Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course

Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course is the third of the three 18-hole championship courses of Walt Disney World Golf, the golf operation of the Walt Disney World Resort in central Florida. Unlike the Palm and the Magnolia, which share a clubhouse near the Magic Kingdom, it has its own pro shop and clubhouse at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, near Disney Springs, on the east side of the resort. The course gives its address as 2200 Golf Drive, Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830, the same address OpenStreetMap records, and Wikidata places it in the city of Lake Buena Vista, in Orange County. In a straight line it lies about 3.8 miles east of the Palm. Like the other Disney courses, it has been run by Arnold Palmer Golf Management since a 2011 agreement with Disney, according to the PGA Tour and the golf operation.

It is a par 72, with four par 3s and four par 5s, and it is the shortest of the three championship layouts. The course’s own scorecard, dated October 2024, gives four sets of tees: Blue at 6,718 yards (rating 71.7, slope 133), White at 6,389 yards (70.2 and 129), Yellow at 6,038 yards (68.7 and 124) and Red at 5,228 yards (69.4 and 118). The course describes itself as a classic country-club style layout that winds past pastel villas, pine forests, palmettos and lakes, with elevated, bunkered greens that put a premium on accurate approach shots. Its best-known hole is the 7th, a short par 3 to an island green.

One fact matters before anything else for a golfer planning a trip: the course closed on May 4, 2026 for a renovation of its greens, and when this page was prepared in mid-October 2026, its own page still described it as closed, with no official reopening date. Several Disney news sites reported in late August and early September that tee times were open from October 23, 2026; a later report, from early October, pointed to October 30. Check the course’s site before you book or travel.

Joe Lee’s third course at Disney

The design is credited to Joe Lee, the Florida architect who had laid out the Palm and the Magnolia for the resort’s opening in 1971. Top100GolfCourses.com calls Lake Buena Vista his third course at Walt Disney World. Most directories date it to 1972, including IllinoisGolf.com, Golf Orlando, Where2Golf, Golf Tours and OpenGolfAPI; the course’s own page gives no year. A GolfPass listing, seen in search results but not opened for this page, also credits Rocky Roquemore; every other source names Lee alone. According to WDWMagic, a Disney fan site, Lee returned in 1994 to oversee the building of new greens across the whole course. We could not open that page and found no second source for the 1994 work.

The golf operation describes the course today as winding through and around three resort hotels. A 2014 article on IllinoisGolf.com writes that the front nine runs through Disney’s Old Key West Resort and that the back nine is more tree-lined and less obviously Floridian; a golf blog that played the course in 2020 shows Old Key West lining the 4th fairway and places the Treehouse Villas of Saratoga Springs beside the 17th. Canals run through the property, and a Disney news site notes that the course runs along the Sassagoula River, the waterway toward Disney Springs.

PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and USGA

The course’s main historical claim, repeated on its own page, is that it has hosted events of the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour and the USGA. IllinoisGolf.com adds that it is the only Disney course to have hosted all three within a 12-month period. The dates that can be checked fit that claim.

• USGA: the first USGA Women’s State Team Championship, created as part of the association’s centennial, was played at what the records call the Lake Buena Vista (Fla.) Club from October 26 to 28, 1995. Teams from 43 states took part, and Pennsylvania won with 442, one stroke ahead of Texas, according to the USGA’s records as summarized by Golf Compendium and in search results. The championship ran until 2017.
• LPGA Tour: according to Wikipedia’s record of the HealthSouth Inaugural, the tournament was played on the Walt Disney World Lake Buena Vista Course in 1996, won by Karrie Webb, and in 1997, won by Michelle McGann. In 1995 it had been played at Eagle Pines, another Disney course that no longer exists, and in 1998 it moved to Grand Cypress. A PGA Tour article from 2021 describes McGann’s win as the last LPGA event at the course.
• PGA Tour: the resort’s own tournament, the Walt Disney World Golf Classic, was played on the Palm and the Magnolia from 1971 to 2012, and Lake Buena Vista was added to the rotation in some years. Wikipedia says only that the course “has also been part of the tournament”; Golf Compendium writes that the Lake Buena Vista and Eagle Pines courses were used in a few years. Golf Digest’s guide to Tiger Woods courses, seen in search results, says Lake Buena Vista was one of the courses used in 1996, when Woods won his second PGA Tour title with a closing 66. Together with the 1995 USGA event and the January 1996 LPGA event, that is consistent with the 12-month claim.

