When you hear the name “Gannon Buhr,” what immediately comes to mind?
Right off the top of the ol’ noggin:
- Iowa
- Youth
- Prodigy
- Flat-bill hats
- Slender Man
“Disc golf dominance” is the best answer, though – it’s not even close.
And with good reason. At only 16 years of age, the 1037-rated pro is already one of the top MPO talents in the world. Given his relative infancy in the sport, however, beyond what JomezPro and the Disc Golf Network broadcast to your laptop, not too much is known about the guy …
Thankfully, whether out of a willingness to help out or because his mother/caddie made him, Buhr agreed to sit down with Green Splatter for a good 30 minutes. Similar to what he does for fans, sponsors, tournament organizers and the future of disc golf, he didn’t disappoint …
Coming in hot right off the bat: Hawks, Cyclones or Panthers?
“The Cyclones.
“I try to go to a couple of football and basketball games every year. My dad went to Iowa State. My mom actually went to the University of Northern Iowa. Then, after college, they got married and became Cyclone fans.”
Okay, enough of the ‘light stuff,’ right? If you could change one shot at the Las Vegas Challenge, what would it be? What would you do differently?
“It’s tough, because you think the last putt would be it. But I missed a super-short putt in round one where I ended up taking a bogey. It was a 20-footer. I hit the band.
“Obviously, my approach shot on the eighteenth hole was big. I’ll just say that one. I thought I threw it perfect, but definitely wish I erred on the side of short and to the right. I pushed it, and I shouldn’t have. I was trying to park it.”
Before you threw your approach, it looked like you had two discs in your hands. What were the two discs? What made you go with the one you ultimately threw?
“I had an A2, which is our super overstable, midrange-type disc that’s a putter. I also had the new Distortion. It hasn’t actually been released yet, but it’s PDGA-approved.
“I ended up going with the Distortion because of the lack of skip. The Distortion is more straight to overstable, whereas the A2 is just super overstable. It’s also a little faster. They’re both that putter- and midrange-type disc like a Zone.
“With 10 feet of OB left of the basket and more OB right behind it, I didn’t want to risk the A2 skipping too much, so I went with the Distortion. I don’t think I put enough height on it. The A2 would’ve dumped and gotten to the ground quick enough. Instead, the Distortion wanted to glide a little bit more. It hit the top of the hill and rolled out the back.”
What did your mom say to you after that happened? Did she say anything at all?
“Gosh, people were giving me crap …
“I think she said something like, ‘It’s okay, buddy. Just get the playoff.’ I’m pretty sure I told her to ‘shut up.’ People might think that’s rude, but that’s just how we talk all the time. We trash-talk each other. We use that kind of language.
“We’re not soft or anything.”
What’s the biggest lesson you took from your playoff experience with Drew Gibson?
“I don’t know …
“Maybe that I’ll just get the next one?
“People were saying I missed the last putt because of pressure, but I don’t think that was it. I just missed the putt. Obviously, I was nervous, but I was nowhere near as nervous as I was at the start of the round.
“And really, I was the most nervous during round two. I just missed the putt. Moving forward, I think I can focus a couple of extra seconds on every shot. I know I take a long time, but it’s important in a playoff. I need to make the correct decision with my choice of disc or shot or whatever.”
So many people chalked that missed putt up to nerves …
“If I was nervous, I would’ve missed low left or right.”
You mentioned that you play slow. You have a reputation for that. In fact, Drew Gibson called you out on it once in a different tournament, didn’t he?
“Yeah, at the Pro Tour finals last year.”
Why do you play so slowly? What are you doing to speed things up?
“It kind of sucks, because I look like crap again, you know?
“What people didn’t see was me during my first round in Las Vegas. I took 10 seconds max on every shot, because there were no nerves. But when I have any amount of nerves, I just get shaky. I need to be able to focus.
“It’s different in the first round. Everyone’s tied up at even. You’re just kind of out there to shoot a solid score. You’re not battling people on your card. I was playing myself, so there wasn’t any pressure. I just stepped up and chucked the disc.
