Brandon with Johne McCray at the 2015 Silver Cup tournament in Manitowoc.
Brandon Ray Watson PDGA#33114 was introduced to disc golf in July 2006 when Nick Annis invited him to go to Vollrath Park to fill time between the morning parade and afternoon festivities. A few throws in to his first ever round he enjoyed the challenged of making the disc follow the intended path and quickly took interest in the sport. A few months later he participated in his first ever disc golf tournament hosted by Terry Miller "The Back to School Bash" where he won the novice division by a few strokes. That was the start of a future dedicated to the sport.
Many hours per day were dedicated to becoming good enough to play with the local Pro Scott Burtard and other experienced players in the sport. Brandon being highly competitive spent nearly every day in the field, on the course, or watching top players on tournament coverage to learn how to improve his game. Meeting new players, traveling to explore new courses, and the love for competition helped drive Brandon through the amateur ranks as a disc golfer.
In 2010, Brandon welcomed his son Aviar Immanuel Watson to the world on Christmas morning. The unique name to those outside the sport was a dedication to one of the very influential discs to change the way the sport is played today that The name draws a lot of attention for its "uniqueness" and opens up conversation to explain the sport and expose it to new people.
Manitowalk in the Park 2012 was the event that Brandon made the transition to compete as a "Professional" disc golfer. Taking 18th out of the field of 40 players was enough to earn his first Professional "cash". Brandon continued to compete as a Pro player for a few years on the Wisconsin Tour prior to a stretch of injuries making it challenging to compete in the highly competitive field.
In 2014, Brandon with suggestion from Dennis and Patti Wield from The Shack started reaching out to fellow golfers to be part of the Sheboygan Eagles Disc Golf Club inaugural leadership and founded the club to further grow and develop the sport in the Sheboygan area. The Sheboygan Eagles DGC was started to help promote the sport, raise funds for course projects/development, and to give back to the local community to change false perceptions of the sport and gain local business and community support.
The Pickle Open "Michael Oscar Mueller" Memorial event that is one of the original Wisconsin Tour stops and honors a key contributor to the local disc golf scene and the overall sport in the state of WI was handed off by Ryan Hornickle, the previous TD of the event, to Brandon to run with help from the Sheboygan Eagles DGC. The first year as TD the event saw the Pro/Adv day fill for the first time in a very long time with 101 competitors. Adv/Int/Jrs day saw 75 competitors a large increase from previous years as well. The hard work and dedication from the club members helped gain sponsorship and donations to give the event and its participants the experience they deserve as Pickle would have wanted it. Brandon who has grown as a player had now added TD to the list of accomplishments.
Growing as a player and taking on the TD title and experience was not enough for Brandon. In 2015 he showed interest and began getting involved with the Wisconsin Disc Golf Association Board and Committees. Open to assisting where it may be needed, Brandon took an active role in the Marketing and Education committee to further promote the Wisconsin Tour and disc sports in the state as well as help get disc golf in more educational programs for the schools across the state. Attending his first WI Disc Sports Summit to discuss Tour plans/ideas/goals and working closely with current board members he sought more responsibility and opportunities to help further disc sports.
Early in Brandon's interest in the sport his character and commitment to the sport caught the attention of Paul McCarthy owner/founder of SubPar Disc Golf Apparel who extended a sponsorship offer to represent his brand. Fitted with a wardrobe of disc golf apparel Brandon was able to promote the sport both on and off the course as many unfamiliar wondered what the metal figure and images were on his gear and lead to discussions introducing people to the sport. A few years later Shane Fergusen and Allen Stewart of Chain Chasers also extended sponsorship and provided some great gear and designs to help support Brandon. These early sponsors would not be the last for Brandon as he was driven to do more in the sport.
In 2015 and years after supporters and sponsors included Mike Solt of Mr Disc Golf (Jim Thorpe, PA), Mike Matteson of Phixius Disc Sports (Fond du Lac, WI), and Josh Hamm of Riverside Disc Golf Shop (West Bend, WI). Using these blessings has allowed Brandon to give back to the youth/new players, donate to others efforts to grow the sport, and introduce new players to the game.
Starting in 2016 Brandon added course designer to his list of accomplishments. Starting with a short beginner 18 hole course at the Sheboygan Marsh, he soon was asked to design the Oostburg School District 9 hole course to be used for physical education and provide the city its first course.
In 2017 Brandon had the privilege and honor of designing the 18 hole permanent course on the World Famous Road America race track property. Road America offers a new experience to players as the front and back 9 of the course have the race track running right through the middle. Players get to experience the roar of engines and race cars speeding past while they play. Brandon has been given the opportunity to provide disc golf demonstrations to corporate groups for team building events and runs various events on the property.
2017 was a big year for Brandon as it was also the year he was offered to join Dynamic Discs as an Ambassador team member. As a member, Brandon had additional support from a manufacturer to run both sanctioned and unsanctioned events to grow the sport and provide competitive opportunities for players. Trilogy Challenges, US Amateur Match Play Championship, Pickle Open, Schnee Day’s Challenge, Dynamic Discs RV stops, and more are some of the events he runs each year.
Emporia, KS for the PDGA Junior World Championship hosted by Dynamic Discs was Aviar & Brandon’s first Worlds experience. The experience was absolutely amazing meeting friends from all over the world, seeing the talent of the young players, and the amazing community Emporia provided let Brandon and Aviar back for the 2019 and 2021 Junior Worlds also held in Emporia. (2020 was cancelled due to COVID pandemic)
Making his annual trip to Emporia following Junior Worlds move to a new location, he competed in the 2022 Dynamic Discs Open and then the 2023 Glass Blown Open. In 2022 Brandon was coming off a torn Achilles with very limited time to play but managed to take 4th in the events Amateur putting competition and followed up with top 10 finish in 2023. Building on friendships (players all over the world including the amazing crew from Estonia), spending time with his fellow Dynamic team members (Emporia is Dynamic Discs HQ), and hanging out with the new disc family connected over the years makes Emporia a special place for Brandon.
Disc golf has provided amazing experiences as he travels around the country as a Sales rep for the US Postal Service. Brandon connects with team members and friends he’s made through the years of disc golf playing courses all over the US.