The Upshot Interview: Gannon Buhr

Charlie Eisenhood and Josh Mansfield interview Gannon Buhr about his new deal with Discmania, what’s in his bag, the future of Discmania without Simon & Eagle, , and more.

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Chapters
0:00 Introduction
2:00 Gannon Buhr’s New Deal
10:20 The Future of Discmania
12:55 What’s in his Bag?
18:05 Not Using an Agent
23:30 Having Fun with the Announcement
28:05 Predictions for 2024
34:05 Final Thoughts on the Interview

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[Applause] welcome to the upshot UL disc golf’s podcast about the latest in this golf world I’m the editor Charlie Eisen Hood joining me is Josh Mansfield we got a special edition of the show today we’re going to be talking with Ganon Burr who just signed a three-year deal with dis

Mania Josh you know even though knew is coming it’s still it wasn’t confirmed and now it is and now we get a chance to hear what Ganon has to say about this new deal and leaving Prodigy and everything else it it’s one of those situations where like it it’s not breaking news but

Like you said hearing it from the words of the pro and the process and the description I think is just such an important part of understanding how these contract negotiations take place these are some of my favorite interviews uh I think we get a lot of insight into manufacturers players their priorities

Preferences and the landscape of the professional scene so really excited to talk to Ganon as well looking forward to it we’re going to Jump Right In gur joins us next right here on the Upshot pound’s the best of the best it’s the quality the craftsmanship the vision for what a bag could be let’s start from the beginning I didn’t pound I chose Levi I trusted Levi to make the best bag possible he’s always trying to innovate he wants it to be perfect and I think

He’s the kind of guy that nothing’s ever perfect I trust the product I trust the people behind the product at this point I don’t think anyone’s disputing that it’s the best made Bag joining us now on the upshot is the newest member of Team dis Mania Ganon Burr welcome back to the program Ganon and congrats on the new deal yeah thank you I’m glad to be back so you know this is a an interesting situation because you’ve been linked to dis Mania for

Basically a year at this point with everything that happened last offseason and now eventually you do land there on this three-year deal what can you tell us about what this last year has been like in terms of you know sort of thinking you were going to be leaving Prodigy and then having the

Lawsuit sticking it out with them and now eventually landing at this Mania yeah it’s a it was it was a little Annoying uh at the beginning of last year having to deal with everything but I kind of didn’t think too much about it after the first couple weeks because I

Just wanted to focus on playing and then obviously had a really good successful 2023 season um and then obviously we got closer to the end of the year and started talking to companies and stuff getting offers and uh you know actually was fair fairly quickly was able to get

A deal figured out for myself and uh it feels really good to I guess I can I can go to courses now and and play with dis Mania and you know not have to hide anything obviously I mean luckily we have snow so I wasn’t really able to

Play that much anyway um in Iowa but um it feels good to just you know look look forward to the future and team dis Mania for the next three years I I before Josh jumps in I want to ask you I I heard a rumor that you were

Close to a deal with another company and then dmania like came in over the top and like improved the offer so that you ended up with dis Mania is that true there were definitely uh two companies it came down to so it was a it was a

Tough decision for me but I think I think I definitely made the right decision and like I said I’m I’m couldn’t be more excited I’m really just excited to throw some new plastic and you know we’re going to have some pretty cool things coming soon so be on the

Lookout kind of just you know with discmania and my brand mixing uh we’re going to have a lot of cool products coming out before we talk specifically about the dis Mania deal I did want to ask also one other question kind of of the process up to this point did Prodigy

Offer you a deal to stay and if so you know how competitive was it so we were talking with Prodigy about uh I definitely obviously wanted to give them a chance to see what they had to offer um and it was a little bit tricky it’s kind

Of an interesting situation and so I I gave him a lot of chances to you know kind of give me an offer uh i’ I’d give him a couple weeks on top of you know what I’d already said you know I was like hey you guys I need to have an

Offer by now and then you know they asked for a couple more weeks I gave them a little bit more time to give me an offer and um it it kind of ended up being that they weren’t really able to on their end I think finalized stuff uh

And so I never actually got an official offer from Prodigy but they were interested um I I bet if I gave them some more time maybe they would have had their offer finalized but I was really looking to uh close up the deal pretty pretty early in the off season that way

I could get started with my new discs so who was who was the other company that you were considering I don’t know if I can say I mean I I just I I probably could but like I just don’t know if I should I don’t know fair enough fair enough it might it

