Ben Callaway reveals what it takes to be a touring Pro Disc Golfer | Catch

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Brian Earhart hosts a new show where he interviews pro disc golfers on the practice field. Benjamin Callaway joins Brian in episode 2 of Catch!

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I am so happy that you’re here we we’re in the middle of downtown Kansas City I guess first cheers my friend cheers BR cheers yeah I was saying it’s like weird like not being home like around like an established Disc Golf Community like obviously the road tour like the tour is

Is a community right but it it feels like sad that you can’t play Tuesday night doubles or like you can’t go to your brother’s coffee shop I can’t play disc golf with my brother like that’s one of the downsides I would say like of

Of touring but I mean I I I would agree I my favorite my favorite time of the year if I’m being completely honest is when I do get to go back home and just see my family and see all my buds that I get to you know that I grew to love

Playing disc golf with you know not to say that I don’t have friends on tour that I enjoy playing disc golf with as well but I mean not the same no it really isn’t the same and they’re and they’re the reason why I love the sport

M and you know I tell kids all the time you know they always ask like what’s the biggest advice that you can give someone that’s young or old and I always tell them the same thing that if you lose the love of like playing disc golf just like

Wanting to play disc golf just for fun I mean it’s probably time to at least reevaluate what it is that you are playing for mhm so it is interesting I I I’ve been talking about this a lot this year on like commentary and saying like it’s funny if you split dis golf into

Two different words disc and golf there’s they’re almost opposites like and I think a lot of us fell in love not with the golf some did some love just the scoring the competition the strategy and beating other people but a lot of people just like fell in love with

Throwing a disc and all those years ago when Pluto platters were starting to come out that’s all it was yeah and only until later did people start wanting to compete with it and actually beat other people to begin with so but I guess how are you feeling in general at this point

In the season um I’m feeling pretty good honestly I mean this point last year was uh it was I mean I I’ve spoke to you about it it was not it was not a good time for me at this exact time last year I wasn’t playing that well I missed my family and

I just I almost wanted to just kind of be done and we were only halfway through the year and and right now I feel feel really good Sarah and I are in a really good place she’s doing much better with me being on tour which helps me you know

So much more because when you have to deal with the stress of you know your family not doing well and trying to perform it’s it’s not an easy task like are they okay exactly I’m constantly let alone are you okay right yeah on top of that yeah but but I’m feeling I’m

Feeling very well what changed what what like what changed like did she say something to you that like resonate heavily or like what what happened everything is trial and error we’ve never I’ve never done this before I’ve never been on tour for years and years on end and I certainly didn’t have a

Family at the time when I could have gone but now I do so I think it’s just time you know as time goes on you you figure out how to handle certain situations and like what works better for for you and what works better for your family so then eventually it just

You you you you fin you finally find that routine that that works basically is what it what it is and also not really caring as much mhm I I feel like I cared way too much that’s a paradox almost a little bit I I kind of

Understand like but you do care I do a lot you have to care you have to but to perform you have to not care about certain things yes right you I mean you have to be selfish mhm to to an extent you have to be selfish as as horrible as

That may sound but you’re playing a solo sport you’re playing a solo Sport and the goal is to just do the best that you personally can do mhm did you feel like it was hard to like let go of trying to make everything okay while you were on

The road for the first time the second time the second year was definitely harder because then I felt like it was because I had more expectations of me I had made um the elite team on Discraft and you know I I felt there were like I said there was just you know

Expectations of what I needed to to do for that year how in performing with that comes sacrifice MH and I did not inform Sarah as well as I should have at the beginning of the year that obviously was not a good foundation set for the entire year cuz I’m just telling her hey

These are the terms I’m playing so I’ll see you when I see you yeah you said this is year three for you yeah this is year three So you you’re saying that you you’ve kind of found like an equilibrium so to speak like you feel like

Everything at home is good and then now everything with your game is good because of that because you feel like you’re not having to worry as much about about that is that somewhat accurate yeah it’s pretty accurate I guess the big question that I’ve always had and I

Think a lot of people have had like you’ve answered this to me vaguely over the years you’ve been good for a long time why didn’t you tour the first time when you were like young 20s yeah like in my well young 20s is when I first learned about disc golf and that late

Yeah I was like 20 I think I was 20 like I I well I mean I heard about it I heard about it in in high school and a buddy of mine like took me out but I didn’t pick it up after that um religiously I would I would very casually throw but

