The Dan Plan - 10,000 Hours to Become a Pro Golfer (Dan McLaughlin)

[BerkeleyRehab]

The problem was that he was/is a novice golfer and designed the 10,000 hours around his lifestyle. He needed a dedicated person to control the 10,000 hours. And then perhaps he could say he reached his full potential whatever that is. This is 10,000 hours of goofing off at a local course. He was also doing a decent job on the marketing experiment side. But he has even let that lapse. His lack of playing tournaments has made each one now seem so important. If I was in charge, I would have him do 30 tournament rounds in the next 60 days. Does he want to at least pretend to attempt to being professional golfer? The ones that are really good and trying are so much more passionate about their game and golf than Dan. They will play a one-day Pepsi Tour event in Fresno if they have to. They will sleep in their cars.

[Covert]

He's obviously going to fall short of his

I would think this point has been covered; I didn't go back and read everything: natural talent is also required to be very good at a particular physical activity. Ability to fight/box is an example. When I was young and got into fights, I quickly learned that formidable size and strength didn't mean a guy could punch effectively and fight. Natural coordination and skeletal leverage were big factors, as I am sure they are also in the ability to shoot good golf. I am doing something in my retirement similar to Dan, but not nearly to the extent. Starting a year and a half ago, from almost not playing before that, I have played or practiced five days a week. I've also taken a number of lessons. I have nothing else to do and I'm pretending golf is my job with the intent of becoming a scratch golfer, albeit as an old man. I have shot as low as one over par for nine holes on par three executive courses, but haven't yet broken 80 on a regulation course, and I'm not sure I will. I was sure when I started and will keep up the quest at least another year.

[Lihu]

From what I have read and concluded from Dan's blog is that he would not be able to play every other day much less under the stress of tournament conditions. The last tournament he played he was afraid of hurting his wrist on a half inch root.

[BerkeleyRehab]

From what I have read and concluded from Dan's blog is that he would not be able to play every other day much less under the stress of tournament conditions. The last tournament he played he was afraid of hurting his wrist on a half inch root.

From his updated blog that goes on and on about some injury.

***Sorry for the long delay on posting, my mind has just not been on golf lately as I can’t do it and don’t like to think about what I am missing out on.***

This sums it up.  He is not a guy who plays golf.  He is not a golfer.  The golfers that I know LIVE it.  It oozes out regardless if they are playing it or not.  They wear golf gear, follow the PGA Tour, and are always talking golf.

Dan just comes off very lost.  In life and this plan.

[newtogolf]

From his updated blog that goes on and on about some injury.

***Sorry for the long delay on posting, my mind has just not been on golf lately as I can’t do it and don’t like to think about what I am missing out on.***

This sums it up.  He is not a guy who plays golf.  He is not a golfer.  The golfers that I know LIVE it.  It oozes out regardless if they are playing it or not.  They wear golf gear, follow the PGA Tour, and are always talking golf.

Dan just comes off very lost.  In life and this plan.

Anyone know what the injury is?  I agree, he seems to lack passion for the game.

[rkim291968]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BerkeleyRehab

From his updated blog that goes on and on about some injury.

***Sorry for the long delay on posting, my mind has just not been on golf lately as I can’t do it and don’t like to think about what I am missing out on.***

This sums it up.  He is not a guy who plays golf.  He is not a golfer.  The golfers that I know LIVE it.  It oozes out regardless if they are playing it or not.  They wear golf gear, follow the PGA Tour, and are always talking golf.

Dan just comes off very lost.  In life and this plan.

Anyone know what the injury is?  I agree, he seems to lack passion for the game.

Then, he lost any respect I had for starting the journey.

[Lihu]

I think he's passionate about the game, but lacks the ability to get any better as we have seen in his HC history. This is possibly related to "lack of oomp", as his other skills seem to be pretty good.

We should remember that he did make strides very quickly to get to a 3 HC and drifted to about 4-6 where he is now.

That is somewhat impressive.

[iacas]

I think he's passionate about the game

What leads you to conclude that?

[Shorty]

Anyone know what the injury is?  I agree, he seems to lack passion for the game.

He has passion for self promotion and a desire to get free stuff.

[Lihu]

[QUOTE name="Lihu" url="/t/45853/the-dan-plan-10-000-hours-to-become-a-pro-golfer-dan-mclaughlin/3114#post_1148038"]   I think he's passionate about the game [/QUOTE] What leads you to conclude that?

He's still doing golf related things even though he's injured. Also possible that I'm being a bit too loose with the word "passionate"?

[DrvFrShow]

From his April 21st Blog:

Quote:

.... And some were unexpected and seemingly from the blue:  Pinched something in my lower back that made it hard to stand up totally straight, let alone post up on my right side in a golf swing and my right knee is not seeming to want to climb up steps with it’s normal spring.

.... I’m playing in a two-day two-man best ball tournament this weekend, so I hope the bed arrives in the next day or two, but regardless I will take it light this week in preparation as right now I am not sure if my back would even hold up for 18 holes.  Last time I tried to play 18 was last Friday and after about 12 holes I couldn’t do anything except hit a weak fade.