Might come out eventually got it so uh can you tell us anything about the financial terms of this deal or what’s in this deal like how much you’re making uh are you going to get your own line of discs you know we hear a lot of these things um in various contracts these

Days so you know what mattered to you and what did did you end up getting so my the the money part of my deal will not be public um but like I I guess I can say you know it’s a three-year deal obviously um and you

Know you’ve seen with dis May in the past do Creator series discs so working with the player to kind of see what what kind of disc they want to make and so it’s a brand new mold like KY Klein has the Vanguard it’s a brand new Fairway

Driver that he wanted because he felt like you know there was a slot missing there and so you you’re going to see a couple of those from me um soon hopefully and uh there’s definitely there’s definitely a couple things that um I don’t think have been they haven’t

Been announced yet but I think they’re going to be very interesting and it’s going to be very cool I’m excited to see how they work out in terms of not getting into necessarily Financial specifics but is this a deal that has a higher base contract is that what you’re looking for

Or is it more incentive Laden based on performances what what’s kind of the nature in if you can tell us in that aspect yeah for like for myself when I’m looking for a contract I want a guaranteed base salary and good bonus structure Cu uh for me that way I don’t

Have to worry too much about uh you know having to you know think about really how many discs I sell obviously I’m going to try to do my best because that’s my job as being part of the company now is I want to push the product as much as possible because that

Can only help me uh no matter what and uh you know I I look for like I said those those two things are my main two things I look for and I I’m very satisfied with what the offer I got uh so how did you end up on a

Three-year deal we were talking earlier in the show yesterday about this because most of the you know top level Pros have been signing four five even 10 year deals so why three and how did that end up coming to pass I I think obviously a lot of it has

To do with my age and kind of where I’m at in the game um it was a mutual decision for 3 years um I think we both kind of thought that was a really good number because you know two years it’s kind of hard to really you know do those

Creator series type discs and build a brand through a player three years gives you an extra Year to you know you have all that product you can still promote uh and four years felt a little bit too long for me and I wasn’t even really considering the the higher end uh

Numbers just because um you know if you’re someone in Simon or Paul’s position where you’re 30 years old and you know you’re technically past your athletic Prime um it makes sense for them to take advantage and get that money locked up for them but for me it

Doesn’t make sense uh obviously I’m not going to get offered their type of money yet so um that’s another reason it just didn’t make sense for me to sign anything any anything longer than three years um and obviously if everything’s going good with disc Mania after 3 years

There’s no I’ll be like well there’ be no problem in res signing for more years and so uh it just gives me Freedom I’m not going to be locked up to anything past those three years I I think it’s a good a good amount of time you know it’s

Going to it’s going to probably feel like a long time especially you know I’ve only been on two or two and a half three years now so uh I’m basically doubling that with dis Mania and um it’s going to feel like a long time you know

Who knows what can happen maybe I’ll win a couple Majors um obviously looking for some us or World titles um in the next couple years but uh yeah yeah I think if I have a successful next couple seasons and you know get my social media up which I’ve been doing a little bit

Better I feel like um and being connected with my audience and I think I think it’s going to be a good three years and I think I can you know maybe grow my value even more after the three years how does the the deal you signed

With disenia now compar to the one that discmania offered you last off seon uh I’m I’m not going to say anything about that fair enough yeah there was litigation about that topic I suppose uh yeah I will say it’s like there’s some things that I just really won’t be able to

Speak on so uh go ahead and keep asking because there might be something I can but I just that top is a little sensitive you just dropped an in the bag we’ve already got the preseason in the bag a lot of speculation about kind of

Which discs you have um I got a couple questions about this one did eagle give you any of his discs as he of course now is departing well he he didn’t give me any but I I did buy some from him um okay so

Uh uh so we have I have a lot of eagles gems basically um when when I flew out to Colorado to go film promo um we actually stopped by eagles’s house and I was able to handpick a lot of stuff and so I got I got stuff that like I knew I

Was going to throw um that was It was a Mo mostly the old stuff but it was also a mix of the new stuff that you know there’s some money runs of the new stuff as well so I I choose those and uh yeah I’m I’m really excited to throw some new

Drivers and Fairway drivers uh these next couple years I feel like you know in the past it’s kind of I definitely haven’t had you know I feel like a solid Fairway driver lineup for myself and you know you watched Calvin and eagle and and Simon even and there’s just they’re

Throwing Fairway drivers on a lot of the t- shots where I’m throwing either a hard mid or a soft driver and I’ve kind of had that you know that weird space where I’ve been trying to kind of figure out you know it it makes it a lot more