“That’s how I was at the All-Star event, too. I’d walk up and throw a shot without any warm up at all. But when it comes to tournament play, I can’t do that. My body won’t let me throw. It’s annoying. I think that’ll come with time. I worked at it over the off-season and thought I’d fixed it permanently over All-Star Weekend. When the stakes get higher, it’s tough to keep doing that.
“You know, I hate to bring it up, but pretty much every pro takes over 30 seconds. We were consistently timing Eagle at 50 seconds and nobody said a thing.”
Speaking of nerves, what full-time, touring players do you get nervous around? Have you ever been starstruck by one?
“My favorite player is Will Schusterick. I first met him when I was 10 and was starstruck. With pretty much everybody else, I was just as starstruck until last year. I’m friends with them now.
“Before, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t say anything wrong, or they’ll be mad at me’ or something like that. By now, I’m friends with pretty much everybody.”
Which pros would you say you’re closest with?
“There are a few: Gavin Rathbun, Tim Barham and my good buddy Cole Redalen. We stay together at Airbnbs all the time, so I’m super close with him. He’s also my age.
“Kevin Jones and Jordan Castro, too. Just a lot of bigger names — even Ricky. I mean, Ricky is a friend, but we wouldn’t hang out. Once in a while, Kevin asks me to play a practice round with him. He’ll reach out to me — I don’t even have to reach out.
“That shows friendship.”
Similar in age, name one player who you think you’ll be battling in ten years’ time.
“It’s got to be Cole Redalen. He’s 17. I’m 16. It’s easily him. I’d say my friend Ty Love, as well. All three of us are good friends. We’re all like 1020-rated. We’re all 16 and 17 years old, too.
“Even in five years, though, I think it’ll still be us. At our age, nobody’s really proven to be as good as me, Cole and Ty. I think Cole is just as good as me. He just hasn’t had his breakout performance yet. Same thing with Ty. He doesn’t get to play as much.”
We recently wrote an article comparing you to Paul McBeth. How do you deal with the pressure of being one of the game’s brightest, up-and-coming stars?
“I think I’ve already made it, you know?
“You have to do a lot of work and get good finishes for people to even bring that kind of thing up. Obviously, you have your 12-year-old phenoms, and people are like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this guy’s going to be the future.’ But they haven’t done anything to really prove it — they’re just good players.
“At 16, I almost won the Las Vegas Challenge. I believe Kyle Klein’s the youngest Elite Series event winner at 19 years old. I still have three years to break that record. But to answer your question, I think it’s more motivation than anything.
“It gives me confidence to know I can get that record, hopefully.”
How do you balance school with being a professional disc golfer?
“They force me to go in-person. They don’t let me do an online option, which kind of sucks. I just have to work hard before and after events to get caught up. I can miss as many days as I have to, but as long as I stay caught up on my work, they don’t care.
“For example, tonight, I’m probably going to have to stay up until midnight studying for a test I have tomorrow. On top of that, right after this call, I have another interview. I also have to ship like 30 packages and write down every address by hand. From there, I’ll pack. I need to get all of this done before leaving for Waco – it’s a lot.”
Do you still view disc golf as a hobby? Or, do you view it as a full-time job now?
“Oh, it’s a hobby – 100%.
“I just do this for fun; I get paid for doing fun stuff.”
What happened with Foundation Disc Golf, exactly? It seemed like you were with ’em for 15 minutes …
“Foundation said they were going to fly us out to Lynchburg — like, pay for the plane tickets. So, we bought the plane tickets, and they said they’d reimburse us. The tickets were a little more expensive than we originally thought. We asked them if that was okay, and they said it was completely fine, because that was the only flight available at the time.
“Anyway, I flew out there, but they never paid us back for the tickets. They told me that for every video I made, I’d get half the money it brought in. I never got paid for them, though. They also told me they’d make some custom discs for me, but they never did that. I was told I’d get a logo, but that didn’t happen, either — this was all on their end.
