Golf Trip Planning Guide: How to Plan the Perfect Golf Getaway

So you want to plan a buddies' golf trip, eh? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to facilitate a wide variety of personalities, golf games, budgets, and geographies into one epic weekend of golf. Pitfalls abound (sellouts, weather, sandbagging), but the spoils are rich and you'll go down as a legend if you pull it off.

I've captained numerous trips over the years, large and small. Do it right, and it's fulfilling, and your golf buddies will be eternally grateful. But there are a lot of details to get right. And it's important to set expectations for everyone ahead of time so they know what they're in for.

If you've never planned a golf trip but are getting the urge to do so, here are some tips to consider. No two groups are alike, but I've found a few keys are worth dialing in to get your group aligned and onto the first tee ready for a great weekend.

Logistics over rankings

Usually, around the holidays, the group chat lights up with calls to pick a destination and lock in dates. There are always a couple of guys who just immediately swing for the fences with their ideas: Bandon! Big Cedar! Ireland!

Great. You saw a pretty drone video on Instagram. Look, those spots are all great when you want to go big on a milestone year like a 50th birthday, anniversary, or retirement, but for the regular buddies golf trip, it's not only overkill, but now you're competing for spots in the most coveted tee sheets in the world.

And think about it this way: If you've got guys all over the country, how on earth are they all going to get to Bandon easily? Same goes for most of these resorts, they are rarely close to a good airport.

I like to think about the golfer with the most budget constraints and who will be coming from the farthest city. If we go west coast one year, I try and appease the east coasters the next.

That's why I typically lean into metro areas: San Diego, Denver, Scottsdale, Salt Lake City, and even Grand Rapids. Just about everyone can get a direct flight, and considering these are long-weekend trips, no one wants to be in the car very long. I don't really want to be farther than an hour away from the airport.

Setting the trip budget

As you start to feel out the group, you need to be very straightforward about budget, and this shouldn't be a competition over who has the most money to blow. Be mindful of the guys in the group who just bought a house or had a kid. Feel out a good budget for that person and set the rules around those prices.

Don't let Big Spender talk everyone into a fancy steak dinner if you know guys in the group don't really have the dough for that. Grilled Ribeyes at the house with some good red may even hit the spot better.

The last thing I want is for a buddy to not be able to go next year because he 2x'd his expected costs and now he's got explaining to do at home.

Also, I always like to get a deposit from people as early as possible just so I know they are committed (i.e. at least confirmed with their wife they can go that weekend). Not much, just $250. Then after everything is booked I collect the rest. Then afterward, if I need more money for lunches, etc. I send out the final bill.

Where to save money

A great album has a mix of bangers and mellow tunes, yet so many golf vacation itineraries I see are trying to play all 5-star stuff the whole time. Why? Have some peaks and valleys in your itinerary. You'll save money, and then the 5-star stuff is even better. Play a decent course on arrival day so people can iron out their swings. Add a par-3 course in the afternoon. Book 36 at a 3-star hotel for the true golf addicts.

Again, if you have a good group, you're going to have a blast. Everything you do doesn't need to be 5-star.

Golf packages to places like Myrtle Beach and Scottsdale are great about finding affordable condos. Overall, the five-star resorts like Omni don't do a very good job setting a reasonable per-day rate for a buddy's trip. I don't particularly like taking groups to brand-name resorts that are in the weddings and convention businesses. They're pricing you out.

An exception would be Pinehurst, or Kiawah Island which has both five-star luxury hotels and more economical condos.

Determining Group Size

The larger you make your group, the more variables on and off the course you will encounter, from flight times to handicaps and attitudes. Expect to plan at least 3-6 months farther in advance when you have a group of more than 8.

Finding accommodations if you want a house won't be easy (you'll probably need two or three houses near one another), and getting blocks of tee times is more difficult.

This winter, I inquired at Arcadia Bluffs about tee times and lodging, and they were booked solid for our size. If you want to play the A-list stuff with a big group, you need to think over a year out and closer to 18 months.

The benefits of a larger group are that you can usually book before the tee sheet opens to the public, get a group rate, and the course will take a little better care of you service-wise.

