Disc Golf Daily

Disc Golf Daily Sunday: Landon Brooks, 13-year-old phenom

Summary In this interview, Landon Brooks, a 13-year-old disc golf phenom, discusses his journey in the sport and his aspirations to go pro. He talks about how he got started in disc golf at a young age and his sponsorship with MVP Disc Sports. Landon shares his favorite aspects of disc golf, including the flying discs and the supportive community. He also talks about his fond memories in the sport, such as winning the World Championships at a young age. Landon discusses his recent performance at the US Amateur Championship and his plans to go pro in the near future. He offers advice for beginners and expresses gratitude for the support of his parents and sponsors.

Keywords disc golf, Landon Brooks, young phenom, journey, sponsorship, favorite aspects, community, fond memories, US Amateur Championship, going pro, advice, parents, sponsors Takeaways Landon Brooks started playing disc golf at a young age and has a goal of going pro in the future. He is sponsored by MVP Disc Sports and has a strong relationship with the company. Landon's favorite aspects of disc golf are the flying discs and the supportive community. He has fond memories of winning the World Championships at a young age. Landon recently performed well at the US Amateur Championship and plans to go pro soon. He offers advice for beginners, emphasizing the importance of form and putting. Landon is grateful for the support of his parents and sponsors.

Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:14 Aspiring to Go Pro 03:13 Favorite Aspects of Disc Golf 04:13 Fond Memories: Winning the World Championships 06:27 Impressive Performance at the US Amateur Championship 09:47 Future Plans: Going Pro 13:59 Advice for Beginners Music by contreloup

Duration:: 21m
Broadcast on:: 06 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Landon Brooks started playing disc golf at a young age and has a goal of going pro in the future.
He is sponsored by MVP Disc Sports and has a strong relationship with the company.
Landon's favorite aspects of disc golf are the flying discs and the supportive community.
He has fond memories of winning the World Championships at a young age.
Landon recently performed well at the US Amateur Championship and plans to go pro soon.
He offers advice for beginners, emphasizing the importance of form and putting.
Landon is grateful for the support of his parents and sponsors.