Difficult to have to touch up a driver from 410 ft instead of throwing a fairway hard and so I I think obviously I gained a lot of slots with my new bag um I’ll probably lose a couple but I think I’m going to gain more than I’ll

Lose any any specific disc you want to shout out that you got from Eagle uh there was a couple like pretty cool I guess you can s collector items and so like if you’re like an OG Eagle fan which I have been I’ve been a eagle fan for I

Mean that kind of ties into my disc Mania history almost um eagle and Simon obviously will schri is my favorite player growing up uh but eagle and Simon were my next two um and so and obviously they were in team dis Mania and there was a couple from Eagles Vlogs that he

Used to do when he was about my age and uh now I’m in possession of those discs and there’s a lot of people that are wanting them because they they play history in the in the Vlog a history I guess so it’s pretty cool to have them

And you know I I don’t buy any discs to collect really there’s there’s maybe a couple that if they’re brand new I won’t throw them but I’d say 99% of my discs I buy it to only throw because I want to use them for tools

Even if they have a lot of value they have history I still want to throw them because I I want to play my best all right so then the last question on this topic is how many of the discs in your bag right now are Innova made dis

Mania yeah um I’d say for like for now like what I’m testing out it’s probably half and half um right now I’m really enjoying the dis Mania made Putters in mid-ranges I think they’re really really good and even the fairways uh the fd1 is one of my favorite Fairways of all time honestly

It’s it uh it’s very it’s you know it’s that like kind of seven-speed disc but can handle all the torque you want it’s not like it kind of flies weird cuz you can you can throw it out there flat with a ton of power it’s not going to flip but it also

Doesn’t fade very hard so you can kind of get those laser beam flights um and that’s the new obviously disc man made fd1 uh and all like you can literally go to any store anywhere and get any good F Seine FD and they’re all going to be

Really good uh and so I’ve been enjoying those a lot they also with the mystery boxes they include they’ve been mixing and matching the Plastics from you know they have the evolution line and the dis Mania line obviously and the Plastics are different in those lines but they’ve

Been mixing them and so the instinct is now made in SE line plastic which is my favorite plastic from dis Mania it’s really durable and I like how stiff it is too um and so the Instinct in Sea line is really good as well it’s kind of

My like slow flipping and hold the entire way Fairway driver um and so those are good and then obviously I I’m going to be bagging some into stuff um there’s there’s a couple runs right now that uh we’re going to do our best to

Make uh as close as we can in the new disia made stuff that way we can you know obviously move toward that but uh I’m going to be bagging a couple uh older pd2 for now obviously the pd2 just came out in the mystery boxes and so as

There’s you know more runs of that and more Plastics I’ll probably you know switch over to those fairly soon but for now I have a couple old drivers in my bag a couple old Fairways and uh yeah pretty much the mid and Potters I’m all all disc Mania made right now because I

Think they’re slightly better you’re you’re the first big name Pro to switch over into a house of diss conglomerate group was there anything different about for example the contract process the you know who was involved what those contracts look like that you notice that were different than other companies or

Other uh other you know other manufacturers as you were going through this process um I guess I’m not too sure um I I know like House of diss like they they obviously work as a a bigger like organization in a way and so they they probably I mean they probably

Talk back and forth with each other and then there’s obviously multiple people in the house of this that are you know higher ups and so I’m assuming they they talk back and forth kind of about just like you know maybe where the where the money wants to go or stuff like that I

Mean I I don’t really know too much about it I I don’t think I saw a difference maybe even slightly maybe more professional about it because I think they had more ears to talk about and have have more Minds in the process so I mean to me it was a very smooth

Process disc Mania was like incredibly easy to work with um I mean I can I can call them anytime text them anytime and they’ll get back within 30 minutes no matter what probably maybe even 12 seconds so it’s they’ve been they’ve been really easy to work with and I’ve

That’s how it was a prodigy too right for you I’m not going to speak on that you you did say to keep asking uh no I want one one quick followup who who who have you been working with primarily at DIS Mania uh yeah so Austin

Montgomery um he’s I guess I don’t I don’t actually know the official like what his official role is but I’d say like team like team manager he’s he’s kind of like the middleman like you know the higher ups will tell him you know maybe what the offer will be and then

He’ll kind of get it over to me but he’s also just all like he’s pretty all around um and he’s like one of my favorite people ever he’s super funny he’s uh I think what made the process easy is he was like in a way it felt