Like I didn’t know anything about disc golf as far as the pdj yeah yeah I just enjoyed throwing a disc as hard as I could and seeing how far I could throw it me too yeah I didn’t care I didn’t know anything about golf I just knew about like we were mentioning earlier

Disc yeah so what age were you when you feel like you could have gone on tour like 27 28 no it was earlier than that I feel like I could have probably went on tour um after I won amn Nats probably when I was like 20 yeah it was 2011 so I

Was 24 I probably could have went after that but at that time I’m watching all these touring disc golfers and they’re I’m not going to lie to you their lives looked miserable I it didn’t look it didn’t look fun at all to me they I mean they’re living in their cars paycheck to

Paycheck essentially just grinding it out to the next event and I’m like every time I asked any uh of the top touring Pros like Hey how do you do it like how do you make it out here trying to just fish for any sort of information to to

Maybe help me if I wanted to go t and the only thing they ever said it was the same thing every time they’re like just got to go do it man just got to go do it yeah yeah and I’m like which is true but you’re right but like you think that

They would give a little bit more information than just going and doing it my my answer that I always got my response when I would ask those questions because I would blast DMS all the time to to different touring pros and it felt like the same answer you get

When you ask SCH weby about throwing thumbers you’re like oh schwebe like what what are the best thummer tips that you could give me he’d be like don’t throw thumbers I feel like I got that about going on tour from a lot of players like just don’t do it I think

About someone like Christen tar has a kid uh you have a kid Emerson Keith has kids I’m sure just straight up using this as a job to provide for your family is like a big motivating factor for you when you’re out here correct oh yeah absolutely so it sounds like it’s a

Blessing and a curse like being out here on tour with a family versus versus not yeah you know I have mortgage we have bills I pay the mortgage every month car payment like a lot of dislers have that but so so when you don’t play as well uh

At an event you know you feel like you kind of just let everyone down yeah so that that feeling sucks not only do you let yourself down but you know I’m letting others down as well and I I don’t like that feeling it’s you feel like you’re actually still getting

Better as a player or do you feel like just mentally you’re getting better I think I think it’s the mental side throwing a disc has never really been hard well let me uh throwing a disc hasn’t been hard of late I mean I’ve always been pretty talented in throwing the disc

It’s just the mental side it’s always it’s always been between the years with me I feel like a lot of disc offers can feel like that I’m sure you can attest to that yeah I’m nuts I mean we all are to a degree being out here for the third

Year in a row that’s also what’s helping me mentally like figuring everything out and understanding the ins and outs of tour life the lifestyle of it yeah cuz even though I’ve been playing for 10 plus years this is only my third year on tour I don’t know the ins and outs I I’m

Still learning everything do do you feel like there’s still like there’s still time for you to grow and and do that yeah that’s awesome I don’t personally feel like I am out of the realm of potentially winning a tournament of course I don’t feel like that I I feel

Like I I have all the skills and I have I I still have time I know I do I mean I keep I keep myself in shape more than a lot of people that are on tour so that’s why I’m still even out here is because

Of that for me it’s just a matter of time but there was a saying that I saw from a uh an athlete that said just keep showing up yeah just keep showing up and and your time will come so that’s what I’ve been telling myself just keep showing up eventually it’ll happen when

Was the last time you showed up to a field and somebody threw a frisbee at you and wanted to play catch it’s been a long time you want to go do that I would love to go play catch with you okay Cheers Cheers Brian and then it cuts and then we’ll go

To the scene we’ll leave and we’ll go play CCH good job buddy hey everyone I want to let know today’s video is brought to you by element being out here in West Texas it gets plenty hot so whether I’m playing pickle ball or disc golf I’m swea and a

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You once again to element for sponsoring this video and now let’s get back to it today we’re going to play with an original Ultra star from 1982 I believe the ultra Star first was made in 80 or 81 I think 81 this has never been thrown before

Until today this came out of uh a very special frisbee collector’s uh stash and the funny story about this Ultra star is you see that there are no rings on the outside like where the thumb goes right so it’s completely smooth on top and it’s because until 19 1983 whmo who made

All of the disc used in a lot of the sports back then they had a patent on the flight ranks so no one could put those rings on the outside of the rim on their discs so Jim Kenner purchased an injection molder put it in his garage

