Planning a group trip
How do you plan a golf trip when the handicaps are all over the place?
By Tom Wilson, FounderUpdated September 2, 20267-minute guideGroups of friends rarely play to the same standard, and the trip that works is not the one that closes the gap. It is the one that stops the gap mattering. Three decisions do nearly all of that work: which tees each golfer plays, which format you use, and how you pair the groups.
Why is a wide spread of handicaps a problem at all?
Because the gap is rarely the thing that ruins it. What ruins it is a format and a tee box that turn four rounds into an endurance test for whoever is playing worst, while everyone else waits. Weather is shared. A bad setup is suffered alone.
- the highest-leverage decision
- Tees
- made once, felt every hole
- decides whether the field stays together
- Format
- and whether a bad hole ends the day
- who plays with whom, and when
- Pairings
- easy to set once and never revisit
Plenty of groups contain a low handicapper and someone who plays rarely. That is not a problem to be fixed. It is the ordinary shape of a group of friends, and it is why the trip exists at all.
The problem shows up in the setup around them. Put everyone on the same back tees and run a format with no cover, and the golfer playing worst spends the week out of contention and under pressure from the group behind. Nobody remembers the winner of a buddy trip. Everybody remembers the person who had a miserable week.
Which tees should each golfer actually play?
Not the same ones. Let each golfer choose the tee that leaves them hitting mid-irons into greens rather than woods, and handle the difference through handicaps rather than pride. A group playing three different tee sets can still play one competition together.
This is the single decision that changes a week most, and it is the one groups are most reluctant to make, because choosing a forward tee gets read as an admission. It is worth killing that idea early and out loud, ideally by the best player in the group moving up first.
Handicapping is designed to let golfers on different tees play a fair game together, and most societies and club competitions do it routinely. The exact adjustment depends on the format and on the tees involved, so agree it with whoever is running the scoring rather than improvising on the first tee. Your job as organiser is to settle the principle before anyone travels, so nobody has to negotiate it in front of the group.
A useful test: a golfer should be hitting an approach club they can actually hold a green with on most par fours. Someone hitting fairway wood into most greens is probably on the wrong tee, and several days of that wears people down whatever the resort is like.
What formats keep an uneven field in the same game?
Ones where a single disastrous hole does not decide a golfer's round. Scrambles hide the gap, better-ball keeps everyone contributing, and points-based scoring limits what one wrecked hole can cost. Straight medal stroke play offers the least cover.
Scramble
Nobody plays badly in public
- How it works
- Everyone tees off, the side picks the best ball and all play from there, repeating until the hole is finished.
- Who it suits
- The widest gaps, and the first day when people are rusty and nervous.
Why it works: A weaker golfer can contribute a few shots without their bad ones counting. The trade is that nobody really plays their own ball.
Better-ball
The usual best answerOwn ball, shared safety net
- How it works
- Partners each play their own ball and the side counts the better score on each hole, usually with handicap strokes applied.
- Who it suits
- Moderate gaps, and groups who want a real round rather than a team exercise.
Why it works: With strokes applied, a higher handicapper can still win holes for the side, and has cover on the ones that go wrong.
Points scoring
A bad hole costs one hole
- How it works
- Points per hole against a target score, with handicap strokes applied. Pick up when the hole is gone.
- Who it suits
- Any mixed field, and any round where pace matters.
Why it works: Ends the death spiral of a blow-up hole, and speeds play up, because there is no reason to hole out for an eleven.
Medal stroke play
Where mixed groups come apart
- How it works
- Every shot counts, every hole is holed out, gross or net over the full round.
- Who it suits
- A narrow field of similar handicaps who have asked for it.
Where it breaks: Without strokes or a points cap, one ruined hole can put a golfer out of contention with most of the round still to play.
Mix them across the week rather than picking one. A scramble on arrival day gets everyone loose and playing together before anyone has anything to prove. Better-ball in the middle, when the group has found its feet. Save anything that resembles a real individual competition for one round, and only if the group actually wants it.
