Independence and Tradition: Watson’s Bunkers, Nicklaus’s Precision
Watson's Independence tests your short game; Nicklaus's Tradition tests everything. Reunion's twin examinations, compared.
3 minute read
Arnold Palmer’s Legacy Course gets the drama, but a Reunion golf trip is decided on the other two signatures. Tom Watson’s Independence Course and Jack Nicklaus’s Tradition Course are the resort’s twin examinations — one testing your nerve around the greens, the other testing whether your whole game holds together at championship length. Play them back to back and you will understand why Reunion, in Kissimmee, bills itself as the only place in the world with courses by all three legends.
Watson’s Independence: the short-game trial
The Independence runs 7,154 yards, par 72, and Watson’s fingerprints are in the defenses: wide-open greens that look welcoming from the fairway, rolling fairways that feed balls toward trouble, and strategically placed bunkers that demand, in the resort’s words, a solid short game. Watson won his majors with wedges and nerve, and he built a course that keeps asking whether you can do the same.
The design’s signature trick is scale. The opening par five finishes at a large, two-tiered green — a putting surface big enough to make a careless approach a three-putt. Tiered greens recur through the round, and the bunkering is positioned less to punish the drive than to complicate the recovery. The Independence is the course where Reunion matches get close: it equalizes length, rewards the player who chips and putts best, and produces more halved holes and stolen points than either sibling.
Nicklaus’s Tradition: the complete test
The Tradition is the heavyweight — a parkland layout of roughly 7,200 yards, par 72, opened in the mid-2000s and long regarded as the hardest walk in Reunion’s portfolio. Nicklaus designed with smooth, flowing horizon lines, elevated tee boxes and elevated greens, and the resort’s summary is precise: a thoughtful layout that rewards precision. Where Palmer dares you and Watson needles you, Nicklaus examines you — driving position, iron yardages, distance control into raised greens with tightly mowed surrounds that shed anything imprecise.
The Nicklaus Clubhouse doubles as the resort’s indoor golf headquarters: the GOLFZON TwoVision simulator recreates more than 200 courses, including all three Reunion signatures, and Traditions restaurant — classic American comfort food with a Southern twist, open-air kitchen, fairway views — makes the building the natural 19th hole for the whole resort, whichever course you played.
Which one is for you
Scratch and low-handicap players should prioritize the Tradition: it is the full championship question. Mid-handicappers who score with their wedges will love the Independence disproportionately — it is the rare resort course where the short game is the headline skill. Groups should play both and argue; the resort’s own sequencing logic, and ours in the Big Three guide, is Palmer for the thrill, Watson for the contest, Nicklaus for the verdict. The Legacy gets its own profile in the Palmer Legacy Course, and the regional rankings are in Best Golf Courses in Orlando.
Access, honestly
Both courses are resort golf. Eligibility belongs to guests staying at Reunion Resort & Golf Club or through its Preferred Rental Program; tee times are required and should be booked ahead, particularly in the October-to-April season. If your Reunion address comes via an outside rental platform, confirm golf privileges attach to your specific property — membership, not geography, opens the tee sheet. Instruction is available at the Golfzon Leadbetter Academy’s world headquarters on site, and Club Champion offers custom fitting at the club.
Two courses, two philosophies, one cart ride apart — and a third, Palmer’s, waiting to start the argument all over again tomorrow. The rest of Reunion — the Grande’s restaurants, the water park, the villas — is on the Reunion hub and the Orlando Top Spots Map.
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