And started molding stuff from that I believe 1979 they made the skypro which was their first mold mhm uh in the garage of Jim kenner’s house and that’s where disc craft began it was out of desire for consistency again in sport discs and the first two years the ultra

Star was not allowed to have rings on it this was a Wham 80 mold and this is originally what they played ultimate with I believe and that did have the flight rings on it yeah So eventually over time um when Ultra starts starting getting made people really like the

Flight of this this one’s a 175 I believe the 80 mold is a 165 even though it feels like it’s 200 g so it got to a point in Ultimate where people started to really like throwing the ultra star and I believe rules were made to where

The team had to agree on whether they were using an 80 mold or an ultra star if they couldn’t come to an agreement uh I believe one half was played with the wamo one half was played with the ultra star at one point before Discraft eventually got the whatever they call it

The the the deal with USA ultimate that it had to be a a Ultra star and the patent the reason they had a patent was because they claimed that there was like an aerodynamic effect on the flight ring so they said it gave the disc better

Late stability I suppose so uh I guess it was good enough to where once 83 rolled around the patent was up that’s why Discraft started putting them on all of their Ultra Stars interesting yeah so and we’re using this one today so we’re throwing this today we are throwing that one

Today it’s never been thrown so let’s do it all right let’s do It oh dude this is never been thrown you better not hit the ground I don’t know how I feel about it honestly it feels yeah it feel not having any of that grain you want to dig into the rings on my thumb it’s so strange it’s been so long since I’ve

Just casually just thrown Ultra stars with it any frisbees it’s been so long well bring it on boy I feel I I almost feel like I’m like I feel like I’m a disc golfer again you know what I mean just like casually talk do you not remember one of the first times

That I met you was throwing an ultra star no I do remember that where what course cippi yeah it was in in sissippi yeah me you and Mike Tom Tom mcmanis was also there we threw mtas yes at cippi together yes and uh Tom was also there we yeah we we were it

Was after the round too after the round we’re just out there trying to Chuck like 10 15 second mtas after disc golf rounds in the Quad Cities and in in the Illinois side we would also like to play guts e just randomly cuz Mike Mike Robinson had a a

Ton of guts disc so after the round we would just line up and we would just Chuck the guts disc as hard as we could at each other and play guts it was so much fun Lenny young Mike Robinson and Lenny Young’s brother John John was a uh

Ultimate player in college and he played a lot of guts he enjoyed it and he said you know what I bet I could throw one at you and you wouldn’t even catch it it was at genesio C tier uh Iron Lion Safari after the tournament was over we

Went and found a location got to the distance that we needed to be apart and he chucked it at me and I literally I’ll never forget it he he threw that thing as hard as he could from like I don’t know 30 feet and I just

Went caught it and then just threw it up you walked off like yep that’s how that’s done H how how much like catch and like frisbee did play when you were first getting into it not as much as you would think um it was very very casual

Be between like me and my buds that I uh grew up in high school with like before disc golf we had frisbees yeah we had Ultra stars and just like how you and I are right now doing oh look at you oh I okay I don’t know if I can do

That there it goes it’s okay Ben it it didn’t hit the ground I loved throwing a frisbee just seeing how many shot shapes I can make if I could throw it forehand throw a hammer all that cuz I was going to say like when I first started when I

First threw with you at sissippi all those years ago I thought you were ultimate player like you like you throw just like so naturally in case you haven’t noticed Brian I give off a lot of the you know the Vibes of like I know what I’m doing

But most of the time nah you’re just a fake it till you make it guy fake it till you make it baby well that doesn’t really work in disc golf does it no it does not I think in many other things in life you can do that but I I don’t think the

Score will allow you to do that my question for you is why didn’t you take skateboarding all the way well probably for the same reason that I didn’t do disc golf at first either huh because we were trying to make skate videos and basically just get a tape out

For a purchase and eventually we did do that with the group of people that I skateboarded with we all kind of just disbanded after the video came out and then I lost my passion for skateboarding because I didn’t I couldn’t skate with any of the people that I grew up with so

Then I just I just lost my passion and wanting to pursue it anymore and then shortly after that that’s when I found disc golf wow so you lost your community essentially yeah basically I lost a lot of the people that I grew up playing or skateboarding with and then I found disc

Golf and honestly disc golf pretty much changed the course of my life it really did I mean there’s so many people that I’ve met along the way that I mean I still call friends to this day you included yeah I mean three of you were in my wedding yeah it was