How many PGA Tour editions the course hosted is not settled by the sources we could read. A golf blog written in 2020 says it hosted the tour in 17 of the event’s 42 years, but we found no official list to confirm that figure, and Disney’s own pages give no years. Golf Tours also mentions U.S. Open qualifying, without dates.

Renovations, from 2018 to 2026

The course has been reworked twice in recent years. In the summer of 2018 it was closed in stages, operating as a nine-hole course part of the time, while every bunker was renovated. According to the golf operation’s account, published on August 28, 2018, bunker faces were reshaped and re-sodded, old drainage was replaced with new underground pipes, the gray sand was replaced with white sand, and some bunkers were removed to change the play of selected holes. A Mickey-shaped bunker was added behind the 9th green; until then the only one on the resort’s courses was the bunker on the par-3 6th of the Magnolia, dating from 1971. The course reopened for regular play on August 18, 2018. That work closed a cycle that had covered the Palm in 2013, Oak Trail in 2014 and the Magnolia in 2015.

The second project is the one under way in 2026. The golf operation announced it on April 7, 2026: a full renovation of the greens with reimagined contours and elevations, updates to greenside bunkers and chipping areas, upgraded irrigation around the greens, new drainage in many bunkers to cope with Florida rain, and work on several teeing grounds. It followed recent work on the Magnolia. The grass chosen for the new greens has not been announced in anything we read. Older sources describe the previous greens as TifEagle Bermuda; IllinoisGolf.com wrote in 2014 that they had been rebuilt in that grass several years earlier, along with laser-leveled tees. In 2026, Walt Disney World Golf was also named Resort Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association, according to its website.

What the course asks of you

Length is not the main defense here. At 6,718 yards from the Blue tees, the course is more than a hundred yards shorter than the Palm and well short of the Magnolia, and its slope of 133 is a shade below the Palm’s 134. The challenge is accuracy: tree-lined fairways, water on a good share of the holes and small, raised greens. Sources disagree on how much the water matters. IllinoisGolf.com counted water in play on 11 holes in 2014, without long carries from the tee; Golf Tours says over half the holes; a 2020 golf blog found that water came into play less than on the other two championship courses and that the fairways were generous. IllinoisGolf.com also noted that Lake Buena Vista was then the only Disney course with out-of-bounds markers, a consequence of the villas and roads around it.

Here is the card from the course’s own scorecard, Blue tees first, with the White, Yellow and Red yardages in brackets and the men’s stroke index:

• 1st: par 5, 509 yards (495, 474, 420), index 3.
• 2nd: par 3, 171 yards (159, 143, 127), index 15.
• 3rd: par 4, 403 yards (377, 360, 287), index 7.
• 4th: par 4, 374 yards (364, 352, 277), index 9.
• 5th: par 4, 385 yards (372, 352, 296), index 11.
• 6th: par 4, 350 yards (339, 323, 260), index 13.
• 7th: par 3, 156 yards (128, 109, 90), index 17.
• 8th: par 5, 521 yards (508, 488, 441), index 1.
• 9th: par 4, 384 yards (372, 354, 307), index 5.
• 10th: par 4, 380 yards (368, 352, 335), index 18.
• 11th: par 4, 441 yards (429, 413, 397), index 2.
• 12th: par 3, 204 yards (189, 165, 112), index 14.
• 13th: par 4, 405 yards (340, 320, 287), index 16.
• 14th: par 5, 517 yards (501, 475, 428), index 12.
• 15th: par 4, 382 yards (357, 335, 289), index 8.
• 16th: par 3, 191 yards (177, 157, 140), index 10.
• 17th: par 5, 528 yards (513, 490, 423), index 6.
• 18th: par 4, 417 yards (401, 376, 312), index 4.

The front nine measures 3,253 yards from the Blue tees and the back nine 3,465. The two hardest holes on the card are the 8th, a 521-yard par 5, and the 11th, which at 441 yards is the longest par 4 on the course. Because the greens were rebuilt in 2026 with new contours, the hole descriptions below, all written before the renovation, may not match the course as it reopens.

