. The standard ruling is that play is always optional: you are never forced to move a tableau card, and you may draw from the stock at any time, even if a valid move exists. Choosing to draw rather than play is sometimes the correct strategic choice, so enforcing compulsory play significantly changes the game and is not standard.

How to win more often

• Prioritise clearing columns entirely: an empty column removes the burden of that blocked pile and, more importantly, frees you to focus remaining stock cards on fewer targets.
• Watch for Kings at the foot of columns early. A King that cannot be shifted will cost you at least one stroke; account for it in your planning rather than hoping a stock card will bail you out.
• Do not rush to play every available card the moment it becomes eligible. Sometimes holding back lets you build a longer unbroken run when the next stock card is turned.
• Track the ranks still buried in the tableau against the cards remaining in the stock. If you can see that both black Fives are already gone and you need a Five to continue a run, adjust your target sequence accordingly.
• When two equally valid tableau cards can be played onto the discard pile, choose the one that uncovers a more useful card below it rather than the one that continues the run most smoothly on the surface.

Variations

Putt-Putt (Relaxed Kings)

In this beginner-friendly variant, the sequence is treated as circular: a King may be played onto an Ace, and an Ace onto a King. This removes the dead-end penalty of buried Kings and produces a more forgiving game that suits younger players or those learning the mechanics for the first time.

Nine-Hole Course

Rather than playing a single round for a hole-out, players deal and play nine complete rounds in succession. Strokes from each round are totalled, and the aim is to finish the nine-hole course with the lowest aggregate score. This format gives the game-play its full golf analogy and rewards consistent strategic thinking over a lucky single hand.

Double Golf

Two standard decks are shuffled together and used to deal a larger tableau: ten columns of five cards each, with the remaining 54 cards forming the stock. All other rules apply unchanged. The game is considerably harder to clear and produces more dramatic scoring swings, making it the preferred format for experienced players seeking a sterner challenge.

Compulsory Play

Under this stricter variant, a player must move an eligible tableau card whenever one is available and may only draw from the stock when no valid tableau move exists. This removes the strategic choice of when to draw and increases the element of chance. It is sometimes played to speed up the game but changes the character of play substantially from the standard rules.

Golf Patience: frequently asked questions