Golf Solitaire: a one-deck sprint on a two-deck site
If FreeCell Two Decks is the marathon on freecell-two-decks.com, Golf is the sprint. It uses one 52-card deck: 35 cards face up in seven columns of five, a single foundation pile, and a 16-card stock. Play the bottom card of any column onto the foundation if it is one rank higher or lower, and clear all seven columns to win. On this site the King and the Ace connect, so a chain can run through the top and keep going.
With one deck there are only four cards of each rank to chain with, and the stock goes through once. How often is a deal winnable? An exhaustive solver that knows the stock order settled all 10,000 deals: 92.7% can be won (95% range 92.2%–93.2%) and 7.3% cannot (6.8%–7.8%). A greedy program that sees only what you see won 22.4% of the same deals (21.6%–23.2%). There is no two-deck Golf on this site, and we did not simulate one.
At a glance: Golf with one deck
| Measure (one 52-card deck) | Result | 95% range | Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnable, King–Ace wrap (this site), stock known | 92.7% | 92.2–93.2% | 10,000 |
| Greedy program, wrap, stock unknown: won | 22.4% | 21.6–23.2% | 10,000 |
| Stock cards left unused in the solver's wins (of 16) | 1.08 | 1.05–1.10 | 9,272 wins |
| 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 |
| Greedy program without the wrap | 3.2% | 2.7–3.9% | 3,000 |
The solver's figures are exact for these deals, but it knows the stock order, so 92.7% is a ceiling. The greedy figure is a floor. The no-wrap 44.0% agrees with the published 45.1% (Blake and Gent, 2026).
A small deck, a tight budget
In the site's two-deck games, cards come in pairs and the stock is long: Solitaire Double has a 59-card stock and unlimited redeals. Golf is the opposite. Sixteen stock cards, one pass, and the solver's winning lines left only about one of them unused. With one deck there is no spare copy of the 8 you need; if all four 8s are buried or gone, the chain stops. That is also why the wrap matters so much: it gives each Ace and King one extra neighbor in a deck that has very few.
Golf rules on this site
- Deck: one standard 52-card deck.
- Table: 35 cards in seven face-up columns of five.
- Foundation: one pile, started with one card.
- Stock: 16 cards, turned one at a time onto the foundation, one pass.
- Moves: a column's bottom card goes on the foundation if it is one rank higher or lower, any suit.
- Wrap: Ace and King are neighbors.
- Win: clear all seven columns; leftover stock cards don't matter.
Playing a one-deck chain game
Count the four of a rank
Each rank has only four cards. If three 6s are already on the foundation or buried, a chain that needs a 6 is fragile. Glance at what is left before you commit.
Treat the stock as sixteen coins
With about one stock card to spare in a typical win, turning a card while a useful column play remains is the classic way to lose a winnable deal.
A blank start is common
In 27.4% of deals the first foundation card has no match. Turn a stock card; nothing is wrong.
Look past the first chain
The greedy program already picks the longest visible chain and still wins only 22.4%. Ask which chain leaves a good next chain open.
Use the wrap
A run heading for a King can carry on into Aces and 2s. Plan those bridges deliberately.
Playing on freecell-two-decks.com
Golf is free in any current browser on computer, tablet or phone, with no account. Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play are included, 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 freecell-two-decks.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, 1 to 3,000 without.
- Two players: a greedy program that cannot see the stock and draws only when stuck, and an exhaustive solver that knows the stock and remembers every dead end, so every deal was settled.
- Published check: Blake and Gent (2026) give 45.1% for no-wrap Golf; ours is 44.0%. They do not cover the wrap.
- No two-deck Golf was simulated.
- 95% ranges: Wilson score intervals.
Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, helped write and review the code and draft this page. Every figure comes from running the code, and the team checked them.
Golf questions
Can every deal be won?
No: 7.3% are impossible even for a solver that knows the stock.
Does the wrap really matter?
Yes. Winnable deals rise from 44.0% without it to 92.7% with it.
Is there a two-deck Golf?
Not on this site. For a long two-deck game, try FreeCell Two Decks or Solitaire Double.
What is similar?
Pyramid is another quick one-deck game. All games are on the games page.
By Admin, freecell-two-decks.com (Forty Media). Research run September 2026.