Best Golf Destinations for a Group Trip
The annual golf trip is not a bachelor party. It is not a corporate retreat. It is a tradition built on the accumulated weight of shared rounds, familiar arguments about gimme distance, and the quiet understanding that the trip itself matters more than any individual course. Planning one well requires a different calculus than planning a couples getaway or a solo pilgrimage. Group trips demand course inventory deep enough to accommodate varying handicaps, lodging that keeps everyone under one roof or within walking distance, and logistics simple enough that the organizer does not lose friends in the process. These eight destinations handle those demands better than anywhere else in the country.
Myrtle Beach
Group size: 8 to 24. Price tier: Budget to mid-range. Best months: March through May, September through November.
Sheep Ranch
Bandon Dunes
No destination in America absorbs large golf groups more efficiently than the Grand Strand. More than 80 courses along a 60-mile corridor mean a group of 16 can split into foursomes, play four different courses on the same morning, and compare notes over dinner. Stay-and-play packages from operators like Legends and Barefoot Resort bundle tee times with accommodations at prices that make the annual trip feasible even for the member of the group who just had a second kid. The course quality varies, but the top tier, led by Caledonia and True Blue, rewards the group that builds at least one premium round into the itinerary. See the Myrtle Beach destination guide for course-by-course detail.
The real advantage is logistical: the entire ecosystem is engineered for groups.
Pinehurst
Group size: 8 to 16. Price tier: Mid-range to premium. Best months: April through June, September through November.
A group of 12 can play different courses each day without anyone driving more than five minutes. The flagship No. 2 is the obvious draw, restored by Coore and Crenshaw to its original sandy, strategic character. But courses like No. 4 (Gil Hanse) and No. 8 deliver rounds that hold their own in any conversation. The resort's central village, with its restaurants and lodging clustered together, keeps the group cohesive between rounds. Pinehurst is the right choice for the group that wants the trip to feel like an occasion rather than a party. The Pinehurst destination guide covers each course in detail.
Pinehurst Resort operates nine courses on a single property, which solves the most persistent logistical problem in group golf: getting everyone to the first tee on time.
Bandon Dunes
Group size: 8 to 12. Price tier: Premium. Best months: May through October.
Bandon is the trip the group talks about for years afterward. Five full-length courses and two short courses on a remote stretch of Oregon coast, all walking-only, all routed through dunes and coastal terrain that has no equivalent in American resort golf. The walking-only policy does something unusual to group dynamics: it strips away the golf cart buffer and puts four people on foot together for four and a half hours. Conversations happen at Bandon that do not happen at cart-path courses. The isolation is a feature, not a limitation. There is nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, which means the group stays together. Lodging on property ranges from lodge rooms to multi-bedroom cottages. Groups larger than 12 begin to strain tee time availability, particularly on Pacific Dunes and Sheep Ranch. For the group willing to commit to 36 holes a day on foot, nothing else compares. The Bandon destination guide has the full course breakdown.
Scottsdale
Group size: 8 to 20. Price tier: Mid-range to premium. Best months: November through April.
Scottsdale's advantage for groups is infrastructure. The city has more quality golf courses per square mile than nearly anywhere in the country, but it also has the restaurants, nightlife, and resort amenities that keep the non-golf hours interesting. A group that wants to play We-Ko-Pa Saguaro in the morning and sit at a good steakhouse that evening will find Scottsdale accommodating in both directions. The course portfolio runs from desert target-golf at Troon North to the TPC Scottsdale Stadium Course, which even non-golfers in the group will recognize from the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Large resorts like the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess and JW Marriott handle groups of 16 or more without friction. Direct flights from most major hubs make the logistics clean for groups assembling from multiple cities.
Kohler
Group size: 8 to 12. Price tier: Premium. Best months: June through September.
Destination Kohler in Wisconsin operates four courses designed by Pete Dye, anchored by Whistling Straits, which has hosted three PGA Championships and the 2021 Ryder Cup. The American Club serves as the central lodging, keeping the group under one roof in a property with enough dining options and spa facilities to fill the non-golf hours. Four courses is the right number for a three- or four-day trip: enough variety without the paradox of choice. The Irish and River courses offer strong alternatives to Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run, and the contrast between the lakeside links-style layouts and the wooded river valley holes gives the trip genuine range. Kohler works best for smaller groups that value quality concentration over volume.
Streamsong
Group size: 8 to 16. Price tier: Mid-range to premium. Best months: October through April.
Streamsong Resort sits on a former phosphate mine in central Florida, roughly 90 minutes from Tampa, and its isolation is the point. Three acclaimed courses by Coore and Crenshaw (Red), Tom Doak (Blue), and Gil Hanse (Black) share a single lodge, and the recent addition of The Chain, a 12-hole short course by Doak and Hanse, gives groups a perfect late-afternoon closer. The concentrated format means the group never scatters. Everyone eats at the same restaurants, stays in the same building, and walks to the first tee. For the annual trip where the goal is to play serious golf and spend time together rather than explore a city, Streamsong removes every distraction.
Kiawah Island
Group size: 8 to 16. Price tier: Mid-range to premium. Best months: March through May, September through November.
Kiawah Island Golf Resort operates five courses on a single barrier island outside Charleston, headlined by the Ocean Course, which hosted the 2021 PGA Championship and the 1991 Ryder Cup. The remaining four layouts, including Osprey Point and Turtle Point, provide the depth a group needs to fill four days without repeating a round. The resort's villa and cottage inventory accommodates groups well, and proximity to Charleston gives the trip a credible off-course anchor. For groups that want serious golf in a setting that also appeals to any non-golfing partners who might join for a night or two, Kiawah occupies a useful middle ground between isolated golf resort and coastal vacation.
Orlando
Group size: 12 to 24. Price tier: Budget to mid-range. Best months: October through April.
Orlando's appeal for group trips is almost entirely practical. It is the easiest city in America to fly into from anywhere, with direct service from virtually every domestic airport. That logistical simplicity matters disproportionately for the 16-person group assembling from six different cities. The golf is solid without being transcendent: Reunion Resort offers three courses by Nicklaus, Palmer, and Watson on a single property, ChampionsGate has two Greg Norman designs, and Orange County National provides 36 holes of well-maintained public golf at reasonable rates. Accommodation costs are competitive, group dining options are abundant, and the infrastructure exists to handle parties of any size without advance negotiation. Orlando is rarely the most exciting choice on this list. It is frequently the most practical one.
Choosing the Right Destination
The best group trip destination is the one that matches the group's actual priorities rather than its aspirations. A group of 20 with a wide handicap range and a moderate budget will have a better time at Myrtle Beach than at Bandon, regardless of course rankings. A group of 8 serious golfers who play together regularly and want the trip to mean something will remember Bandon or Kohler long after the details of a Scottsdale trip have faded. The organizer's job is to be honest about who is actually coming, what they actually want to spend, and how much golf they will actually play. Get those three answers right, and the destination picks itself.