From May 28

Quote:

.... The only unfortunate part of the day was that I still, even after 3 full weeks of no swings at all, was unable to come close to making a full swing.  I could putt and chip and hit half shots, but a full swing felt exactly as it had three weeks earlier when I last played a round.  I figured that amount of time off and all of the treatment I had received at the skilled hands of Shawn and Seth would have made a big difference, but the back was still unable to support a full swing without sharp pain in the right hip area.

....I talked with my sister about that on my next stop in Atlanta.  She is a doctor as well as an accomplished marathon runner and we chatted about everything I had been doing to heal the spot as well as what it was feeling like and she had some ideas of what it may be. During her running career she had a couple of stress fractures that were misdiagnosed at first and resulted in her being sidelined for a couple to a few months.  How my injury feels is very similar to what she was describing and now I am fairly convinced that a stress fracture is the culprit.  The best way to find out for sure is to get a bone scan, which is much cheaper than an MRI, but she suggested to hold off on that and rest it for a couple more weeks to see if things start to improve.

Given Dan is not working probably doesn't have very good health insurance. MRIs are quite expensive, but will tell him what is wrong. He's starting to face the reality that this year is about done.

Note: in my 20s I sprained a ligament in my thoracic spine and the thing took months to heal.

[newtogolf]

Given Dan is not working probably doesn't have very good health insurance. MRIs are quite expensive, but will tell him what is wrong. He's starting to face the reality that this year is about done.

Note: in my 20s I sprained a ligament in my thoracic spine and the thing took months to heal.

I can't speak for the back injury because to date my back has really never given me a problem (knock on wood) but I know all I want to know about knee injuries.  I have a torn meniscus in both knees, one knee has both sides torn, the other just the interior section is torn.  My knees haven't sprung up steps in quite some time thanks to the tears and 10 years of football but I'd never miss a round of golf because of it, no less a tournament.

As we've seen with Tiger, back injuries can be pretty serious but the fact "Shawn and Seth" aren't real doctors and he hasn't gotten a diagnosis for over a month except for a conversation with his sister is telling.

Health insurance for a guy his age shouldn't be more than $400 a month and under Obama care he'd have to pay a penalty to not be covered.  One would think given the physical demands of the task he's undertaken health insurance would be a priority, this is just another example of how Dan had no plan when he started this experiment.

[DrvFrShow]

The penalty under Obamacare is practically nothing. A lot of people who don't make a lot of money just pay the penalty on their taxes. Remember he has no income and $400 is $4800 per year, and those plans have $1000 deductibles. Now with the injury while they can't refuse him coverage, he will have to pay a premium to get coverage. In the end the solution to his problem is rest for the remainder of the season (get a job perhaps) to heal up and then start exercising during the winter.

[flopster]

I think he's passionate about the game, but lacks the ability to get any better as we have seen in his HC history. This is possibly related to "lack of oomp", as his other skills seem to be pretty good.

We should remember that he did make strides very quickly to get to a 3 HC and drifted to about 4-6 where he is now.

That is somewhat impressive.

@Lihu hink he was ever a legit 3? Dans posting has always been unusual and when we tested his overall scores with the anti-cap method it didn't add up that well either, worst case is he manipulated the system to show steady improvement but reality caught up in the end. For me I couldn't care less he's the one who has to live with himself if he did that, bottom line is he never possessed the natural talent necessary to get that good on his own, now if he were to take Erik up on his offer and put complete faith into what he was teaching then I would give a better than average chance at him becoming a good player possibly capable of winning a few club tournaments but nothing more, The Dan Plan was just a guy hanging around the golf course hitting a couple buckets and playing a few low stake games with other members.

[Crim]

Health insurance for a guy his age shouldn't be more than $400 a month.

$400 a month!? $400 a month for health insurance for a single to me is absolutely preposterous, unless there's some premiere plan that also gives out free massage + spa upon arriving.

[RandallT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrvFrShow

Given Dan is not working probably doesn't have very good health insurance. MRIs are quite expensive, but will tell him what is wrong. He's starting to face the reality that this year is about done.

Note: in my 20s I sprained a ligament in my thoracic spine and the thing took months to heal.

I can't speak for the back injury because to date my back has really never given me a problem (knock on wood) but I know all I want to know about knee injuries.  I have a torn meniscus in both knees, one knee has both sides torn, the other just the interior section is torn.  My knees haven't sprung up steps in quite some time thanks to the tears and 10 years of football but I'd never miss a round of golf because of it, no less a tournament.

As we've seen with Tiger, back injuries can be pretty serious but the fact "Shawn and Seth" aren't real doctors and he hasn't gotten a diagnosis for over a month except for a conversation with his sister is telling.

Health insurance for a guy his age shouldn't be more than $400 a month and under Obama care he'd have to pay a penalty to not be covered.  One would think given the physical demands of the task he's undertaken health insurance would be a priority, this is just another example of how Dan had no plan when he started this experiment.

Well, his sister is a dermatologist, so she's quite qualified to diagnose this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_McLaughlin_(golfer):

At first I thought his chiropractor, Seth, was a "doctor" based on his title, but here is how "DC Seth Alley's" site defines it:

I had assumed he was seeing the best medical professionals that he could, just based on a quick reading of his blog. Perhaps these guys are extremely good at what they do, but if my plan depended on getting healthy, I think I'd value the credentials and see some of the top guys in the area. This is a direct threat to the plan and if he is as serious as he claims, he needs to handle this very methodically with sparing little expense.

This quote below strikes me as haphazard:

http://thedanplan.com/finally-getting-close-to-full-swings/

Quote:

After three visits to Dr. Seth Alley, who has helped me through a number of minor setbacks over the past few years, my back was just not relenting in it’s bizarre need to send shockwaves of pain during full swings, so I went down earlier this week to visit the wonderful Physical Therapist Shawn Dailey PT, DPT.  Seth helped a ton in getting things back in line, but I had the feeling that it was a strain or similar condition in the tendons deep down.  This is a specialty of Shawn, so it was time for a visit to see if he could figure out this puzzling pain.

He sees "Dr. Alley" for three visits where he got worked on for his hips and muscles being out of alignment. A chiropractor sees the problem as chiropractic.

Then he sees his PT guy, Shawn, who "figure out" that it was a "continuum distortion." Lo and behold, later we learn that Shawn is specially trained in continuum distortions. What a coincidence.

Then he sees his sister after more time off, and she (the dermatologist) thinks it might be a stress fracture because she got one running marathons. Again, a coincidence that the person diagnosing has particular knowledge in the area of the diagnosis.

Medicine is hard, but when we have a hammer, does everything look like a nail?  It just seems like Dan is randomly seeking treatment from chiropractors, PT guys, and family- but bypassing a true methodical approach from the certified experts in the field that have more advanced degrees.  I hadn't realized that until I ready your post, @newtogolf

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

I think he's passionate about the game, but lacks the ability to get any better as we have seen in his HC history. This is possibly related to "lack of oomp", as his other skills seem to be pretty good.

We should remember that he did make strides very quickly to get to a 3 HC and drifted to about 4-6 where he is now.

That is somewhat impressive.

@Lihu do you really think he was ever a legit 3? Dans posting has always been unusual and when we tested his overall scores with the anti-cap method it didn't add up that well either, worst case is he manipulated the system to show steady improvement but reality caught up in the end. For me I couldn't care less he's the one who has to live with himself if he did that, bottom line is he never possessed the natural talent necessary to get that good on his own, now if he were to take Erik up on his offer and put complete faith into what he was teaching then I would give a better than average chance at him becoming a good player possibly capable of winning a few club tournaments but nothing more, The Dan Plan was just a guy hanging around the golf course hitting a couple buckets and playing a few low stake games with other members.

For about a month? I think he's legitimately where he states now, primarily because of his short game. If you look at his short game results on his Trakman Combine, you can see that his 100 yard and below is at a professional level already with a series of 80 scores. It's 140 yards and above that he really drops off to a single digit player, and his drives and long irons are lacking oomph.

His one sub-par round had a lot of GIR, his usual good putting, and the great drives on the front 9 must have given him an ego boost.

I commented about this before, but was completely ignorant of short game prowess. I just figured that if it took you an extra strokes to get to the hole that it would be very difficult to par them. While this is somewhat true, it does not mean that a person can't make pars. It also does not exclude the ability to get one freakishly good round every now and then to lower your handicap.

Given his 140 yard and out performance, his normal round probably consists of a lot of 100 yard and in scrambling. Given his good performance from 100 yards and in, he can probably make pars at least half of the time and tap in bogies the rest, which on a 6600+ yard course amounts to something like 4-6 type differentials. Not pro level, but still a pretty good player.

[tdiii]

I've seen several people recommend to Dan on his blog that he get himself on a dedicated, progressive overload strength training program.  This would take him 3 days a week, 1.5 hours per day.  Had he done so a year ago, he'd be substantially stronger and probably not have suffered this injury.  And, no, he wouldn't have sacrificed flexibility.  But, naturally, he didn't and never really has explained (at least that I've seen) what his strenght program consists of.  Yet, he has conceded on his blog that strength is a shortcoming.  Maddening.

He also could still be updating his blog on a daily basis; eg., "Worked on lag putting for 1 hour, then worked on chips from poor lies for an hour."

He complains that about lack of funding, but does not update his blog with any amount of frequency, which is necessary to generate funding.  Maddening.

I'm no swing expert, but his swing is flat and he picks up his hands on this takeaway way too quickly.  These things have been pointed out to him.  He has conceded that this swing is too flat.  Yet he won't fix it.  Maddening.

I knew a tour spot was simply not possible (unless he was a freak, but if that was the case he would have been scratch in 12 months).  But I was truly interested in seeing what might be done by an average joe who really applied himself.   It is absolutely silly and self-involved of me to feel this way, but I feel like I've been deprived a bit by his haphazard ways.  Maddening.