As the captain, be sure to ask what the perks are if you're bringing a group. Some golf packagers will even pay for the captain's spot.

But again, there is a reason why big golf trip meccas like Myrtle Beach, San Diego, Scottsdale, and northern Michigan exist. The price flexibility is great.

Setting Groups and Tee Times

If the group is big, right out of the gate, you need to set a "no cliques" tone. It's imperative to make sure everyone plays with each other. This makes the trips that much better all the years after. Plenty of time to catch up at the 19th hole or the rental house later.

Set some days where like handicaps play with one another, then another where opposites play with each other. Ideally, a 20-handicap shouldn't play with three single-digits.

For the course I deem to be the "star," I try to pair up people I think have the same temperament. I don't want the scratch player who wants to grind hard o the Top 100 course paired up with the guy who's just there to have a good time. I would save that pairing for another course with lower expectations.

I also set up a day or two of optional PM rounds. Typically, half the group is junkies who want to play all day, while the others want to relax at the pool or go fishing. I always have a few tee times set aside in the afternoon or options for some course I know will have space at twilight.

Games and scoring

This is where you can have a lot of fun but also where more headaches are likely and potentially some arguments over handicaps. Ideally, your group should have an even number, and you can do a Ryder Cup-style multi-day match full of best ball, Nassaus, individual stroke play, etc.

I like to layer on individual stableford, skins, and closest-to-the-pin and long drive pots over the team match play events. The skill games give your lower handicappers an opportunity to make some cash back after they've been net-golfed to death in the other formats.

At the end of the day, my hope is that by setting up enough different ways to win, you won't go home empty-handed.

A word on handicaps: If your group has a wide range of handicaps, my recommendation would be to not give the higher handicaps 100% net strokes. I did this and, because buddies trip golf tends to be more casual with gimmes and no stroke-and-distance reloads for lost balls, they gain a pretty significant advantage.

When I did 100% handicaps, our high handicappers ran away with the tournament. We're doing 70% this year, with a max handicap of 24. Let the group know there can be a halfway readjustment of handicaps as well.

Group golf trip software to use: GolfN does not yet have full-on buddies-trip capabilities. My go-to for recent trips has been Squabbit. There are plenty of others out there as well that help with the pairings, pots, and net scores.

Delegate responsibilities

As the captain, it's your duty to steer the ship, but that shouldn't mean every item on the checklist is on you. Feel out the group for who has connections and expertise and give them a job or two. Jobs like:

Transportation guy: (reserves the buses and coordinates airport transportation)
Meals guy: (locks in on the grocery list or finds great restaurants in the area)

Early Riser guy: Gets the coffee and eggs going
Prizes guy: funny, novel prizes typically trump cash
Scoring guy: dials in the side games and shots to give
Nightlife guy: knows the late-night spots

Five Trip Planning No-Nos:

In closing, you should have a great trip, unless flights or weather ruins you. But I'll leave you with five hard No-No's to avoid:

• Too much driving on a long-weekend itinerary
• Trip costs way more than the initial commitment
• You don’t book the tee times far enough in advance or confirm the booking windows for groups
• You didn’t check the seasonal weather or maintenance schedules
• You invite guys not personally compatible with the greater group

Five Clutch moves

• Get some gag prizes that can be passed around year-to-year
• Stock the house with F&B essentials before the trip even starts. Get delivery or a property manager may be able to do it.
• Use a live scoring app for matches and smack talk - GolfN has a private groups feature you can use as well.
• Have everyone dump their photos/videos into a share drive and have someone or AI make a recap that can be banked for years to come
• Anytime you're able to stay at a friend's place you save on money exponentially - but be warned home games typically lead to troubles and distractions at home that need attention during the trip.

How to use GolfN on your buddies trip

If you're the captain, add one more item to the pre-trip checklist: make sure everyone in the group is on GolfN. Play four or five courses over a long weekend and you're going to stack enough points to redeem for something worthwhile, especially if you're on a Silver membership. Four rounds at Scottsdale prices, and the rewards start to feel like a small consolation for what you spent on green fees. Use code BTUCK when you sign up for a free month of Silver.