(upbeat music) All right, everyone. Welcome back to Disc Golf Daily, the Sunday interview sessions. I am here with a young phenom. You might have heard them before. Landing Brooks, how are we doing, landed? - Good, how are you, Ben? - I'm doing fantastic. It's a beautiful day. We got a heat visor warning, so that's gonna, we'll see how that plays out, but it's been awesome. How old are you now? - I am 13 years old. - 13, there we go. So keep in mind, everyone. This man is 13 when I am asking these questions because he has a pretty impressive resume. But first, just tell us about yourself and kind of how you got started in Disc Golf and what that journey's been like so far. - So yeah, when I was around three to four, my dad already had started playing Disc Golf with my mom and they thought I should start getting into the game and right around five to six, that's when I started knowing that I'd be able to take this seriously and make this a professional mind. - Yeah, that's awesome. Is that your goal kind of in the future to go pro and go be on the Pro Tour? - Yes, it is. - That's awesome. It's awesome to see kind of young kids having dreams of being on the Pro Tour where it used to be the MLB, the NBA, but now it's awesome that Disc Golf has kind of brought us to that point. So you're sponsored by MVP, Disc Sports, and have been for a while now. How did that come about? Can you tell us more about that? - Well, when I was right around five to six, we were trying to get me sponsored by a bunch of different companies. We reached out to like, Innova, Dysmania, and people like that and they all didn't want a five to six year old on their team. Then we reached out to MVP and then they said yes to me being sponsored by them. - That's awesome. Yeah, I remember being at the MVP Open in like 2021 and seeing you already had two or two series disc and that was like three years ago. So how has that relationship been with MVP? Are you enjoying it? - Yes, I am enjoying it very much. Our relationship with MVP has grown a lot stronger since I was young. - Yeah, it's wild how much our relationship has grown over the years. - Yeah, yeah, that's awesome 'cause you were at the expo and dealing on your own tour series. So it's kind of awesome. They definitely value you even as a 13 year old. So that must feel very special. - It is. - So let's talk more about kind of disc golf in your game. So what is your favorite part about just disc golf in general? It could be anything from, like people say, the flight of the basement. - Minds. - Yeah, go ahead. - Mainly the flight of the disc and the community that surrounds disc golf. Like there's a lot of nice people that I've met over the years that have helped me through struggles like of my dad, my mom, people that live around here in Maine has been a blast over the years. - Yeah, tell us more about that main community. What are your like courses that, your favorite courses up in Maine and just tell us more about the people and how they've helped you and supported you? - Well, my favorite courses in Maine are probably Pineland Farms and Sabatas disc golf. So people around here have helped me a lot by either by my discs or supporting me in that way or in that sense, or helping me get to my tournaments or just like coming to follow me during my rounds. Like in Las Vegas, I had a few people that were traveling the world and had stopped and gone out of their way to go see me play. - That's awesome, that must feel great. - Yeah. - What is a kind of a, tell us a fond memory you have with disc golf? Whether it's just like a favorite memory that you can think of off the top of your head? - It was probably my win in Worlds in MJ8. - Tell us more about that. - That was fun. At the time, I was seven, so I had to go up against a lot, like a lot of people that were a year older than me. And it was probably one of the best moments of my life 'cause we went down to Kansas. We stayed with a few people. And I remember I met a lot of my friends I still keep in touch with, so yeah. - That's awesome. - Yeah, how does it feel just kind of being a disc golf World Champion? - It feels great 'cause after those wins, I knew I could really start taking this sport seriously. Like after I got my first Worlds when I was five, it was like something that I knew I could do but maybe not be my profession. But after I won my second World, I knew I could take this one seriously. - That's awesome. And you got a good head starting to kind of know what you want to do at seven. That's not many people can say that. So you recently or last year shot negative 11 at the Glitch World Championships last year on coverage with some of the sports biggest stars on your card. Can you tell us more about that round and how special it was and were you nervous at any point and how did you kind of stay locked in to shoot that heart of a round? - Well, mainly it was just me trying to have fun 'cause I knew this wasn't a rated round, I wasn't playing for money, I wasn't playing for really anything. And I was just playing with two of the world's best players in the world. - Yeah. - And after hole one, I knew I actually had a shot at this 'cause I almost made a part of the glitch. And the prior day to that, I only had one practice round with that glitch. - So it was just kind of like, like you just harnessed all that lightning in a bottle and just released it on the course and it worked out. - Yeah. - So talk to us about you were just recently at US, is it the US amateur championship? - Yes, US amateurs. - Yeah, so tell us more about that and like kind of where you finished and how that was for your game kind of playing against people. I think I saw you were playing on a card with like three college kids. So tell us more about that experience and 'cause you played really well. So tell us more about that. - So yeah, after like the first round, I started playing and I knew I actually had a shot at this 'cause I came, I was like round tied for ninth at one point in the first round and that course, the cameras do not give it enough credit. It is a hard course. - That's hilarious. - Hole one, hole one, two and three, those, I thought they didn't even look like they were that hard but the downhill slope, the practice round before that round, I lost my best disc. So my dad told me to go with something more stable 'cause I flipped that disc over into the right until OB couldn't find it. But then my dad told me to go with something more stable and I do it straight and it crushed right down the fairway. So I knew that that disc was gonna work. And it was basically my go to driver throughout the tournament. But yeah, a hole, a round hole six 'cause the prior round I had been birding most of these holes and the OB did play a lot in rounds but mainly it was just me trying to throw something that pop up to straight and just go and try to land it in the fairway. - That's awesome. - Then, yeah. - Yeah, keep going. - Okay, and then after round one, we went back out to practice a little bit more on the holes I didn't really get right. Then round two we started and I played with, I played with, I think, yeah, all three of them were college players that played caligically. And then I knew there was really nothing to lose 'cause I'm the youngest out here. So I just tried playing the best of my game and ended up finishing after that round, tied for ninth, or yeah, tied for ninth. I didn't really move after the second round but it was a lot of fun. Yeah, it was my highest ever rated round in 2010. - Oh wow, that's awesome. Yeah, it looks like you shot a thousand rated round in the 2010 rated round, back to back, which is really impressive. Do you know how many thousand rated rounds you have off the top of your head? - If I remember correctly, I think I have two. 