Golf Trip Games for Groups: Formats for a Chiang Mai Week

The best golf trip games for groups combine one steady base format, individual Stableford, with a different team or side game each day, all feeding a single week-long points table. For an 8-player Chiang Mai week of four or five rounds, that structure keeps a 6-handicapper and a 24-handicapper in contention until the final green.

We run group golf trips in Chiang Mai every season, and the formats below are the ones that hold up across societies, stag weeks and mates' trips. Here is how to build the week, score it and pick the courses that suit each game.

What base format should a golf trip group play every day?

Individual Stableford, scored against par with handicap strokes, is the right daily base because one bad hole costs zero points instead of ruining the round.

Stableford is set out in Rule 21.1 of the R&A Rules of Golf (accessed 2026-10-17). You score 2 points for a net par, 3 for a net birdie, 1 for a net bogey and nothing for worse. A player who loses a ball on one of the long par-5s at Alpine Golf Resort picks up and moves on. Pace stays good and morale survives, which matters when two or three groups are playing back to back and the next one is waiting on the tee.

A score of 36 points means you played to your handicap. Anything over 40 on a trip usually means the handicap was generous, which we cover below.

Which team formats work best on a Chiang Mai golf week?

Rotate three team formats across the week: two-person better ball, a four-person Texas scramble and greensomes, each one shuffling partners so nobody carries the same weak link twice.

The handicap allowances for four-ball come from USGA Appendix C (accessed 2026-10-17). For scrambles there is no single right answer. Pick a formula, put it in the group chat and stick to it.

Shuffle the pairs every day. The draw itself becomes part of the evening, and it stops two friends from forming a team that wins the week.

How do you build a points table for a whole golf week?

Award league points by daily finishing position, add small bonus points for birdies and contests, drop the worst round and double the final day.

Raw Stableford totals across five rounds reward whoever has the hot first day. Position points keep the table tight. This is the table we suggest for an 8-player group:

On a five-round week like our Lanna Signature 7-night package, drop each player's lowest daily score before the final day. One poor round at a course that does not suit you then stops costing the week.

How do you stop sandbaggers winning every day?

Use official handicap indexes, cap the maximum somewhere between 28 and 36, and cut two shots from anyone who scores over 40 Stableford points in a day.

This is the honest downside of every trip competition: handicaps get stretched. Someone who plays twice a year arrives on 28, shoots 42 points on day one and the table is over by Tuesday. The fix is a rolling cut. Over 40 points loses two shots for the rest of the week, over 44 loses three.

Players without a World Handicap System index should agree a playing number in the group chat before travel. Thai courses generally do not ask for a handicap certificate, so this is only for your game. The point is that nobody argues about it on the first tee at 07:00.

What side games keep every group interested?

Run skins inside each group of four and one shared contest per day, so players out of the main table still have something to win.

Skins are simple. Lowest net score on a hole wins the skin; a tie carries it to the next hole. Set a small value, ฿100 per skin works, and cap carry-overs at three holes so one hole does not swing the whole pot.

Wolf suits a single group of four. Players rotate as the Wolf, who picks a partner after each tee shot or goes alone for double. It creates noise and banter but is hard to score across several groups, so keep it inside one.

Hole-specific bets work well on Chiang Mai courses with a signature hole. Gassan Panorama has a par-6, a rarity anywhere in Thailand. Fewest shots on it wins the day's bonus point, and the debate over how to play it starts at breakfast.

Which Chiang Mai courses suit which game?

Match each format to the course: long courses for driving contests, links-style for course management, floodlit courses for night skins and the best-conditioned course for the final.

• Day one, scramble: Mae Jo Golf Club sits roughly half an hour north of the city and is forgiving off the tee. Conditioning is the weakest of the premium set and pace can be slow, which is why a relaxed team format fits it better than a medal round.
• Longest drive day: Alpine stretches well past 7,000 yards from the back tees, one of the longest layouts in the region.
• Course management day: Royal Chiang Mai is a Peter Thomson design with pot bunkers and run-offs. Better ball suits it because partners can cover each other's misses.
• Night skins: Gassan Legacy and Summit Green Valley both offer floodlit golf. Night rates usually come in below daytime rates, and an evening round dodges the midday heat. Confirm night availability when you enquire, as floodlit tee times are limited.
• Final round, double points: Chiang Mai Highlands has 27 holes, some of the best conditioning in Chiang Mai and a spa for the losers to recover in.

For the full course-by-course rundown, see our best golf courses in Chiang Mai guide, or browse the whole Chiang Mai golf course directory.

How should you order the formats across the week?

Open with a team scramble to shake off travel, run individual formats midweek, and finish with the highest-stakes round on the best course.

A sample five-round order for a 7-night trip:

1. Day 2: Texas scramble, random teams of four. Low pressure after the flight.
2. Day 3: Individual Stableford plus skins. The table starts.
3. Day 4: Two-person better ball at 85%, partners drawn high with low.
4. Day 5: Rest day or a floodlit night skins round.
5. Day 6: Greensomes or individual Stableford.
6. Day 7: Final individual Stableford, double points.

Our course pairings itinerary guide covers which courses sit well on consecutive days. Book early tee times in green season: afternoon storms are common from June to October and tend to be heaviest late in the season. Our best tee times guide has the detail.

How do caddies fit into group golf games?

Caddies keep gross scores for you, read greens and settle "was that a gimme" disputes, but you calculate Stableford points and skins yourself.

Almost every Thai course pairs each golfer with their own caddie. Tell them the format on the first tee. They will record gross strokes on the card, which makes scoring after the round fast and fair. Points and skins stay on a separate card held by one player per group.

Tip in cash at the bag drop. ฿400 to ฿600 per 18 is common, and more for an excellent round. Our caddie culture and tipping guide explains the etiquette.

Is a package worth it for a group golf competition?

For four or more rounds with eight players, usually yes: one operator holds the tee times, runs the transfers and keeps the groups together on the same course.

The hard part of a group competition is logistics, not scoring. Eight players need two tee times back to back at the same course every day, two vans, and someone to move a booking when a storm closes the course. Booking that yourself across five courses is possible, but every change is your problem.

An all-in package covers green fees, caddies, carts, hotel, private driver and airport transfers, with support on the ground. The honest trade-off: for a single round, or a group happy to sort its own taxis, booking direct can be cheaper.

Our Highlands Classic 5-night and Lanna Signature 7-night packages are built for exactly this kind of week. We are enquiry-driven: tell us your group size, dates and formats through our Chiang Mai golf trips page, and we send a quote, hold the tee times and confirm with a deposit. For the wider planning picture, our Chiang Mai golf group trip guide covers rooms, budgets and transport for groups.