Like I was talking to a friend through the whole process so it’s easy to be honest um he’s just been so so cool to work with the entire time obviously it’s it’s a Colt Montgomery’s brother and I’m I know Colton pretty well as well so

It’s a good family there and uh yeah so I can I probably call him up right now and he’d answer and if I had a question he’d be able to get it to me and uh it’s it’s been easy because he’s very close to the higher ups at DIS Mania and so

And they respond quickly and so if I have a question about something super specific like hey you know can we make blah blah blah run-of disc with this type of plastic and maybe it’s something they’ve never done before but it’s but he’s and he can get back to me like

Right away like hey it is possible or it’s not possible and oh yeah we can modify that to make the run a little bit better and so it’s it’s just been so amazing to like kind of you know in you know in the you know the soon future

Have kind of my thoughts and then be represented in the disc that will be released did did you use an agent for contract negotiations or did you handle it yourself no um I handled it myself um for for me like financially I don’t think it makes that much sense I was

Kind of in a position where um well I was given an offer really early from a company that actually made it really easy to um kind of negotiate back back and forth because it was it was you know the the me asking for stuff wasn’t as you know it wasn’t

As like Cutthroat I wasn’t you know super like harsh about I guess I don’t know really how to explain it but um I had an offer and my basically would go back and forth of the companies and I had a few companies that were obviously

Fighting for me and so it made it pretty easy to like hey you know this is just straight up this is what they offered me um now obviously it not the money is very important obviously is the most important part but if the money was

Close there I mean to me disc Mania was you know at the top of my list um and so but luckily you know it ended up being a pretty e pretty uh easy decision but it was a tough decision throughout the process uh but yeah the companies would

Go back and forth and you know throw out their different offers and that way I I didn’t have to ask for too much but once I had finally settled on dis Mania then it was It was kind of easy to just like hey you know I I definitely to finish

Out this deal I’m going to have to have this and uh you know it was it was really easy because they you know it was mutal we each got we each got something we wanted and I think we’re both happy Charlie if I I got one more sorry

I want to follow up um on this line did did you have did you hire an attorney to review it independent for for you personally yeah I I did have a attorney review my contract to make sure it’s it’s what I wanted so I’m curious if you’ve thought much about

This but you know it’s interesting you know you talked about coming up as a player and seeing Simon an eagle at DIS Mania and and they really have been the faces of that brand for so many years and now you join dis Mania at a time

When they are both gone um is that weird at all for you um I don’t know it was like it definitely would have been really fun to be on the team with them uh cuz they kind of built the whole entire brand uh but at the same time it’s kind of like

Turning over a new Leaf or passing the torch to you know our our kind of younger generation I mean the disc Mania team is extremely young right now um and I I think and a lot of my friends on the team and so it’s going to I think

It’s going easy to kind of bounce off of each other make videos and really promote the the new brand um you know obviously Kyle’s only 20 or 21 and so and we both obviously have a maj major now us championship and you know I think

That I think that we’re going to have a pretty successful three years um I’m I’m looking forward to it I I think it’s it’s kind of cool it kind of feels like um it feels like I have more of like a friend group at disc Mania right now you

Know everyone everyone’s you know not in terms of on the tour definitely on the younger side um and I think we have a lot of longevity and if we take care of our bodies and promote the plastic really well it’ll work out yeah you know and I I’m curious if

You’ve thought about or talked to disia about how the marketing might shift you know it’s not like Crush boys anymore uh I mean I guess they could stick with that if they wanted to but schol boys so have you thought about how you want to position you know yourself

Inside of this brand that where you go in as whether you want to say number one or 1A alongside Kyle uh as kind of the top player at the company yeah I guess I I haven’t really thought of a a branding idea yet um all I all I

Know is you know we’re we’re going to use we’re going to bounce each off each other I mean if if he has a signature disc come out I’m going to promote it if I wouldn’t come out he’s going to promote mine it’s just going to be kind of a never-ending cross promotion

Through the brand and so that way there’s just eyes on the plastic and I think in turn that’s that’s what’s going to really build the brand I mean obviously Simon and Eagle did that with each other and that worked out very well so that’s the goal all right well hey Ganon thank you

So much um I you know when can we expect to see like an actual Ganon disc of some kind not like a mini stamp like a either a tour series type disc or one of the new uh new molds um I actually don’t have an answer for that it’s G to be definitely

Hopefully in the next couple months I’d say um we’re working right now on you know prototyping some stuff and then also working on my Tour series disc and my idea for the Tour series disc is going to be a I believe a really a really cool blend of plastic so I’m I’m