Great the guys that I grew up watching you know they laid the foundation for like mainstream skateboarding and nigah Houston is almost similar to like a Paul MC Beth he’s the guy who well Rob deerdick is is um the gentleman who set up the success for it because he created

Uh SLS which is uh Street League and then that became competition for skateboarding all around the world so now you have a competition set up yeah for these guys to be able to make money as opposed to before it was just selling merchandise making a skate

Video etc etc yeah and N being how talented he is would win these tournaments regularly yeah and became one of the highest paid skateboarders if not all of all time I mean there’s just so many skateboarders that were good in in competing but then once the the new

Generation came I mean they couldn’t compete anymore they were just they’re Landing they’re Landing tricks that you know you would end a part on like in the middle of a run that they’re doing at a at a competition that’s just that’s hard to keep up with is is that what disc

Golf is turning into or no what do you think so I feel like it is on a very similar path because you know just 10 years ago you had what maybe 15 maybe less touring professionals like like consistently touring professionals maybe 15 and they were doing things that a lot

Of the local Pros were like whoa that’s that’s a crazy shot I would never think about that now you have what 35 40 all of them doing the same thing I mean it’s and and the competition now is only getting younger they only getting younger in disc golf

Like I feel like you can play until you’re 40 and still be good if you’re like in good shape or is it be are the courses just getting too long um it could be the fact that the courses are getting too long but that is one thing

That I I I’ve noticed we’re playing more tournaments a year now yeah consistently back to back to back and they’re all getting bigger yeah like there aren’t any courses that are like pretty small where you can have a little bit of a break yeah and it’s just

Nonstop and that’s why it’s easier in my opinion I feel like it’s easier for the younger generation because you know you’re just so young and and spry that you don’t care about going and playing Seven tournaments back to back to back but a guy like me I’m 36 yeah yeah you

Know we just got done playing De Moine preserve now k City and before that Portland open just boom boom boom boom big course big course you know if I don’t do what it is that I do before and after every round I would not be able to

Be out here Ben you got to let the people in what are you doing now I know you used to be you used to be the push-up situp and pull-up guy well I I went back to that so so is that what you’re doing now I’m doing that but I

Also Incorporated um religious stretching and I also Incorporated yoga look you sound like one punch man the like the anime character at this point what like what actually do you do fitness-wise at 36 so I got rid of weight training essentially but I do use

A kettle bell so I guess you could say I do a little bit of weight training but that’s just for mostly sit-ups but a day-to- day like in the week of me leading up to a tournament I wake up I have my water immediately I drink

16 o of water in the morning and then I have my coffee I eat breakfast and then usually about uh probably about four hours before my round I then start stretching and doing my yoga um and practice rounds as well so I start doing my stretching I do my yoga

And then after I’m done with that usually that takes about 20 minutes then I do five different variations of push-ups whatever that may be just like regular triangle wide then I also do some um core exercises as well as leg exercises so like lunges squats things like that all

Before my round because I feel like that’s another part that has really been helping me mentally is just meditation yoga stretching because then I feel confident on the course I’m like okay I feel pretty Loosey Goosey you know feeling pretty good when you and I were playing

Tournaments like I don’t know a decade ago maybe yeah you were the most intense player that I ever had to play with oh my like and you you know like you’ve come such a long way like like intellectually emotionally like like you have grown so much as a person through

Dis golf well what actually was it is it just meditation like what what has gotten you to this place where you seem so much more like focused and happy like coming to the disc golf course having a family that’s it it just like C that’s grounded me having a family where I’m

Responsible not only for myself anymore has has really put my whole life in into perspective because I’m not thinking about just me yeah I have to think about this this child that I am bringing into the world as well as my my my wife Sarah yeah and you know they’re they’re

Reflections and they’re basically reflections of me and it’s like if I’m just out there being the person who I once was like what does that say about my family I mean before I had Ruby uh I was dis golfing I was working uh in the in the trades I was also I was

Smoking quite religiously um roughly roughly about a pack maybe a pack and a half a day whoa um and then I got into vaping pretty heavily when that first became a big thing and then when I found out I was I was having a child I mean it took about

Maybe about a year for me to fully after she was born and just completely quit cold turkey on him wow you just went cold turkey off cigarettes like that from a cart in a day yeah well I mean I I started vaping which then took me off of cigarettes and

