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

[Shorty]

Just read the latest post. No comments on the offer by @iacas. Nothing on what he's doing w/respect to practicing.

I wonder if he has even acknowledged iacas' offer. Privately if not in public.

I would think it's the polite thing to do.

And remember that iacas isn't trying to get something out of him.

[iacas]

I wonder if he has even acknowledged iacas' offer. Privately if not in public.

I would think it's the polite thing to do.

And remember that iacas isn't trying to get something out of him.

He has.

That's all I'll say for now.

I'm editing the interview now, too.

[Pretzel]

He has. That's all I'll say for now. I'm editing the interview now, too.

Ooh, an interview you say?

[billchao]

Ooh, an interview you say?

@mchepp did one with Dan. Did you forget? ;-)

[tdiii]

@mchepp did one with Dan. Did you forget?

Easy to forget. .. that was weeks ago!

[mchepp]

East to forget. .. that was weeks ago!

Ouch! The editor has it now. Should be out soon.

It rains too much to produce much in the way of professional golfers though. I live here and I love it, 3/4 of the years we have mud balls though

It is not ideal, but it has absolutely zero impact on his improvement or whether or not he will succeed.

[Pretzel]

@mchepp did one with Dan. Did you forget? ;-)

Oh, I thought it might be a new one. I didn't realize that iacas was going to edit the one Mchepp did.

[iacas]

Ouch! The editor has it now. Should be out soon.

Tomorrow at 8am.

[RFKFREAK]

Tomorrow at 8am.

Well, hopefully I don't have a busy morning at work!

[Nosevi]

Originally Posted by iacas

He has.

That's all I'll say for now.

I'm editing the interview now, too

Thanks @iacas and @mchepp , very much look forward to reading it. Lots of unanswered questions, hope you managed to shed some light on some of them :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by RANDYWILDMAN

It rains too much to produce much in the way of professional golfers though. I live here and I love it, 3/4 of the years we have mud balls though

It is not ideal, but it has absolutely zero impact on his improvement or whether or not he will succeed.

"Absolutely zero" is spot on. Northern Ireland isn't ideal, Sweden is far from ideal - the guys from there don't seem to struggle any more than anyone else. In fact the two currently highest ranked players from those countries (number 1 and 3 in the world btw) played all their golf growing up locally, then around Europe on the amateur circuit, then the world, European Tour and finally European and PGA Tours. Zero reason why someone from Oregon can't do the same. If you're going to make it to the PGA Tour you're going to have to make at least some of those steps along the way, you're not going to go from your local Sunday afternoon Stableford roll-up to the PGA Tour in one hop. I'd suggest step one is to become one of the top small handful of amateur players in Oregon. Fail to make that step and you're not going to make the others. Poor weather would just be an excuse and one I'm sure Dan won't use.

[RandallT]

TST: Do you think you are at the right place in the Plan? Is it progressing at the rate you expected?

Dan: My original goal or hope was to be around scratch at the half-way point. I am like three strokes off of that handicap wise and I would definitely like to be more around par on a regular basis.

Here's the updated chart on his scores/goal/handicaps:

His halfway point was April last year (5000 hours- his goal in GREEN above then was stroke average of 74). He is near 4000 hours left now (his goal is now stroke average of 72). These goals are from the post on his site from his "goal guru" (http://thedanplan.com/concerning-the-goals/).

If you look at his 10-day moving average ( BLUE above ), he is 7 or 8 strokes from his goal. The green line above should be compared against the blue line for apples to apples (stroke average).

If you choose to look at handicap trends  ( RED and GOLD above, which are naturally a few strokes lower than actual stroke averages), then you should adjust your original goal to be in terms of handicap too (a stroke average goal of 72 would equate to being a + handicap, right??).

The only way to arrive at "like 3 strokes off the goal handicap wise" in his answer is to be a tad loose with your measurements against your goals. I don't think the "3" number he gives is one that reflects where he stands, but I understand why he is striving to feel closer to his goal than he actually is. It gives him hope. He is more like 7 strokes minimum from his original stated goal.

The other thing he does not address is the slopes of the curves. The goal curve is flattening yes (which will help him catch up), but unfortunately, his progress curves have flattened even more. He will need a radical change in his progress lines, which likely means a radical change in what he is doing.

[rkim291968]

Looks like he has been plateauing.  I agree that something drastic needs to be done to get that line moving in the right trajectory.  The only positive thing about his goal vs actual progress is that he still has 4000 hours to go.

[flopster]

Three strokes off the way he describes it is a 10 turning into a 7 a few months later, reality is those 3 strokes are tougher than going from 18 all the way to 3.

[tdiii]

Some observations about recent TDP blog posts, 10,000 hour updates, and GHIN postings.

Between April 1 and April 15, Dan posted the following GHIN scores in the following order.  You can't tell from GHIn the precise dates.

84 -- +10.8

77 -- +4.7

86 -- +12.5

82 -- +9.4

74 -- +2.1

79 -- +6.4

77 -- +4.4

79  -- +6.4

His update references a 83 he shot on April 1.  Presumably that corresponds to the 84 and he made an error in the blog or in his GHIN posting.

His update says he played in a regular Thursday game April 2nd, says he played poorly, but he did not post a score on that date.  How do we know?  Because, his update references a 77 on Friday April 3rd, which corresponds to the second score he shot in April per GHIN.  Thus, there should have been another score posted between posting the 84 and the 77.

His update is silent about the 86 and 82, although he says he played Saturday April 4th and implies he played poorly.   ("It's so important to feel settled.")

He has no update post for Sunday April 5.  Presumably he did not play.

Then, his update recounts the 74, 79, and 77 on the 8th, 9th and 10th of April.

He has not updated his 10,000 hours since April 10th.  The last 79 was posted to GHIN the next day, on April 11th.

His GHIN discloses no scores posted since that 79 on April 11th. He has not updated his 10,000 hours since then.

Did he suddenly stop playing and has only practiced?  Is he injured?   Other??

[RandallT]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdiii

Some observations about recent TDP blog posts, 10,000 hour updates, and GHIN postings.

Between April 1 and April 15, Dan posted the following GHIN scores in the following order.  You can't tell from GHIn the precise dates.

84 -- +10.8

77 -- +4.7

86 -- +12.5

82 -- +9.4

74 -- +2.1

79 -- +6.4

77 -- +4.4

79  -- +6.4

His update references a 83 he shot on April 1.  Presumably that corresponds to the 84 and he made an error in the blog or in his GHIN posting.

His update says he played in a regular Thursday game April 2nd, says he played poorly, but he did not post a score on that date.  How do we know?  Because, his update references a 77 on Friday April 3rd, which corresponds to the second score he shot in April per GHIN.  Thus, there should have been another score posted between posting the 84 and the 77.

His update is silent about the 86 and 82, although he says he played Saturday April 4th and implies he played poorly.   ("It's so important to feel settled.")

He has no update post for Sunday April 5.  Presumably he did not play.

Then, his update recounts the 74, 79, and 77 on the 8th, 9th and 10th of April.

He has not updated his 10,000 hours since April 10th.  The last 79 was posted to GHIN the next day, on April 11th.

His GHIN discloses no scores posted since that 79 on April 11th. He has not updated his 10,000 hours since then.

Did he suddenly stop playing and has only practiced?  Is he injured?   Other??

To generate the graph a few posts above (with the blue, green , red and gold lines), I would sift through his narrative, his GHIN, and his GolfShot profile. There were commonly little discrepancies between the 3 as I tried to reconcile them.  It got to the point where I just ignored the differences - just posting the lowest of the whatever I saw. I figured in the long run, the difference between a stroke or two on a round every so often was quite negligible.

