Planning a Golf Group Trip to Hanoi: Tee Blocks, Shotgun Starts, Hotels and Transport for 8–40 Players (2026)

Last updated: 9 October 2026

A Hanoi golf group trip for eight players is planned much like a couple’s trip, just with more tee times. At 20 or 40 players the job changes. You are asking a club to hold a block of its tee sheet, you have more golf bags than one coach can carry, and you need a plan for scoring and prize-giving. This guide covers what changes as the group grows, which Hanoi courses have hosted large fields, and the timeline we work to as a local operator.

Group size decides everything

A flight in Hanoi is three or four players. At Long Bien a flight must have at least three and no more than four, under the club’s published rules. So the first number to work out is how many flights you have, not how many people. Eight players are two flights, 20 players are five, and 40 players are ten. Every other decision follows from that number.

The lead times are our working advice, not rules the clubs publish. Peak season in Hanoi runs from February to April and from September to November. For the standard booking and cancellation rules that apply to every group, see the Hanoi booking rules that every group flight still follows. One rule matters more for groups: at Long Bien a weekend round must be cancelled 120 hours ahead, so a Saturday block has to be cut by the Monday before. A late drop-out in a 30-player group can leave a flight of two, which Long Bien will not send out.

Consecutive tee times or a shotgun start?

With consecutive tee times, flights go off the first tee one after another. It suits up to about four or five flights. Beyond that, the first group finishes long before the last one, and lunch or prize-giving becomes a waiting game.

In a shotgun start every flight begins at the same moment on a different hole, so the whole group finishes together. It is the normal format for a company golf day or a society competition. It also takes the course, or one nine of it, away from other golfers for a morning, so the club decides whether it is possible on your date.

None of the Hanoi clubs we checked publishes a shotgun policy or a minimum number of players for one (official websites checked 9 October 2026). In practice it is a request for large groups only, and we agree it with the club when the date is booked. If a shotgun is not possible, two other options work well:

• Split the group across two courses at one resort. Kings Island has three courses on the same lake, so half the group can play one course while the other half plays another, and everyone meets at the same clubhouse.
• Run two tee blocks. Use the 1st and 10th tees at once, which halves the time between the first and last flight.

Hanoi courses that handle large groups

The clubs below have each hosted a field of around 80 players or more in 2024–2026, according to official sites and Vietnamese press. That shows what the course can run on a given day. It does not mean your date is available.

A few notes on the choice. Kings Island is the easiest place to split a large group, because three courses share one clubhouse; its official rate card includes a shared cart and a caddie for 18 holes. Long Bien is the closest to the city and has three nines, which makes a two-tee start straightforward. Sky Lake is the only club in the table with a hotel on the course that we could confirm, which suits a group that wants to stay where it plays. Visitors are normally booked on the Sky Course; the Lake Course is run for members. Legend Hill is 10–15 minutes from Noi Bai Airport, so it works for an arrival-day round.

Chi Linh Star (27 holes, about 90 minutes away) has not published a large event for this period, but it is a good stop for a group on the road to Ha Long.

Moving 20+ golfers and their bags

Transport is where group trips most often go wrong. A coach’s seat count is not its bag count: golf bags take far more room than suitcases. We plan the vehicles around the bags:

• Up to about 12 players: one minibus, with a second car for bags if everyone travels with a full tour bag.
• 13–25 players: a mid-size coach for people and a separate van for bags. The bag van leaves first, so the bags are at the bag drop before the players arrive.
• 26–40 players: a large coach, or two smaller coaches if the group splits across courses, plus a dedicated vehicle for bags.

Leave earlier than you would for a small group. Unloading 30 bags, checking in 30 players and pairing them with caddies takes time. For an 8am shotgun we would normally have the coach at the clubhouse by 6:45. In the winter months, morning fog can delay tee times by 30–90 minutes. A group should plan around a 9–10am start from December to February.

Hotels for golf groups

A hotel that suits two golfers may not suit 30. Check these before you book:

• Coach access. Many Old Quarter streets cannot take a large coach. A hotel just outside the Old Quarter, where a coach can park at the door, saves a walk with bags every morning.
• Golf bag storage. Ask where 30 bags will be kept overnight, and whether they can stay locked up between rounds.
• A private room for dinner. A prize-giving dinner needs a function room or a private dining room, not a corner of the restaurant.
• Breakfast times. An early start needs breakfast from about 5:30am. Ask the hotel to confirm this in writing.

Staying on the course works if most rounds are at that course. Wyndham Sky Lake Resort is on the Sky Lake property, which puts a group about an hour from the city. That suits a golf-only trip but not one with evenings in the Old Quarter.

Running a group competition

A competition turns a golf trip into an event, and it is the part most corporate groups ask for. We can run it from start to finish: the format, flights and starting holes, the scorecards and leaderboard, trophies and prizes, and the prize-giving dinner.

The format matters more than the prizes.

• Stableford is the safest choice for a mixed-ability group. Players score points on each hole against their handicap, and a bad hole costs nothing more than a blank, so the round keeps moving.
• Scramble or Texas scramble suits groups with beginners or non-regular golfers. Each team plays from its best shot, so everyone is involved and pace stays good.
• Stroke play works for a society of regular golfers who all hold handicaps.

Add a longest drive and a nearest-the-pin on one par 3 each, so players outside the leaders still have something to win. Collect handicaps when you register players, not on the morning.

Tipping works best when it is agreed before the round. Each player tips their own caddie, and it is simplest when everyone uses the same amount. Our caddie tipping guide covers how a group settles this.

Sample 4-day group itinerary

The plan below suits 16–32 players flying into Noi Bai and staying in the city. It is the shape of our four-day Hanoi package, scaled up from one flight to a full field.

Holding the main competition on day 3 gives everyone a practice round first, and lets the dinner close the trip.

Add-ons: a Ha Long cruise or a Ninh Binh day

Incentive and company trips often add a day without golf. Ha Long Bay is the usual choice: an overnight cruise after the golf, with Chi Linh Star on the way there. Ninh Binh suits a shorter trip, as a day out by road. For how the cruise fits after your rounds, see how a group can finish its Hanoi golf on a Ha Long cruise.

Planning checklist and timeline

This is the timeline we work to for a group of 20 or more. All lead times are our recommendations.

1. 6 months before: fix the dates and an approximate group size. Avoid the Tet holiday and check local public holidays, when members fill weekend tee sheets.
2. 3–6 months before: block tee times and ask for a shotgun if you need one. Book the hotel and the function room for the prize-giving dinner.
3. 2 months before: confirm the competition format and prizes, and collect every player’s handicap.
4. 1 month before: finalise flights and the transport plan, and decide who travels with a full tour bag.
5. The week before the cancellation deadline: confirm final numbers. At Long Bien that means 120 hours before a weekend round.
6. 1 week before: send pairings, starting holes and pick-up times to every player.

Ready to plan? Send us your group size, your dates and the number of rounds, and we will come back with tee options and Hanoi golf packages sized for societies and company groups.

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GoGolfVietnam is a Vietnam-based golf tour operator arranging tee times, transfers, hotels and group competitions around Hanoi and Northern Vietnam.