The round opens with a par 5 that a 2014 description on IllinoisGolf.com, measured from the White tees, presents as water down the left, dense vegetation on the right and water cutting into the layup area, with an elevated green. The 4th, in the same article, is a tight dogleg left with a tee shot over water, where long hitters can carry the trees on the left for a better angle; a golf blog’s photograph of the hole shows Old Key West lining the fairway.

The 7th is the signature hole. On today’s card it is 156 yards from the Blue tees and only 128 from the White, the easiest hole on the course by stroke index, but it is played to a green surrounded by water. IllinoisGolf.com wrote in 2014 that it usually called for a wedge or a 9-iron; a 2020 golf blog found the green large enough to leave some room to miss. Behind the 9th green, next to the 1st tee, sits the Mickey-shaped bunker added in 2018, which several bloggers recommend as a photo stop.

On the back nine, the 16th, a par 3 of 191 yards, asks for a tee shot over a canal to a slightly uphill green protected by sand, according to IllinoisGolf.com; a 2026 review on Top100GolfCourses.com mentions boats from Disney Springs passing in front of the tee. Where2Golf describes both the 7th and the 16th as island greens, a description no other source repeats for the 16th. The round ends with the 18th, a 417-yard par 4 that IllinoisGolf.com describes as a long dogleg right with water on the left and a fairway that narrows toward a well-bunkered, elevated green. The 2020 golf blog also warns that some greens have unusual sight lines from the fairway, which makes their edges hard to read.

What golfers say

Lake Buena Vista has a long record of public reviews, but much of it predates the 2026 renovation of the greens, which was precisely aimed at some of the complaints below. The summary that follows draws on the reviews posted on Top100GolfCourses.com (dated July 2020 and April 2026), on two golf travel blogs (one from April 2020, one undated), on a 2014 regional magazine article, and on Tripadvisor and GolfPass reviews seen in search results in October 2026, since neither site could be opened directly. These are other people’s opinions, not ours; nobody from Panxis has played the course, and we name no reviewer.

What comes up in its favor

• The setting and the mood: a quiet, secluded course where the villas are tucked into the trees and rarely intrude, often described as having a genuine country-club feel.
• Playability: generous fairways, relatively little forced water and a layout that one blogger found the easiest of the three championship courses to score on, which makes it a good choice for mid- and high-handicap players.
• The layout itself, which reviewers find well designed and fitting for a former tournament venue, with the island-green 7th, the 4th and the 10th named among the standout holes.
• Staff and service, including the starters, the pace keepers and the GPS on the carts, which shows whether a group is ahead of or behind pace.
• The Disney touches, from the Mickey bunker behind the 9th green to the themed tee markers, and wildlife sightings such as deer, raccoons and woodpeckers.

What comes up against

• The greens, the most frequent complaint before the renovation: recent reviewers described them as bare, hard and unreceptive to approach shots, and a spring 2026 reviewer rated them below those of the Magnolia and the Palm.
• Value: several reviewers felt the greens fee was high for the condition of the course, especially at peak times, and suggested the other Disney courses offered more for the money.
• Drainage after rain: one 2020 reviewer found the course waterlogged and restricted to cart paths, with balls plugging in the fairway; the new bunker drainage of 2026 is meant to address this kind of problem.
• Pace and service on busy days: the same reviewer reported very slow play with no marshal in sight, and another noted that the refreshment cart stopped serving in mid-afternoon.

Getting there and playing

Lake Buena Vista is open to the public, not only to guests of Disney hotels. Tee times are booked through the golf operation’s site or by phone at (407) WDW-GOLF, that is (407) 939-4653. Reservations are highly recommended; walk-ups are accepted when possible, and singles and twosomes have the best chance. No tee time takes more than four players, and single golfers may be paired with an existing twosome or threesome. Golfers are asked to arrive at least 30 minutes before their tee time and to cancel or reduce their party at least 24 hours ahead to avoid a possible charge. Rain checks are issued only for rounds that started under normal conditions and could not be finished; they do not expire but are valid only at the course that issued them.

A GPS cart, shared by two players and fitted with a cooler and a sand bucket, is included in the greens fee and is required on all three championship courses. Where2Golf says walking is allowed at certain times, which the course’s own rules do not mention; we follow the course. Four-seat Disney character carts are available for families, drivers must be at least 16 with a valid license, and SoloRider single-rider carts can be arranged for golfers with limited mobility. Babies and toddlers are not allowed on the course, nor are strollers, wagons or personal carts, and personal coolers are not permitted.