My thought on those discrepancies was that it was an ESC difference. But as I think about it, that's not clear. I believe the GHIN typically showed the lowest of the three, so I presumed Dan was just posting his ESC score there, but posting raw scores everywhere else. Sometimes GolfShot would show a higher number than his narrative, and there would be a blowup hole shown in GolfShot, and I assumed he just took the max ESC for that hole when describing it in his narrative or posting to GHIN.

As for the delay, I've noticed that is mostly normal with Dan. I think he piles up his scorecards somewhere and then only gathers them together every couple of weeks to post to GHIN and to blog about. He even mentions something similar in his post about ARCCOS:

Quote http://thedanplan.com/product-reviews-arccos-and-game-golf/:

Last year, my hopes were high when I first got my hands on a Game Golf unit.  I thought it could be the answer to my on-course stat collection needs as prior to having one I had just been writing down everything while playing.  I would have 30-40 scorecards sitting around with a bunch of random numbers (FW hit, GIR, Putts per GIR, Tee misses Left or Right, GIR per FW hit, etc etc) and I didn’t have a good system to compile all the data outside of a homemade excel sheet that slowly started looking like the stocks page of a 1980s newspaper.  It was a lot of grey on white and wasn’t helping me see trends, let alone figure out where to focus the majority of my practice.

From that, I gather that until Game Golf, he hadn't been too disciplined about immediately recording his round in a methodical way to get the best analysis from it all. But he obviously stopped Game Golf in May 2014 after losing interest presumably, looking at his profile (http://www.gamegolf.com/player/danplan). GolfShot has been in more constant use, but it has not been used for nearly every round. He goes in streaks, without too much consistency.  Now he is starting ARCCOS.

He could have benefited from a consistent way of handling each score. Put them immediately into some tool for analysis and get it into GHIN and onto the 10,000 Hours narrative on his blog quickly. The inactivity suggests the things you have inferred. Is he hurt? Did he give up? Is he burned out and going through the motions?

The entire blog suffers from this delay, and it adds distance between the reader and the project. Even the comments take a week or to for moderation. As a result, interest in the blog seems to have dried up since the early excitement, although Dan has made comments that it is one of the strongest aspects of the project. He will occasionally mention on twitter that he has been delinquent in updating the blog and issue an apology. I presume that means he understands the negative impact.

Anyway, here are the raw scores that I use in the graphs I post, if interested. Feel free to use them if you want in your own analysis. You'll see various columns:

Raw Score (not plotted)

10-Day Moving Average (plotted in blue). Simple formula based on raw scores

Goal for Stroke Average (plotted in green). Raw data from a blog post

GHIN Official Handicap (not plotted). Raw data from GHIN.

GHIN +72 (plotted in gold). Simple formula based on handicap raw numbers.

Best 10 of 20 recent scores X 0.99 fudge factor (plotted in red)- simple formula from the raw scores that matches GHIN pretty well. It doesn't use differentials, just raw scores so it's just approximate handicap obviously