Hoping the the prototypes come out really good I think they’re being tested very soon and so uh I’ll have them and I’ll if if they’re good then we can start the process and it’ll happen even quicker um but yeah we’re we’re definitely working right now on on

Getting some some molds and some discs uh out there for the people all I have two other things did you get a chance to did did people like DM you when you were doing all of your various trolling about you know oh getting some fieldwork in

And you got an Inova disc very clearly in the picture or posting on the MVP page um you feel like you tricked anybody I I tricked some people I I I don’t know if it was that many but I tricked some people um those are those

Are fun to do it was a it was a kind of a fun uh free I knew you know I’m not going to have this for three more years so it was it was fun to kind of have that free time and those you know two

Weeks about two weeks ahead you know for that one I literally I I called my dog over well my dog she usually watches me play disc golf anyway in my backyard and uh so I was like hey come over the window and she went over to the window

And I had to use her as excuse cuz I was like the video was like oh my dog’s watching me play disc golf and then obvious I had to I had to like prop up the the in of a disc and then I had the

MVP basket I was putting on and so uh I mean it was it was all intentional and very very planned out um I I knew it wasn’t going to be like it probably wouldn’t trick many it’s not going to really trick anybody but it it trick at

Least got people talking about my name uh which I think was important because it made the announcement a little bit bigger I feel like even even if it even if it was you know maybe obvious or people had already you know thought I was going to be going to dis Mania at

Least it it got more eyes on it to be like once it finally happened it was like oh that’s it’s cool and uh we got I mean right now the views on YouTube have been amazing I think we already have 60 50,000 on both my in the bag and the

Announcement video um which is on the higher end for disc golf for sure and then I on Instagram both of my announcement posts through my collab with dis Mania and my post have over 10,000 likes which is on the very high end for disc golf and so that’s been

It’s been cool to see the support I mean uh right now the community has been amazing they’ve been you know I’ve had so many people reach out to me like hey can I send you some discs and uh yes I’ll I’ll be I’ll be trying some more

Stuff out I’m the one frustrating part is there’s a lot of good discs and there’s not enough room in my bag so uh and obviously just sign money Squatch deal so I’m excited for that uh I’ll have a new signature bag out soon and uh you know it’s it’s tough because I I

Only like to bag you know 18 to 20 discs not even that that’s kind of a lot for me uh I more like to change the angle of the disc and just rely on my skills rather than having to trust a disc as much um we find a really trustworthy

Disc and then you know trust myself as well and so it’s been tough when I have so many good options I mean right now for fair fairway drivers is definitely the toughest part because you have you know you have your overstable PDS or you could bag a straight fd3 or you could b

A bey fd3 um or a stable FD or a flippy FD and because because the discs are also different speeds you know you can have a PD that’s really beat up that flies like an FD but it goes away further and so I’ve had a really hard time dialing in the Fairway drivers

Because there’s so many good options yeah I was going to ask you how much have you been able to throw so far and you know how do you feel about the new discs in your bag compared to what you were throwing the last couple Seasons yeah I I think like I found a

Way to cuz obviously I I like the way the you know the disc flew in my bag last year I was confident with what I was playing with um obviously I had a lot of the old stuff and um it was kind of hard to find sometimes but uh you

Know the I guess I’m just saying that the flights of the discs I’ve been able to find at DIS Mania as well and also add a few slots um I think the one slot I am maybe missing is the A2 slot which I have an md5 now which in a way opens

Up a new slot I didn’t have but while losing one so it’s it’s it’s it’s a give or take no matter what um now I’m going to try to find the most overstable run md5 I can but the md5 uh pushes a little bit straighter and so

I’ve always kind of wanted to throw those like laser beam forehand shots I’ve been seeing like Aaron gosage throw and um gosh like Ricky wi saki throws you just laser beam kind of putter like you know approach this shots and I haven’t really had that cuz A2 was too

Overstable and now I kind of do and so uh I’m looking looking forward to throwing the md5 cuz it’s going to have a little bit more Glide a little more more push forward while still being really overstable and it’s the small diameter I look for in approach disc um but

Yeah all right last thing predictions for the 2024 season I just want to beat Isaac can’t stand listening that guy I can’t do it I’ve been I’ve been I want to definitely have a Calvin type season well I want to win more but I want to have you know like the consistency of

Calvin yeah you know last year I showed I was really good at closing when I had a chance to win the tournament I think I I think I won three of the five tournaments I was on the lead card or something like that um Elite Series