The course is a non-metal-spike facility. Collared polos, shirts or blouses, slacks, skirts and Bermuda-length shorts are acceptable; denim is not. The practice area has a driving range, which two blogs describe as hitting over water, and a practice putting green, and PGA instructors give 45-minute private lessons to juniors and adults. The pro shop rents clubs, including junior sets, and golf shoes, lends golf bags and can store clubs overnight; lockers and showers in the clubhouse are free. Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Cafe, a snack bar, sits next to the pro shop, and character-themed refreshment carts serve drinks and sandwiches on the course. The golf shop stayed open for retail during the 2026 closure, except on October 12, when it closed for its own renovation.

By car, the course gives these directions: take Interstate 4 to exit 68, head north on Route 535, turn left onto Hotel Plaza Boulevard and follow the signs to Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Parking is free. Guests of select Disney-owned hotels can ask for a complimentary taxi, and a complimentary boat runs between the course area and Disney Springs. The course warns that alligators, snakes and other wildlife live around its waterways, and that feeding them is both unsafe and illegal.

Lake Buena Vista follows the same rate schedule as the Palm and the Magnolia. The golf operation publishes no fixed price list: rates vary by season, day and time, with winter, from January 8 to March 21, 2027, as the peak season, and cheaper fall, spring and summer periods. The price for a given day appears only when you search for a tee time. See the course’s own rates page.

How we built this page

The factual frame comes from public sources: OpenStreetMap and Wikidata for the location, address and identifiers; the Walt Disney World Golf page for the course for its description, tee yardages, ratings and slopes, carts, practice facilities, booking rules, dress code, directions and the 2026 closure; the course’s scorecard, dated October 2024, for the hole-by-hole card and stroke indexes; the golf operation’s 2018 account of the bunker renovation and April 2026 announcement of the greens renovation; Wikipedia’s record of the HealthSouth Inaugural and its article on the Walt Disney World Golf Classic; Golf Compendium and USGA records for the 1995 Women’s State Team Championship; a 2021 PGA Tour article on fifty years of Disney golf; a 2014 article on IllinoisGolf.com for the hole descriptions and the greens; Golf Orlando, Where2Golf, Golf Tours, OpenGolfAPI and Top100GolfCourses.com for the year, the architect and older tee data; Disney news sites for the reported reopening dates.

Where sources disagree, we say so. The course’s current card gives 6,718 yards from the Blue tees (rating 71.7, slope 133); IllinoisGolf.com, Where2Golf, Golf Tours and OpenGolfAPI give 6,745 yards and Golf Orlando 6,749, all with a rating of 72.3, which reflects an older rating of the course. OpenGolfAPI’s own hole-by-hole card adds up to 6,718, like the official one. Hole lengths quoted in the 2014 article are shorter than today’s card because they were measured from the White tees. The opening year, 1972, comes from directories, not from Disney. The co-design credit to Rocky Roquemore and the 1994 rebuild of the greens by Joe Lee each rest on a single source we could not open. The number of PGA Tour editions played on the course is not documented in any official source we found. Where2Golf calls the 16th an island green and says walking is sometimes allowed, which no other source confirms. The reopening date was reported as October 23, 2026 by several sites and as October 30 by a later one; neither came from an official announcement we could read.

Several pages could not be opened when we prepared this page, including GolfPass, Golf Digest, Tripadvisor, WDWMagic and the USGA records; where we use them, it is through the excerpts shown in search results, and we say so. Some details will age quickly: the reopening date, the new greens and their contours, which will change how several holes play, the tee ratings, which may be revised after the renovation, and the reviews, almost all of which describe the course before 2026. Nobody from Panxis has played or visited this course, and this page is no substitute for a round.

The course has not paid for this page, has not seen it before publication and has no say over its content. This page contains no commercial link and earns us no commission. If you know the course and something here is wrong or out of date, write to us and we will correct it.

Other courses nearby

Closest to this one in our United States directory:

• Disney’s Palm Golf Course — 4 mi
• Disney’s Magnolia Golf Course — 5 mi
• LPGA International — 62 mi
• Daytona Beach Golf Club — 64 mi