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Ben Witter Will Amaze You

Confined to a hospital bed in 1988 while fighting a rare form of salivary gland cancer, Ben Witter was at a low point. He was facing one of life’s most dreaded diseases and his dreams of earning a spot on the PGA Tour had been shattered.

“I didn’t want to carry on anymore. I just wanted to push my morphine button,” Witter said. “My attitude was lousy. I felt like I was cheated. I was very angry.”

Witter’s anger was understandable, but his mother decided that his time for sulking and feel sorry for himself had expired.

Witter’s mom brought a wedge and a golf ball to the hospital – ostensibly to help him think - and told him it was time to figure out his life. Her pep talk started Witter on a path to being one of world’s premier trick shot artists. (video below)

“I started bouncing it up and down and in a matter of 10 minutes, I had four nurses, three doctors and the entire staff watching me do it,” Witter said. “I was like, ‘Wow this is really neat.’”

As Witter’s attitude and health improved, he came to terms with the reality that his dreams of playing on the PGA Tour were over – he had starred at Indiana University Pennsylvania and was on the mini-tour circuit when he got sick. Encouraged by the feedback he received from his sick-bed exploits, he launched a career as a golf instructor and trick shot artist.

It took years of practice, perseverance and the willingness to fight through injuries (he once ruptured his appendix after falling flat on his back attempting a trick), but Witter brought one of golf’s most entertaining shows to the World Am.

He hit balls out of midair, bounced balls off his head before smashing them 300 yards, according to the simulator, and he hit shots from atop the medicine ball, among other you’ve-got-to-see-it-to-believe-it shots.

He compared the evolution of his performance to a magician learning his craft, slowly adding tricks to his repertoire while feeling out crowds for what was most popular.

The medicine ball is a source of amazement for people seeing Witter’s act for the first time, and he has a chance encounter in a gym to thank as the inspiration for performing with his signature prop.

“I was working out in a gym and saw a female gymnast kneeling on the ball doing curls,” he said. “I thought that doesn’t look that hard, I can do that. I tried to kneel on it and I couldn’t even come close. It motivated me to (learn to) kneel on it, then I could stand on it and it evolved into what it is now.”

Hitting balls from atop the medicine ball is the centerpiece of a show that Witter performs between 50 and 60 times a year across the globe. He recently returned from China, Malaysia and Thailand.

While Witter wowed the World Am crowd, he only performed about 50 percent of his show because of the limitations of being indoors (you know you want to see him hit the ball while walking on his hands!).

More than two decades after defeating cancer, few people are more appreciative of the life they lead than Witter.

“I never would’ve believed that my career would’ve turned into what it has,” he said. “If you find a job you love to do, you will never work a day your entire life. That’s my life. It’s amazing.”

Witter’s life is no more amazing than his show – even 50 percent of it.

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• world am