'Cause I've had a lot where I've been in the '90s, 998 summers of that range but I've also had a few there like thousand, thousand two and then they've been dropped down after everyone else comes in, or when the ratings update happens and they have to equal everything out. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I recently somehow got a thousand rated round, exactly a thousand when it was like, I don't know, I finished it at like 997, 998. So it was a cool surprise to see it on the one ratings update happen. And you finished 24th as a 13 year old out of 148 people. That's gotta feel pretty good, right? - Yeah, yep. The last two holes, best holes on the course, I would think. Also the hardest holes on the course. But yeah, time for 24th was awesome. Like my goal was like top 40 and gesturing my rating and I blew that out of the water. - That's awesome. What do you, as you say, you want to be on the Disc Golf Pro Tour in the future, do you have any plans on being pro anytime soon or do you think you're gonna kind of just play the amateur circuit until you get a little older? - Well, I was thinking after this year, I should be a little bit higher, like around the 990s if I play where I'm playing right now. I should be around 992, 1000 rated. So I'm thinking I'm going pro by next year. - Yeah, that makes sense. And that seems what most people do. They get highly rated and they're like, okay, let me try these amateur events one more time and then they decide to go pro. That seems like even, I know that's what Paul Kranz did. He kind of went pro after he won his world title. - Down when we were in Michigan. - No, keep going, sir. - Down when we were in Michigan, I was playing with those collegiate players and they were saying after this year, they're gonna go pro because not taking the money, there's too much money involved with that. They had to turn so much down to just keep playing amateurs. - Yeah, that makes sense. And it seems like that's one of the only reason people turn it down just to try and win these amateur majors so yeah, it definitely does make sense. Give it one last hurrah and then whatever happens is go pro. So if you were to help anyone in disc golf, new or old rookie or veteran, what is your biggest piece of form advice that you'd give them that has helped your game the most? - Oh, I'd say mainly my drives and my upshots. So for me, I tried to come across my chest and keep my arm tucked in and also on my putts. I've been showing people that fan putt, mainly they missed the left 'cause they let it go too early. I putt with a power grip, like when I drive, I putt with the same grip I drive with. - Oh, so you putt with a power grip? - Yeah, I do. - Wow, that's a nice thing to let us know. That's a cool little fun fact, I didn't even know. And that's been working out well for you? - Yeah, it's been working out well. I've really been trying to perfect my putts, my drives and my upshots for, I don't even know how long at this point. - We'll call it like eight years. That's when you say-- - Yeah, somewhere's in there. - Yeah, somewhere's in there. - Yeah, putting's hard. So we're all trying to work on it and get better. - I'd say putting is probably the biggest thing that you need for your game. 'Cause if you can drive, great, if you can upshot it, great. But if you can't putt, my dad usually tells me putting when it's championships. - Yup, drive show puffer dough, I agree with you. I think I really struggle on the green for a punting and I get really nervous and I think I lose. You know, it depends like three to seven strokes per round night play just from missing the putts that you should make. So I agree with you, 100%, just gotta keep practicing and get knocked down those putts. Do you have any, going off of more advice, do you have any advice for kind of players that are just starting out that want to get better and kind of look to you and be like, wow, he's pretty good, I want to get good like him. - Yeah, so I've been trying to teach the kids in my school to play this golf. And what I see with people that are just starting out is they tend to like dip their shoulder and come by their waist and try to throw something. I've been trying to tell them to come across their chest because that makes it so you're just fly as straighter and farther. - So make sure you bring it across the chest. What is it like being a young kid playing against guys that are much older than you? Are you used to at this point? Does it give you a chip on your shoulder to try and beat them or does it still kind of get you nervous? - At this point, I've played with people that are older than me in my whole entire life. So it really doesn't bother me anymore. And usually the people that I do play with a lot come up to me and they usually say I'll get you one of these days because once I beat them once, the rare that they ever beat me again. - There you go. - I love that, that's a killer mindset, you know? That's hilarious, that you have people wanna try and get back at you at 13 years old. That's very special. And tell us about your parents and their support and how they've supported you along this journey. - My parents have done so much for me. They've taken me to all my big tournaments. They've brought me, they've brought me basically everywhere. They brought me to Vegas, my worlds, the amateurs, and even my smaller tournaments, they bring me there. Like for Father's Day, me and my dad just went to Father's Day doubles. And I just wanted to hang out with him and that was really fun. - Yeah, that's awesome, that duo of playing with your parents, that must be something very special. So, before we let you go, is there anything you wanna shout out or that you wanna tell us about, that any future plans or anything like that? Tell us about yourself. - This year, we are not, I don't think I'm going to be doing the disc golf or the glitch world championships this year, 'cause I'm going to another tournament. Ben, I see that smile, don't have to. - Yeah, well you beat me, I came in second place. So, that helps me out. I got one less competitor to worry about. Maybe I can win. - But yeah, we're going down to a tournament in Connecticut for that. We were thinking of if I had an early morning tea time, we could drive right down from there to go play, but it'd just be too much. - Yeah, that makes sense. And what tournament is that? - Oh, great or hard for it open. - The great or hard, yeah, that makes sense. Playing it, that's an A tier, I believe so. It makes sense that you definitely wanna go and play that. - Yeah, so any shout outs that you got that you wanna give? - I like the shout out goose gang right here. They've been a big support of mine. I would also like to shout out circle one disc golf. They make all my apparel. I also like to shout out MVP for sponsoring me all those years ago. And I also like to sponsor, or not sponsor, shout out drive bags. They've been one of my biggest sponsors. They've helped me with my grip. Whenever it's rainy, windy, or really any weather. So yeah. - There you go. You heard it. Is there anywhere that people can support you? That you know of other than like buying from your sponsors or something? - So my Instagram is Lanham Brooks, D.G. My Facebook is Lanham Brooks, PGA, A348. And I just started up my YouTube channel, which is Lanham Brooks A348 without any spaces. - Awesome. Go follow him people and follow him on YouTube. I'm excited to see what you start posting. So thanks so much for joining disc golf daily. And we will catch you in the next one. - Okay. - See ya. (upbeat music) - Thank you so much for watching. Please like, subscribe, comment, and share. It really does help us grow. (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING]