Since that Covid-blighted Fall of 2020, Ben has made sure and steady progress to the point that in 2024 he qualified to play in the NCAA Championships as an individual (finishing in the top 25), made his PGA Tour debut at the 3M Open, 20 miles from his home in Stillwater, and performed so well post-graduation that he’s secured a second PGA Tour start in the Puerto Rico Open in March. 

This time he will tee it up as a pro. Making it through to the second stage of Q-School has earned Ben status on the PGA Tour Americas in 2025 and he is currently tuning his game in mini tour events before the season gets underway in March. He’s made a good start to life as a professional, claiming the Oak Valley Classic Championship — and a check for $15,000 — in late November.

“I wish we could have 10 Ben Warians” — Minnesota Assistant Coach Robert Bell

“I feel like it was a long time coming with a lot of the work that myself and my team had been doing over the last couple of years,” says the left-hander who shot a closing 65 to take down the prestigious Sunnehanna title. “It’s really fun to see that slow build happening over an extended period of time of consistently good work, refinement of my process and just continuing to fine tune what I do really well.”

Robert Bell, the assistant coach at Minnesota, witnessed Warian’s work ethic and determination to succeed up close. “I wish we could have 10 Ben Warians,” Bell stated 18 months ago. “It's a testament to him, it's a testament to his family, it's a testament to Clippd. Everything he does is with purpose. If you would have seen him when he was a freshman, you wouldn't believe where he is now.”

Ben smiles. “I wish I could say there was a secret to it, besides just a lot of stacking days and just putting in a long, extended period of time of consistently good work." His commitment to his craft is evidenced by the fact he has recorded more rounds and practice activities in Clippd than any other player on the platform. 

“We started with Clippd in 2022, so the beginning of my junior year,” explains Ben. “I certainly made some progress through freshman and sophomore year, but being able to have those additional insights with Clippd and those additional opportunities to really measure everything through practice and through events really made the learning process a lot easier. It allowed me to really explore and get really specific with what I needed to get better at. It's invaluable to me to this day.”

Ben credits his parents for his can-do attitude. His father built his own printing business in Minneapolis: “He just kind of dug it out of dirt, built it from scratch, working a hundred-plus hour weeks. Anything you do in life, if you want to be successful it requires an inordinate amount of really hard, consistent work. Especially in golf, because there are so many times where you're going to get knocked down.”

“If you want to be successful it requires an inordinate amount of really hard, consistent work”

The 22-year-old has also been inspired by two pro golfers who beat the odds — and the climate — to succeed. “As a kid I used to hear stories of Steve Stricker in the winter when he was growing up. Wisconsin has a very similar climate to Minnesota and he used to practice out of a trailer with a mirror system that he manufactured at home.”

The other player is 10-time tour winner and two-time major champion Zach Johnson. Justin Smith, the Head Coach at Minnesota, played with the 2023 US Ryder Cup captain when he was starting out on the Buy.com Tour, as it was then known, and told Ben all about what he saw.

"Zach Johnson played four years at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa. He was never really a big name in college but he really was an inspiration to me because he didn't have many of the physical attributes that you look for in a really successful ball striker or a successful player,” Ben reveals. “But he was really consistent for a long period of time. It took him a couple of years in pro golf to sharpen his craft but then once he did get out on the tour, he was ready to go.”

“Clippd allowed me to really explore and get really specific with what I needed to get better at”

Ben has recently moved to Arizona but says he found Clippd particularly useful during the long, harsh winters in Minnesota, using the menu of practice drills to dial in his distance control. “We were really lucky to have access to plenty of launch monitors and plenty of data to hone in distance control and be really, really sharp from tee to green coming right out of the wrapper in the winter.”

In addition to helping him to fully understand his own game and pinpoint exactly what to work on, Ben maintains that Clippd helped the Gophers to stay accountable to themselves and to each other, especially during the months when snow covered the golf courses of the Midwest: “It made us accountable for putting in what was required, every day, every week to make sure we were continuing to progress.”

“Clippd allows you to be as efficient as possible in using your practice time”

You don’t have to be part of a Division 1 golf program to use Clippd. The app is now available to individual college players at a discounted rate. 

“As a student athlete, time is always going to be more limited than we'd like,” Ben advises. “So it was huge to have those specific insights… to get yourself to the spot where you feel fully prepared. Clippd allows you to be as efficient as possible in using your practice time, to really hone everything you need as an individual player. I would say it expedites the time it takes to be able to step on that first tee and get yourself to the point where you're 100 per cent as prepared as you can be.”

You can be sure that Ben Warian will be prepared when he steps onto the first tee at Grande Reserve Golf Club in Puerto Rico this March. And when he embarks on his first full season on the PGA Tour Americas. “I love my job,” he says. “It's a pretty good gig to be able to wake up every morning and just kind of figure out how I can get better today.” 

Another thing you can be sure of is that Ben Warian has earned his chance. 

Download the Clippd app today