Level um and obviously had my two silver series uh but you know I just I just want to always stay in the mix I want to find a way to make sure my game feels good every single weekend which it’s not going to happen but there’s things you

Can do to where your bad weekends are still good weekends um and Calvin did a really good job of that at just keeping his head in the game but um yeah I want to get my my form was really weird last year I think I had like maybe three

Weekends where I felt like myself um other than that I had to like really think where where is my arm when I’m throwing or stuff like that and so I don’t know I’m not sure what it was maybe I I did put on like 25 lbs last

Offseason compared to 2022 and so that could have been a a definitely a timing issue thing and so I was having trouble just you know having it feel like my form and then you have you know you those times where I I get jealous of seeing Isaac throw those Just Deadly

Accurate putter shots Calvin’s low laser beams uh Nick loss’s heer flips but it’s it’s really tough to throw all those kind of shots with my form but then I also I’m one of the best flex throwers out there which they can’t do and so it’s

Like I’m I’m trying to find a way to get a form where I can I can work with everything because certain forms just don’t work well for certain shots it’s just mechanically it’s not how it works and so I’m trying to find a way to kind

Of beat that system and then also find you know OB a consistent Putt and a consistent forehand I want to put some distance on my forehand this off season which maybe I have a little bit and maybe a little bit of backhand distance but um I’ve been playing pretty solid

The offseason obviously I I went to Florida for like 3 weeks uh to go see my dad he lives in Sarasota and so it was warm I got to play a little bit um but right now in Iowa we have 2 feet of snow kind of depends the wind’s been blowing

Some places are like four 5T deep right outside my driveway there’s an 8 10t pile um and we hit Nega 45 wind chill a couple days ago and so I went outside to practice picture yeah I went outside to take that picture of me laying in the

Discs and I didn’t have gloves on for the first take we actually had to do two takes it was not fun and I was lit outside for 2 minutes and I don’t know if my fingers have ever ever felt not just cold but like felt like they’re not

Even on my hand anymore like they feel like icicles like chilled to the Bone and I was like I don’t even know how this is possible to live in cuz I just came from Florida it was nice and warm uh I’ll probably do a little more offse seasoning in Florida uh next year

Because it’s way warmer down there and I can actually practice yeah it is very cold right now in the US I I I have one question given what you just some of the things you mentioned who did you vote for for player of the year Isaac or

I thought you were GNA say the caucuses but continue uh to me it was an no brainer uh to me it was definitely Calvin um it’s definitely it’s a different thing I’d rather I’d much rather have Isaac Seasons way much rather have Isaac season but Calvin was the player of the

Year overall I mean Isaac missed cash like three times you can’t do that and be the player of the year I mean unless you unless you win like I mean it’s it’s it’s it’s a tough argument but nobody ever in the new age of disc golf has done what Calvin did

And it’s actually unbelievable if you look at the stats the overall stats of how much he destroyed everybody second place even wasn’t even close um and if you’re going player of the year I’m looking at the entire year the consistency which is like it’s literally impossible I don’t know how he did it

So and yet you’d rather have Isaac season because you want those Majors yep yep I would much much rather a good consistent season but um player of the year I think Calvin deserved it because it just we’ve never seen that before like really I mean any good player can

Win a major and like you look at any of the top 10 guys if they have a solid weekend they’re going to win a major um it kind of just depends on what weekends you play good on Isaac happen to play really good on two major weekends um and

You know he had a couple good finish other than that but um you know I I I was kind of the same way but I didn’t I didn’t play good on the major weekends um I played okay at the majors but nothing nothing too good um I I

Definitely that that’s like my goals for 2024 is to get I don’t even care how many I win I just want one major I don’t care like obviously I want to win every single tournament I go to but if I can finish the year with a major I’ll be I’ll feel

Successful all right we’re going to hit you with an over under before you leave over under your base contract guaranteed salary per year is 350,000 thought we maybe get one there Josh at least a little bit of a ballp part nice try not happening all right

Well thank you very much genon uh good luck with the new discs and looking forward to seeing you out there for the 2024 season sweet thanks g b with us here on the upshot we’ll be right back Welcome back to the upshot thanks again to Ganon for jumping on with us in the onslaught of interviews that everybody has to go through whenever they win a tournament or sign a major contract um I thought you know clearly Ganon was not going to be willing to talk about many

Of the details here we got a little bit of knowledge about like what’s forthcoming on the disc front um I do think it would be wise for dis Mania to perhaps consider more than just giving a player a mold and thinking more along the lines