date	raw score from narrative	rolling avg of last 10	goal guru plan (stroke average)	ghin handicap	ghin+72	(best 10 of 20) * fudge
8/17/11	97
8/17/11	90
9/1/11	89
9/5/11	87
9/6/11	90
9/10/11	89
9/16/11	87
9/17/11	86
9/19/11	83
9/21/11	86	88.4	87
9/23/11	84	87.1
10/7/11	90	87.1
10/10/11	89	87.1
10/13/11	91	87.5
10/14/11	85	87.0
10/17/11	89	87.0
10/24/11	100	88.3
10/25/11	98	89.5
10/26/11	86	89.8
11/8/11	82	89.4				84.6
11/9/11	84	89.4				84.2
11/19/11	85	88.9	86			84.0
11/20/11	91	89.1				84.0
11/21/11	83	88.3				83.6
11/26/11	89	88.7				83.6
11/28/11	82	88.0				83.2
11/29/11	83	86.3				82.9
12/1/11	89	85.4				82.9
12/7/11	85	85.3				83.1
12/10/11	89	86.0				83.1
12/13/11	87	86.3				83.4
12/14/11	85	86.3				83.2
12/15/11	90	86.2				83.2
12/16/11	87	86.6				83.2
12/19/11	94	87.1				83.4
12/31/11	92	88.1				83.4
1/2/12	86	88.4				83.3
1/4/12	89	88.4				83.3
1/16/12	94	89.3				83.4
1/20/12	84	88.8	85			83.6
1/24/12	80	88.1				83.2
1/30/12	86	88.2				83.3
12/2/12	85	87.7				83.1
2/5/12	82	87.2				83.0
2/6/12	83	86.1				82.7
2/9/12	90	85.9				83.1
2/12/12	89	86.2				83.5
2/13/12	99	87.2				83.5
12/24/12	89	86.7				83.7
3/13/12	82	86.5				83.2
3/14/12	82	86.7	84			82.7
3/22/12	85	86.6				82.7
3/28/12	81	86.2				82.2
3/30/12	85	86.5				82.1
4/12/12	86	86.8				82.1
4/13/12	87	86.5				82.1
4/14/12	90	86.6				82.1
4/15/12	85	85.2				82.1
4/17/12	91	85.4				82.1
4/18/12	82	85.4				81.9
4/21/12	86	85.8				82.4
4/22/12	84	85.7				82.3
4/23/12	81	85.7				81.9
4/25/12	82	85.4				81.9
4/26/12	84	85.2				82.0
5/6/12	92	85.7		8.7	80.7	82.0
5/8/12	85	85.2	83			82.0
5/9/12	80	84.7				81.5
5/10/12	83	83.9				81.3
5/23/12	83	84.0		8.7	80.7	81.4
5/26/12	86	84.0				81.7
5/27/12	86	84.2				81.7
5/28/12	86	84.7				82.1
5/29/12	83	84.8				81.9
6/1/12	86	85.0		8.8	80.8	81.9
6/2/12	80	83.8				81.4
6/3/12	92	84.5				81.4
6/4/12	84	84.9				81.4
6/5/12	81	84.7				81.1
6/7/12	80	84.4				80.9
6/8/12	78	83.6				80.3
6/9/12	80	83.0				80.0
6/12/12	82	82.6				80.1
6/13/12	81	82.4				80.0
6/14/12	84	82.2		7.4	79.4	80.0
6/16/12	80	82.2				79.7
6/19/12	76	80.6				79.0
6/20/12	84	80.6				79.3
6/21/12	85	81.0				79.3
6/22/12	81	81.1				79.1
6/23/12	80	81.3				78.9
6/24/12	80	81.3				78.8
6/25/12	80	81.1				78.7
6/26/12	85	81.5	82			78.7
6/27/12	77	80.8				78.3
6/28/12	76	80.4		6.1	78.1	77.9
7/3/12	85	81.3				77.9
7/4/12	82	81.1				77.9
7/6/12	84	81.0				77.9
7/11/12	81	81.0				78.0
7/12/12	79	80.9				78.1
7/13/12	79	80.8				78.0
7/14/12	87	81.5		5.9	77.9	78.0
7/20/12	83	81.3				78.0
7/21/12	79	81.5				77.8