Then one day I was driving home from work and it’s about a 45-minute drive and I was just thinking about my life and where it’s going and like who I want to be to my daughter do I want to be there for her graduation do I want to be there for her marriage

Do I want to be there for all these big life uh changes for her and it’s like if I if I keep going where I’m going I there’s a chance I might not make that obviously it’s not guaranteed we don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow

Yeah but I can at least I can make that change for myself so I literally threw my vape away that that day and have quit ever since dude that is insane just like yeah literally like that wow you brought something special I did I brought some St Tails as well what is

That what is that white putter so this white putter is a super soft Gateway Wizard and this specifically is the putter that I won amn Nats with like putting and throwing or just putting I believe I had a different throwing putter I had I had two of those exact

Putters uh stamped on the top there is ironline disc golf supply which at that time I was sponsored by then but they’re they’re a local retail shop um but I had two of them exactly the same both white purple stamp I kept one and then I gave

The other one to the owner of the store Chase Roberts so it’s hanging up in his shop so you won with that one I won with this one but then you did something I I still don’t think anybody else has done this you got sponsored by Discraft in

2011 yeah shortly after and then you transitioned you had to switch from Wizards yes to something else so I had to switch like you just mentioned and they were asking me what do I putt with I said Wizards so they sent me a box of focuses so this is the very first D

Focus that I got from Discraft in my first like care package old very very old uh I got three of them and coincidentally with that disc I played 2015 deow and I wound up winning deow with that putter you got an amwin at the tobogan and you got a pro win at the

Tobogan yes can we throw both of these yeah that’s why I brought them okay oh here it comes oh boy that takes money oh my gosh it’s so good that’s going right in the bag I’m going to throw the wizard okay okay this was the putter that I

Putted with before I got sponsored by Discraft and found the Banger really and now like I don’t think so why did you okay so I have a question for you you said you just puted with the wizard correct yeah so what made you change to a banger which

Has a a Groove in it throw throw me a putter so I can feel it as I’m talking so when I used to putt like with whatever Putters I was putting with back in the day the the putter I used right before I got sponsored was a

Wizard all of my best wizards were so mangled that they would Clover and my thumb would fit in so a banger was like the dream come true like no way I have a pre clovered like beaded putter like why would I not throw this thing so you’re

Saying you warped the disc with your thumb so much and your thumb would just sit in that same spot it was perfect so then you just said you know what I hope they just make a disc like this and you found the Banger GT but actually funny

Enough so did you did you play worlds in 2012 in Charlotte yeah I did you were there I was there I was an intern for the PDGA that year wow and that final round when MC Beth won I carried the leaderboard that was you that was

Me MJ was the only guy that gave me the time of day it was back when they had those red Z Banger GTS that macabe was throwing yeah and he was like letting me feel it he was like showing it to me he’d you know take it out of my hands

And he’d step up and throw a t-shot and I was like this guy’s awesome like this guy is a man of the people oh baby sorry too much for you now you’re good throw throw that one let me see It oh it’s so good I might have to put that in the bag I’m kidding I’m not putting in the bag the bag there’s no chance that’s going in the bag but it’s so good though this thing is amazing I know it’s it hasn’t been thrown in just under 10

Years oh yeah that’s great like I’ll buy I will buy this off you better run better run you better run you think I got the flick here yeah just give it the height oh you dirty dog you don’t you just miss that Ben come onow you miss me

Being out there on the road come on oh you want to keep going all right that’s so good be the basket this is the best disc dude what are you doing not having this thing in the bag it’s s sentimental I only have two Brian I have two sentimental discs and

This is one of them oh yeah that’s perfect yep I don’t feel like I’ve missed you yet there it is there she is it’s pretty good yeah I can’t believe you play guts yeah it was fun I enjoyed it I I also just wanted to rip a disc out a person

You know like a frisbee I mean CU that was enjoyable I guess as horrible as that sounds it’s still fun I don’t blame you pulled it but it’s still good oh yeah oh that’s money that’s the Brian airart special right there and you nice catch there you go there it is that’s

Going right in my bag except that did he do it no it’s too perfect dang it that was satisfying I enjoyed it sweating too yeah I know good Sweat on the next episode of catch my good friend Ella Hansen joins me down by Lake winthrip to talk about life bagels and everything in between really I just thought everybody’s form looked really stupid like really Stupid