Of a lineup of discs that people can get excited about Allah MC Beth and Simon maybe these players don’t quite raise to that level yet Josh but I feel like discmania has been doing the kind of like tour sery type drops as the primary thing maybe there’s not really a

Distinction there but it feels different to me when it’s a stamp versus a disc like a mold well and he said that so Kyle did the Vanguard which is a unique mold and and I think like Eagle’s rain maker was unique but I thought the cloudbreaker is just a dd3 so so the

Creator series is you know Ganon said that as if it was to clarify like oh this is exactly what it’s going to be it didn’t clarify to me because it’s never been terribly clear to me what that series is meant to represent because you

Know s skyriter is a pd2 and and I don’t know so I I think I agree I think making just a Ganon line of discs would clarify the whole process it would it would create the anticipation right think about Simon when he gets the driver first and then everybody’s been

Anticipating the the Putter and and that that that kind of hype and the continuation of an entire series is something that helps build and drive momentum on its own that I just don’t think dis media has right now in those releases so I I completely agree the

Other thing I remarked as we’re talking about discs here uh Brian aart said said this on on the show that you guys did and I think Brian is also one of the best at the game in this but listening to Ganon talk about discs and actually

Playing disc golf really is a treat and and him more so than even some other Pros just have such an analytical approach to the game in a way that I really think breaks it down and makes it very interesting when he talks about the types of shots he wants to throw and

Excels at and how his form isn’t compatible with for example Simon’s shots or you know whoever else I I love that and I think that’s really fascinating and something that I’ve always appreciated when we get to talk to again that that I know that Brian highlights as well and I because I think

He really is a scholar of the game as well yeah it is interesting I find Ganon the most compelling when we’re talking about Frisbees and like yeah performance on the course um I thought that was for me easily the strongest part of the interview because a lot of the rest of

It was like him not being willing to answer the questions which you know I get it I get it like it is what it is I I personally still feel that companies should be more willing to be forthcoming about these contracts like what who who

Is harmed I I I I I ultimately I still think the companies feel like it would like be negative for their leverage in negotiations with players if more contracts were midu that that’s my only that that’s my only Theory as to why more of this is not even if it’s not

Directly disclosed by the manufacturer that it’s not leaked in some way um there’s nothing wrong with that you know like right we know Simon’s details of his contract and that was never that was never released by MVP and that’s because like it was reported on ulti disc golf and like that

That has value that’s it it shows what Simon is worth it shows that mvp was very serious about get you know signing a big player and like there were people very upset that that stuff was released but I don’t understand why to be honest it it also the other thing to highlight there

That that you mentioned I I just do not believe I don’t believe for a second that Pros have not shared this information with each other that that Ganon and Isaac do not know what the each other were making at Prodigy and that Isaac doesn’t now know what ganon’s

Making at DIS Mania or will at least ask throughout season they talk about it of of course they talk about so this idea that oh well there’s no leverage like you if you keep it hidden so they don’t know like that’s that’s this is a lie

That you tell yourself to try and hope that you don’t have to deal with it I don’t know I agree with you I think it’s weird I think it’d be better for the sport if these contract details Republic what did you think of I found ganon’s approach to obtaining said contract with this

Mania reminiscent of the way contracts used to be obtained and I’m sure it was more you know obviously more than just a handshake agreement but you know no agent no just I got an offer I went to dis Mania I told him kind of what I

Wanted but my heart always was with dis Mania it felt very reminiscent of like the preo contracts more so than the business transactions we’re used to these days I am very curious about what’s going to go on with the agent side of the marketplace this is not the

NFL we are not for the most part dealing in multi-million dollar contracts yeah and I think some agents are annoying or abrasive to the manufacturers and perhaps that’s just because they are trying to get more money from the manufacturers but it also has to do with you know comportment and

Everything else and they’re maybe seen as Outsiders or that they’re like leeching off of players you know I think Ganon used to have an agent and now doesn’t anymore yeah uh I I just don’t know if we’re still quite there okay you know like look at like MC Beth doesn’t

Have an agent anymore inside of disc golf and so like having this big boom of agencies happen during the co boom makes sense and are we now going to see that maybe filter out a little bit I do think there are players who need you know a

Manager and perhaps even an agent like they really just aren’t interested in being directly involved in the process um but I I I think that Ganon probably had a good pretty good sense of what he was worth and just went out and tried to

Get what he was worth and if he had a good offer in hand it’s pretty you know if you if you’re getting bids for multiple people it’s not that hard to just run the bids off of each other until you get the maximum auction essentially