7/25/12	92	83.1				77.9
7/26/12	88	83.4				78.4
7/30/12	83	83.5				78.4
7/31/12	83	83.4				78.4
8/2/12	84	83.7		5.9	77.9	78.5
8/4/12	81	83.9				78.6
8/5/12	88	84.8				78.9
8/6/12	80	84.1				78.9
8/10/12	79	83.7				78.5
8/15/12	78	83.6		6.5	78.5	78.6
8/16/12	82	82.6	81			79.2
8/20/12	84	82.2				79.2
8/21/12	82	82.1				79.2
8/22/12	78	81.6				78.8
8/23/12	82	81.4				78.9
8/25/12	82	81.5				79.2
8/26/12	82	80.9				79.5
9/4/12	80	80.9		5.7	77.7	79.3
9/6/12	81	81.1				79.2
9/7/12	85	81.8				79.5
9/8/12	84	82.0				79.5
9/14/12	79	81.5		6.3	78.3	79.2
9/17/12	80	81.3				79.0
9/18/12	78	81.3				78.6
9/19/12	81	81.2				78.6
9/20/12	84	81.4				78.6
9/25/12	85	81.7				78.6
9/26/12	82	81.9				78.8
9/28/12	83	82.1				79.1
9/30/12	85	82.1		6.9	78.9	79.5
10/3/12	83	82.0				79.5
10/16/12	82	82.3	80	6.5	78.5	79.5
10/17/12	77	82.0				79.0
10/19/12	75	81.7				78.7
10/23/12	80	81.6				78.5
10/24/12	81	81.3				78.4
10/25/12	79	80.7		5.8	77.8	78.2
11/7/12	89	81.4				78.3
11/16/12	80	81.1		6.0	78.0	78.2
11/17/12	80	80.6				78.1
11/18/12	82	80.5				78.1
11/25/12	86	80.9				78.3
11/27/12	81	81.3				78.4
11/28/12	76	81.4				78.2
11/29/12	83	81.7		6.3	78.3	78.3
12/5/12	81	81.7	79			78.2
12/6/12	87	82.5				78.2
12/7/12	75	81.1				77.6
12/8/12	74	80.5				76.9
12/9/12	79	80.4				76.7
12/12/12	77	79.9		5.9	77.9	76.4
12/28/12	82	79.5				76.4
1/3/13	85	79.9		5.9	77.9	76.7
1/4/13	79	80.2				77.1
1/8/13	79	79.8				77.0
1/10/13	76	79.3				76.6
1/12/13	73	77.9				76.0
1/16/13	85	78.9		5.9	77.9	76.0
1/19/13	82	79.7				76.0
1/26/13	75	79.3				75.5
2/3/13	85	80.1		5.9	77.9	75.5
2/4/13	81	80.0	78			75.5
2/9/13	86	80.1				75.5
2/14/13	77	79.9		5.7	77.7	75.6
2/22/13	87	80.7				75.6
2/23/13	87	81.8				75.6
2/24/13	87	83.2				75.6
2/25/13	79	82.6				76.0
3/1/13	83	82.7		5.7	77.7	76.7
3/2/13	86	83.8				77.0
3/3/13	89	84.2				77.5
3/5/13	91	85.2				77.6
3/8/13	81	84.7				77.4
3/10/13	84	85.4				77.8
3/12/13	84	85.1				78.3
3/15/13	83	84.7		6.9	78.9	79.0
3/17/13	85	84.5				80.1
3/23/13	81	84.7				79.8
3/24/13	81	84.5				79.7
3/31/13	82	84.1				80.4
4/1/13	77	82.9		7.3	79.3	79.7
4/2/13	79	81.7				79.5
4/3/13	82	81.8	77			79.4
4/5/13	80	81.4				79.7
4/7/13	80	81.0				79.4
4/8/13	78	80.5				79.0
4/11/13	82	80.2				79.0
4/13/13	80	80.1		6.6	78.6	79.1
4/18/13	81	80.1				79.0
4/19/13	78	79.7				78.7
4/20/13	81	80.1				78.7
4/22/13	80	80.2				78.6
4/29/13	81	80.1				78.6
5/3/13	81	80.2		6.2	78.2	78.6
5/4/13	79	80.1				78.4
5/6/13	85	80.8				78.4
5/7/13	80	80.6				78.3
5/9/13	80	80.6				78.3
5/21/13	79	80.4		6.1	78.1	78.2
