There is one person on every group golf trip who is doing more work than everyone else. The organizer. The guy who knows everyone's handicaps, who is texting the airline at 11pm because somebody's flight got cancelled, who has the rental SUV manifest in a notes app, who is the only person who knows where the Tuesday dinner reservation is. If you are reading this, you are probably that person. This guide is for you.
We host roughly 60 group golf trips a year. Some are eight guys, some are twenty-four. The trips that work best are the ones where the organizer has a partner on the ground — somebody who handles the parts that don't have to be the organizer's job. That is what Golf HQ does for groups. Below is the actual playbook: how to size the trip, what to ask for, and how to get a quote that turns into a booking.
First, why Orlando for groups.
Group golf trips work or fall apart on three things: the courses, the logistics, and the off-course time. Orlando is unusually well-suited on all three.
- The course density. 170+ courses within an hour. Tournament hosts, signature designs, value plays — enough variety that a four-day group trip can mix tiers without anyone driving more than 30 minutes.
- The transportation infrastructure. Orlando International (MCO) has direct flights from 130+ cities. Most groups arrive on a single flight per home city. Ground transport between courses is a 15-25 minute drive, every time.
- The off-course menu. Steakhouses for the group dinner. Disney Springs® for the wives if they came along. Bay Hill, Reunion, Grand Cypress, plus the casual stuff like Frank Farrell's on the resort. The trip doesn't have to be eat-sleep-golf-repeat.
- Year-round playability. Group trips often have to align with corporate calendars or club social calendars. Orlando is in season for golf 11 months of the year.
Group sizing and the math.
Group trips have a small number of natural sizes. Each one has its own logistics math.
Two foursomes
The classic buddy trip. One four-bedroom suite or two two-bedroom suites. One tee time block per round. Easy logistics, single dinner reservation.
Three foursomes
The corporate sweet spot. Two two-bedroom suites plus a four-bedroom, or three two-bedroom suites. Two staggered tee times per round. Group dinner for twelve still fits one table at most steakhouses.
Four foursomes
Club outing territory. Multi-suite block, often a four-bedroom plus three two-bedrooms. Tee times stagger across 90 minutes. Group dinners need a private room.
Six foursomes
The buddy trip that grew. Four-bedroom suites, multiple courses lined up simultaneously, a dedicated coordinator on our side, group dinners in private rooms or buyouts at the right venue.
Above 24, the math gets different — typically requires a partial buyout of one or two courses for the group to play together, plus a coordinator dedicated to the trip. We've hosted up to 48. The mechanics work; the lead time goes to 9-12 months.
The five logistics problems we solve.
Every group golf trip has the same five logistics problems. The organizer is the person who, in the absence of a partner, is doing all five of these in their off-hours from a real job.
Sample group Suite Stays.
The 3-day weekend (12 golfers, 2 rounds)
The 5-day classic (16 golfers, 4 rounds)
The week long buddy trip (24 golfers, 5 rounds + tournament)
Group trips fall apart over scheduling, not golf. Pick the dates that work for 80% of your group, send a save-the-date six months out, and don't wait for unanimous yes-votes before locking lodging. The right week with 18 of your 22 guys is a better trip than no trip at all.
The LBV group lodging advantage.
Most resorts handle group golf with a block of hotel rooms. That works fine for eight golfers. It starts to feel cramped at twelve, and it gets expensive at twenty-four.
Suite economics work differently. A four-bedroom suite at LBV sleeps 4-6 guys for the price of two hotel rooms at a comparable on-property golf resort. Multiplied across a 24-golfer trip:
The savings — roughly $27,000 on a 24-golfer week — typically gets reinvested into better courses, the tournament tickets, the swag bags, and the dinners. Same trip cost, demonstrably better trip.
What groups also get from the suite layout that they don't get in hotel rooms:
- A common living room in each suite — the place where guys actually hang out after the round, watch the late-round coverage, deal cards, decompress
- A full kitchen in each suite — the morning bagel-and-coffee station that gets the group out the door by 7:30 without a forty-minute breakfast line
- In-suite laundry — relevant on a 5-day trip when you wore your favorite golf shirt twice
- A private balcony — overlooking the pool or the resort grounds
- Free parking and free Disney/Universal shuttle for any non-golfer spouse who came along
The organizer's planning checklist.
9–12 months out
- Pick the dates. Send the save-the-date.
- Get rough headcount commitment from your core group (the guys who never miss).
- Submit a custom quote request (form below) — this locks the suite block and gives us time to line up partner-course tee-time windows for your group to book.
- Pay the deposit (typically 25%) once you've confirmed.
4–6 months out
- Final headcount confirmation, with rooming preferences.
- Course selection finalized. We line up partner-priority tee-time windows for you to book.
- Group dinner reservations locked.
- Optional add-ons confirmed: API tickets, branded swag, lessons, charter coach.
4–6 weeks out
- Flight roster collected from each golfer.
- Welcome packet sent to each player (itinerary, dress codes, pickup times).
- Final balance paid.
- Last-minute roommate swaps and dietary requests collected.
The week of
- Charter coach pickup times confirmed.
- Tee time confirmations distributed.
- The organizer arrives Sunday afternoon. Welcome dinner at Frank Farrell's. The trip starts.
Thirteen years running this trip and the first year someone else lined up the tee times instead of me. The trip got better. The marriages got better. Booked next year before we left.— D.K. · Massachusetts buddy trip · 22 golfers
Request a custom group quote.
Tell us the basics. We'll send back a real plan — your suite quote plus the courses, dinners, and transport lined up for you to book — within two business days.
Two-business-day response. No automated upsell follow-up.
One last thing.
The organizers who book a second year with us almost always do it before they leave the first year. That isn't because we did something clever. It's because somebody on the trip realized — usually around dinner on Wednesday — that the trip had been about playing golf instead of about coordinating a trip. That is the entire pitch. Run the trip you want to run. We line up the parts that aren't supposed to be your job — you just book and show up.
