If you live inside the gates at Reunion Resort, you probably noticed the second week of July felt different. More golf carts than usual crossing between the Palmer, Watson and Nicklaus courses. A steady stream of families in matching team polos checking in at the Davenport Room instead of the front desk. Then, on the night of the 17th, a drone show and fireworks lighting up the practice range like it was New Year's Eve.
That week was the Under Armour Junior Golf World Championship, and it wasn't a one-time booking. Reunion Resort & Golf Club signed on in late January as the tournament's official host venue and sponsor through 2028, which means this is now a fixture of the community calendar, not a favor to a passing event organizer. What most residents haven't connected yet is that the same acreage those 700 junior golfers practiced on this summer is the exact footprint the county already approved for a very different future.
A Three-Year Contract, Not a Guest Appearance
Reunion had hosted the championship informally in past years, including 2025. The January announcement changed the arrangement from a rental agreement into a partnership: Reunion is now the named host and sponsor for 2026, 2027 and 2028, according to the resort's own press materials. The tournament itself draws more than 700 elite junior golfers from over 50 countries, competing across 54 holes for a world title.
This year's edition added a new wrinkle. Babygrande Golf, a livestream and media company focused on junior and amateur golf, signed on as the tournament's exclusive livestream partner, with coverage of the 2026 World Championship broadcasting live from Reunion's courses. That's a small but real signal: Reunion isn't just hosting a youth tournament anymore, it's hosting one with a broadcast footprint.
Reunion Resort's general manager, Haley Hall, framed the deal simply:
"Reunion Resort has long been a destination where championship golf and unforgettable experiences intersect."
The line is boilerplate as far as press quotes go, but the underlying commitment isn't. A three-year host contract means residents should expect this week to keep landing on the calendar every summer, not fade after one good showing.
What Actually Changes on the Ground During Championship Week
For anyone who plays golf at Reunion regularly, or just wants to plan around 700 visiting families, the practical details matter more than the headline. Based on this year's event logistics:
Practice round bookings opened 14 days ahead of the tournament, starting July 1, and had to go through the pro shop directly rather than the standard tee sheet.
The resort was managing reservations for more than 650 players across the Palmer, Watson and Nicklaus courses simultaneously, which is a heavier load than any weekend member event.
Check-in and registration ran out of the Davenport Room in the Main Hotel Building, not the resort's main lobby.
The dinner reception for players and one guest each was held in the Grande Ballroom, with extra guest wristbands sold separately.
The signature moment, a drone show paired with fireworks, happened on the practice range itself at 9 p.m., visible to anyone on that side of the property whether or not they had a player in the field.
A Mini Golf Championship ran alongside the main event, with one free round included per player and guest.
None of this closes the resort down. But if you're used to walking onto the Watson course on a July afternoon without a tee time, this is the week that habit doesn't work. And if you skipped the fireworks because you assumed it was ticketed, it wasn't. It was visible from anywhere near the range.
The Ground Under the Range Has a Deadline
Here's the part that changes how you should think about that practice range going forward. In December 2024, Osceola County approved a zoning amendment clearing the way for Reunion's ownership group to build a new hotel, condos, spa and a 10-acre swimming lagoon on 31.5 acres immediately north of the Reunion Grande, according to reporting by GrowthSpotter . That parcel is the current driving range and portions of the Watson Independence Course, the same holes the 2026 World Championship field warmed up on before every round.
The project has been public knowledge since late 2022, when a $1 billion expansion plan was first announced: six new condo-hotel buildings ranging from five to ten stories, an amphitheater with capacity for up to 10,000 people, and the lagoon at the center of it. Financing for Phase I was arranged that December through LV Lending for the resort's ownership entity, with an original groundbreaking target of 2024, according to REBusinessOnline .
That target quietly slipped. The zoning amendment that actually authorizes construction on that acreage wasn't approved until December 2024, the same year ground was originally supposed to break. In other words, the legal groundwork caught up to the announcement two years later than planned, and the county's approval requires the golf course itself to be redesigned around the new lagoon and amphitheater footprint, with permits still needed from the South Florida Water Management District and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service before construction proceeds.
What that means for anyone living at Reunion right now: the driving range hosting a world championship this July is entitled, on paper, to become a hotel and lagoon complex. No public timeline confirms when dirt actually moves. But the zoning clock has started, and the practice range in its current form is not a permanent fixture of the property the way the Palmer or Nicklaus courses are.
While the golf tournament and the zoning file were the two biggest stories this year, two smaller updates round out the picture of a resort actively building its reputation on multiple fronts.
Eleven, the rooftop restaurant atop the Reunion Grande tower, won the 2025 OpenTable Diner's Choice Award for Best Scenic View and Outstanding Dining Experience. The kitchen is run by chef Robert Gioia as director of food and beverage alongside executive sous chef Sergio Rosa, serving a modern American tapas menu with views that include nightly fireworks from the nearby theme parks, a detail that matters if you've never actually looked east from that rooftop after dark.
Separately, Reunion Resort & Golf Club was named to the 2026 Tripadvisor Travelers' Choice Awards, placing it among the top 10 percent of listings worldwide based on guest reviews collected over the prior 12 months. Neither award changes daily life the way a construction project or a tournament week does, but both point in the same direction: this is a property actively competing for attention on the hospitality side, not just the real estate side.
The golf tournament will keep coming back through at least 2028. The dinner in the Grande Ballroom, the fireworks over the range, the pro shop juggling 650-plus tee times, all of it is now part of Reunion's annual rhythm rather than a one-off. Enjoy it. Walk over for the drone show even if you don't have a player entered.
But keep an eye on that acreage north of the Grande. The same ground hosting junior golfers from 50 countries this July is legally cleared to become something else entirely, and the permitting process that will determine exactly how and when is still working through state and federal wildlife review. When the next phase of that project does break ground, it will reshape the golf experience for everyone who owns here, not just the families who fly in for one week a year.
If you're trying to understand what any of this, the tournament's growing footprint, the zoning file, the accolades, means for property values or timing inside Reunion specifically, that's the kind of question worth a real conversation rather than a guess. You can find more on how Julimar Barreiro works with owners across Reunion and the rest of Central Florida, or go straight to a free home valuation to see where your property stands today.