How should you pair the groups and order the tee sheet?
Mix abilities within each four-ball rather than sorting the group into a fast tier and a slow one, and send the quicker players out first. Sorting strictly by ability tends to leave one group finished early and another playing all week under pressure from behind.
Before you travel
Ask for handicaps, honestly
Ask everyone for a rough handicap or an average score, and say plainly what it is for: tees and pairings, not a leaderboard. People under-report when they think it is a ranking and over-report when they think it is a prize.
The night before
Publish the pairings
Post the groups the evening before rather than on the first tee. It gives anyone unhappy a private way to say so, and it stops the awkward public reshuffle that everyone remembers.
First off
Send the quick players out first
Putting a quicker four-ball out first gives the slower groups open holes ahead rather than a queue behind them. It will not fix a slow round on its own, and the group setting the pace is whoever is actually slowest, wherever they are in the order.
Each day
Rotate the pairings
Change the four-balls daily. It stops the same pairs spending the whole trip together by accident, which is often what separates a group trip from several parallel ones.
The instinct is to put the good players together so they can have a proper game. On a trip it usually backfires: one group finishes well ahead with nothing to do while another plays under pressure from behind, and that is the experience people remember when they decide about next year.
What quietly goes wrong, and how do you catch it early?
The failures are rarely dramatic. Somebody goes quiet at dinner, plays worse each day, and books nothing next year. Most of these show up early if you are watching for them, and some can still be changed mid-trip.
One golfer on the wrong tee all week
Nobody wants to be the one who moves up on day three. Make it a group decision on day one, or make the change for them quietly.
The same four-ball every day
Usually an accident of the first sheet nobody bothered to change. It quietly splits the trip into separate holidays.
A leaderboard nobody asked for
A running competition is fun for the top three and a four-day reminder for everyone else. Check that the group actually wants one.
Courses picked only for the best player
The hardest course on the rota is a memory for two golfers and an ordeal for the rest. Balance the week deliberately.
Ask on the second evening
One direct question to the golfer having the hardest week, away from the group, surfaces most of the above while there are still rounds left to change something.
What changes when someone else is setting the week up?
The same decisions still have to be made. The difference is when, and by whom. We ask each golfer for a handicap when they complete their profile, so the question is at least put before anyone travels rather than raised on the first tee.
Handicap is one of the fields we collect on a golfer's profile. That is a small thing on its own, and it is deliberately the only claim made here: a golfer can leave it blank or estimate it generously, as anyone who has run a society day knows. What it changes is the timing: the question gets asked while there is still room to act on the answer.
Everything else in this guide is a decision any group can make for itself, and it is written so they can. Whether handing the whole week over is worth it is a different question with a different answer, and it has its own guide.
Good questions
Common questions
- Can golfers play different tees in the same competition?
- Usually yes. Handicapping is built to let golfers on different tees play a fair game, and societies do it routinely. The exact adjustment depends on the format and the tees involved, so agree it with whoever runs the scoring, and settle the principle before the trip rather than on the first tee.
- What is the best format for a group with very mixed handicaps?
- A scramble hides the gap and suits arrival day. Better-ball is usually the best answer for a real round: partners each play their own ball and the side counts the better score, so a weaker golfer has cover on the holes that go wrong. Straight medal stroke play offers the least cover.
- Should you group the better players together?
- Generally no. Sorting strictly by ability tends to leave one four-ball finished early and another playing under pressure from behind. Mixing abilities within each group, and sending a quicker group out first, usually keeps the field closer together.
- How do you ask people for their handicap without it being awkward?
- Ask for a rough handicap or an average score, and say plainly what it is for: choosing tees and building pairings, not seeding a leaderboard. People understate it when they think it is a ranking and overstate it when they think there is a prize attached.
Written by
Tom Wilson, Founder
Tom Wilson founded Arrive Golf and runs its trips himself, from the first tee time to the last airport transfer. He spent years organizing golf getaways for groups of sixteen to twenty before building the company to take that work off the organizer's plate.