Right I I read an article online a while ago about someone who purchased a new car completely over the Internet simply emailing dealerships back and forth with the off offer from the other dealership until they got the lowest possible price that they were willing to pay and then

They paid the price versus going to the dealership and getting hustled by the salespeople and blah blah blah I I don’t know I’ve never bought a new car I’ve lived in New York City a long time I haven’t needed a car much um but I think

It’s a similar thing where like if you you know if you got an offer in hand and you’re like I want X they’re they’re willing to pay me x minus 100,000 I want X and you know take it or leave it and then you go back to the other one you

Say well hey dis Mania offered me this who do you think the other company was by the way man I I I I the more the more I thought about it the more I liked your Innova take I think I think I think it was Inova yeah I offer it makes sense

Yeah yeah yeah the the offer and then and then the other thing with that too is like if latitude wanted Ganon they would have had him because House of discs money not I like I don’t see any reason that makes no sense there would be no not inside house of discs I I

Highly doubt MVP was like let’s try and steal Ganon and Eagle uh so so in of disc craft and you know I think Discraft has a lot of young talent and like Anthony Bella and and uh on the foo side as well like very well-rounded team with

Christ and MC Beth right on the older side Inova makes most sense to me yeah it’s uh GNA be really interesting next couple years you know who who can really establish themselves as the next face of disc golf are are we still going to be in the Calvin

Eagle Paul Ricky era and Ganon I guess you throw in that mix it’s very flat right now in a way way and is let me ask you one one question that I want to follow up on um MC Beth interviews 10 years ago or seven years like you know before the let’s say

Before the Discraft deal the first Discraft deal was he like the MC Beth we know today because he he’s a level and I I just don’t remember but he’s a level of business savvy and the way that he talks about dis golf as his profession that that very much MIRS professional

Athletes in other sports and and it feels like MC Beth punches above his weight class when it comes to his media Savvy when I look at other Pros around him right Ganon obviously significantly younger but just doesn’t talk about it in the same way that MC Beth does Ricky

Doesn’t talk about in the same way MC Beth does I really feel like MC Beth is unique and different is that is that just because of his time in the sport or has he always been like that so I actually just took a look back through

Some of the archives on multi World disc golf to get a feel for like what were some of the stories that were going on around MC Beth back in the day now you know this is like dating back to 2015 2016 so before he signed the Discraft

Deal um and I I get the feeling that you know maybe really early stage MC Beth was probably just like any other upand Comer hungry kid who wanted to play Elite disc golf but I think he pretty quickly started to assess that he was pretty important and you know when he

Has a huge year with all the major wins and he’s just dominating the sport like he would throw his weight around a little bit like the PDGA would do something that he didn’t like and he would come out and publicly say that he was against it and like put a lot of

Public pressure on the PDGA at a time when the whole sport was a lot smaller and he signed that Adidas contract before the Discraft move and then refused to reup when they wouldn’t pay him so like that whole like Adidas maybe you know you know outdoor dipping

Their toe into disc golf and that was led by MC Beth and then when they weren’t willing to pay him enough he he bounced and he also started Foundation disc golf before the Discraft deal or right around the same time maybe uh now obviously he’s sort of divested from

That but I think that he has had that kind of entrepreneurial Focus I guess since early since I’ve known him anyway I guess the point I I want to to make is when you you say you know we’re still got a lot of people vying for who’s

Going to be the the face of the sport M MC Beth is the was the face of the sport not only because he was immensely talented and dominant right and and that obviously is going to be a requirement of anybody who is going to to be the

Face of disc golf right but but it is a a capacity to and that kind of his understanding of the bigger side of dis golf the dis golf ecosystem the business side the sponsor sponsorships its interaction with governing bodies that that displays a level of control and understanding that mck Beth I think

Stands above in and whoever is going to want to kind of rise to that same level has to develop those same skills and I think there are a lot of players who have the possibility to do that in terms of the talent side but I think they have

To develop the offc course side as well with an ability and understanding to speak to it that MC Beth does and in the way that MC Beth does well it’s going to be really interesting to see how it plays out let us know your thoughts on ganon’s New

Deal the eagle deal anything we’ve seen in this offseason find us at upshot at ul.com we also hope you join us as a subscriber dis golf. world.com subscribe and get access to all of our inside the circle bonus segments and more so that is going to do it for today’s show thank

You so much for tuning in for Josh I’m char we’ll talk to you next Week