Golf Solitaire: sixteen stock cards, one trip through them
Every game on solitaire-turn-3.com is judged by one yardstick: how much does the stock rule shape your chances? In Solitaire Turn 3 you may go round the stock as often as you like, but only every third card is in reach. Golf flips that around. Each of its 16 stock cards is turned singly and every one is playable, but you get one pass and no more. Once a card is turned, it is gone.
The table is 35 face-up cards in seven columns of five, with one foundation pile. You play the bottom card of any column onto the foundation if it is one rank higher or lower, in any suit, and on this site the King and the Ace connect. An exhaustive solver that knows the stock order settled all 10,000 deals we dealt: 92.7% can be won (95% range 92.2–93.2%). In its winning lines it left, on average, only 1.08 of the 16 stock cards unturned (1.05–1.10). The single pass is tight: a typical win uses nearly the whole stock.
At a glance: Golf and its one-pass stock
| Measure | Result | 95% range | Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnable, King–Ace wrap (this site), solver knows the stock | 92.7% | 92.2–93.2% | 10,000 |
| Proven impossible, wrap | 7.3% | 6.8–7.8% | 10,000 |
| Stock cards left unturned in the solver's wins (of 16) | 1.08 | 1.05–1.10 | 9,272 wins |
| Greedy program, wrap, stock unknown: won | 22.4% | 21.6–23.2% | 10,000 |
| No play for the first foundation card | 27.4% | 26.5–28.3% | 10,000 |
| Winnable without the wrap (comparison) | 44.0% | 42.2–45.8% | 3,000 |
| Stock cards left unturned, no wrap (of 16) | 0.85 | 0.79–0.91 | 1,320 wins |
The solver's figures are exact for these deals, but it knows the order of the stock, which you do not, so 92.7% is a ceiling. The greedy program sees only what you see and plays the longest visible chain; its 22.4% is a floor. Without the wrap our solver found 44.0% winnable, close to the 45.1% published by Blake and Gent (2026).
Why the stock rule matters so much here
Golf has no redeal at all, so every stock card is a single chance. In the solver's wins, barely one card is left over, which means almost every deal is won with the last few cards of the stock. We did not test a Golf with a second pass, or with three cards turned at a time, so we cannot put a number on either. What we can compare is the Klondike draw rule: there, turning three instead of one cut a simple bot's wins from 42.3% to 10.6% (10,000 deals each). Golf keeps the draw at one card but takes away the second lap. Both rules ration access to the stock, from opposite directions.
Golf rules on this site
- Deck: one standard 52-card deck.
- Table: seven face-up columns of five cards (35 cards).
- Foundation: one pile, started with one card.
- Stock: 16 cards, turned one at a time onto the foundation. One pass, no redeal.
- Moves: a column's bottom card goes on the foundation if it is one rank higher or lower, any suit.
- Wrap: King and Ace are neighbors.
- Win: clear all seven columns. Stock cards left over do not matter.
Playing a one-pass stock
Treat each stock card as a last resort
With about one stock card to spare in a typical solver win, turning a card while a column play is still open is the fastest way to throw away a winnable deal.
Choose the chain that leaves a chain
The greedy program already picks the longest chain it can see and still wins only 22.4%. Before you start a run, look at what the foundation card will be when it ends and whether anything follows it.
Count the four of each rank
One deck means four 7s, no more. If three are gone, a chain that needs a 7 hangs on the last one.
A dead start is normal
In 27.4% of deals the first foundation card has no match. Turn one stock card and carry on.
Use the wrap on purpose
A run that climbs to a King can continue into Aces and 2s. Plan those bridges instead of stumbling on them.
Keep a stock card for the end
Wins in our solver's lines often came down to the last one or two stock cards. If you can finish a column without touching the stock, do it; a single spare card late in the game can decide the deal.
Undo is your second pass
The game gives you one trip through the stock, but unlimited Undo lets you rewind a chain and try another. Use it to test a line before you commit to it for real.
Playing on solitaire-turn-3.com
Golf is free in any current browser on computer, tablet or phone, with nothing to install and no account. Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play are built in, along with zoom, fullscreen, drag or tap moves, a counter for wins, time and moves, and sound and table-color settings.
How the figures were made
The solitaire-turn-3.com team ran these tests in September 2026 on this site's Golf rules, in Python 3.11 with the standard library only.
- Rules from the code: seven columns of five, one foundation, a 16-card single-pass stock, plays one rank up or down, King–Ace wrap.
- Numbered deals: seeds 1 to 10,000 with the wrap and 1 to 3,000 without.
- Two players: an exhaustive solver that knows the stock and settled every deal, and a greedy program that cannot see the stock and draws only when stuck.
- 95% ranges: Wilson score intervals for percentages, normal intervals for averages.
- Published check: Blake and Gent (2026) give 45.1% for Golf without the wrap. They do not cover the wrap or other stock rules.
Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, helped write and review the code and draft this page. It produced no figures; every number comes from running the code, and the team checked them.
Golf questions
Would a second pass through the stock help?
We did not measure it, so we give no figure. For a game where extra passes were measured, see Pyramid.
Can every deal be won?
No. 7.3% are impossible even for a solver that knows the stock.
Where is the Turn 3 game?
On the home page, also at /solitaire-draw-3. The full list is on the games page, and longer articles are on the blog.
By Admin, solitaire-turn-3.com (Forty Media). Research run September 2026.