“On my end, I was supposed to make videos for them, but I wasn’t able to, as the files were too big. I was recording on my phone and couldn’t upload anything for them. I don’t have a camera, and I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on one and do all of the stuff that’d come with it.
“We tried out multiple things, but couldn’t ever get things to work. But we’re good now. We talked it out and everything. They’re young, so they’re still figuring everything out. I was their first sponsored player. They didn’t 100% know what they were doing, but neither did I …
“It was a two-way thing.”
How does having an agent help out with things?
“My agent is big for helping me land lots of smaller sponsorship deals.
“I did the whole Prodigy deal by myself. I anticipate that I’ll do it myself again, just because I know the guys over there really well, and I know what I’m worth. Also, I’ll know what I’m worth after the next two years, because I’m on a two-year contract right now.
“Xander helps me partner with smaller retailers, chalk bag sponsors, dye sponsors — anything random, really. All of that stuff adds up. If I can get a bonus for getting a top-10 finish from five different sponsors, that’s like an additional $1,000 — maybe $2,000. All because my agent has helped me put together a large sponsorship portfolio.
“I wouldn’t be able to do that on my own.”
What’s your plan for after high school? Does college feature in it at all?
“My parents and I envisioned college in the future until we saw how good contracts could be. With agents and everything, contract values improved. That changed things. I got a really nice contract, and I’m only 16 years old.
“Apart from that, I’ll probably be able to make anywhere from $35,000 to $40,0000 just off of winnings this year. So, yeah — originally, my parents were big on disc golf as a hobby. Once they saw my new contract, they were fine with me forgetting college and playing disc golf.”
What does a typical non-disc golf day look like for you?
“There’s none of those. I play every day.
“That might just be putting in the basement, because it’s too cold outside, though. That’s Iowa for you. A week or so back, we had a tornado — multiple tornadoes, actually. Days later, three inches of snow.”
What do you do for fun when you’re not playing disc golf?
“I’m big into Rubik’s Cubes. I could mess with those for hours. And I haven’t done it in like two years, but if I could, I’d shoot baskets more often. I love playing catch, too. Whatever I’m doing, it has to be something active — basketball, baseball or tennis.
“I also enjoy making paper airplanes and origami. Have you ever heard of Rainbow Loom? You make rubber-band bracelets. I like that, too. I’ll bust that out when I’m bored.”
Okay, last one: Our readers love this – your mom’s your caddie. How does she help you out on the course? What other roles does she play?
“Right now, I can’t drive, so she’s my Uber driver and chaperone.
“None of this would be possible without her. She’s supported me since the beginning. I was playing Ledgestone in 2016. I was 10 years old. She drove me four hours to play the event. All this for some fun money – I don’t even think I cashed.
“Another time, she drove me 10 hours to a B-tier just to see Will Schusterick. The weather was absolutely awful — it couldn’t have been any worse. So, yeah — she gets me everywhere. That’s important, because Ty hasn’t been able to get to the bigger events. I’m not sure why, but Cole and I have, which is great.
“And on the course, before the round, I’m like, ‘Mom, don’t say anything.’ I don’t know why, but sometimes her voice and the tone she talks with just gets me angry. It makes me mad.
“She doesn’t know disc golf that well. She’s like, ‘Why don’t you just throw a sidearm? You know, like forehand it?’ And I’m thinking about the wind and other stuff. She’ll whisper sometimes, too. I hate that.
“I do like getting fist-bumps from her, though.”
It’s easy to see a bit of your 16-year-old self in Gannon’s answers, isn’t it?
Especially in that last one about mom – he’s a great (literal) kid.
For me, what’s most interesting about Gannon isn’t the fact that he’s 16, but that – given how gifted he is as a disc golfer – how quickly we forget his age. He really is that good.
As time passes, the novelty of his youth will fade, but for now, one thing remains certain …
Gannon Buhr is the future of disc golf.
I know it, you know and, most importantly, he knows it, too – sit back and enjoy the show.
Have anything to add? Take to Twitter to let us know – we’ll actually (for real) get back to you.