5/24/13	84	81.0				78.2
5/28/13	79	80.8				78.4
6/1/13	85	81.3		5.5	77.5	78.5
6/4/13	81	81.3				78.5
6/8/13	78	81.0				78.3
6/17/13	79	81.0		5.8	77.8	78.2
6/19/13	78	80.3				78.2
6/25/13	77	80.0				77.9
6/26/13	77	79.7				77.6
6/30/13	82	80.0				77.6
7/5/13	82	79.8		5.4	77.4	77.8
7/7/13	78	79.7				77.6
7/10/13	80	79.2	76			77.6
7/12/13	87	79.8				77.6
7/13/13	98	81.8				77.6
7/14/13	87	82.6				77.7
7/15/13	76	82.4		5.4	77.4	77.3
7/17/13	80	82.7				77.3
7/29/13	88	83.8				77.3
7/30/13	90	84.6		5.6	77.6	77.4
8/7/13	83	84.7				77.4
8/8/13	86	85.5				77.6
8/9/13	84	85.9		5.9	77.9	77.6
9/2/13	84	85.6		5.9	77.9	77.7
9/18/13	83	84.1		6.2	78.2	78.1
9/23/13	77	83.1				77.9
9/30/13	76	83.1				77.7
10/1/13	79	83.0		5.7	77.7	77.9
10/5/13	76	81.8				77.8
10/6/13	83	81.1				77.9
10/17/13	81	80.9		5.4	77.4	77.8
10/18/13	83	80.6				78.3
10/19/13	82	80.4				78.5
10/20/13	79	79.9				78.1
10/23/13	79	79.5				77.7
10/26/13	79	79.7				77.4
10/27/13	76	79.7				77.4
11/1/13	77	79.5		5.2	77.2	77.1
11/2/13	78	79.7				76.8
11/5/13	78	79.2				76.7
11/15/13	78	78.9		4.3	76.3	76.6
11/19/13	79	78.5	75			76.6
12/3/13	77	78.0		4.1	76.1	76.4
12/14/13	83	78.4				76.4
12/15/13	82	78.7		4.1	76.1	76.4
12/21/13	77	78.5				76.4
12/22/13	80	78.9				76.7
12/26/13	84	79.6				76.7
12/29/13	83	80.1				77.0
1/5/14	89	81.2				77.0
1/19/14	79	81.3		4.1	76.1	77.0
1/26/14	83	81.7				77.0
1/28/14	78	81.8				76.9
1/29/14	82	81.7				76.9
1/30/14	82	81.7				76.9
2/3/14	80	82.0		4.1	76.1	76.9
2/12/14	80	82.0				77.3
2/13/14	84	82.0				77.6
2/14/14	79	81.6				77.7
2/16/14	81	80.8		4.1	76.1	77.9
2/17/14	78	80.7				77.9
2/21/14	84	80.8				78.1
2/22/14	80	81.0				78.4
2/24/14	75	80.3				77.8
3/3/14	77	79.8		4.1	76.1	77.5
3/7/14	78	79.6				77.6
3/10/14	75	79.1				77.1
3/12/14	74	78.1				76.5
3/13/14	77	77.9				76.2
3/14/14	82	78.0		3.8	75.8	76.2
3/20/14	80	78.2				76.3
3/21/14	86	78.4				76.3
3/22/14	76	78.0				76.1
3/27/14	78	78.3				75.9
3/31/14	78	78.4				75.8
4/4/14	74	78.0		4.2	76.2	75.4
4/5/14	78	78.3				75.4
4/6/14	77	78.6				75.3
4/7/14	77	78.6				75.2
4/11/14	75	77.9	74			74.9
4/12/14	78	77.7				74.9
4/13/14	80	77.1		4.1	76.1	74.9
4/19/14	77	77.2				74.9
4/20/14	70	76.4				74.4
5/5/14	77	76.3		3.3	75.3	74.4
5/12/14	77	76.6				74.4
5/14/14	77	76.5				74.6
5/15/14	79	76.7		2.8	74.8	74.9
5/19/14	78	76.8				74.9
5/22/14	76	76.9				74.8
5/25/14	77	76.8				74.8
5/25/14	84	77.2				74.8
5/29/14	79	77.4				74.9
6/3/14	86	79.0		2.6	74.6	74.9
6/4/14	79	79.2				74.9
6/5/14	77	79.2				75.2
6/6/14	88	80.3				75.2
6/7/14	87	81.1				75.2
6/8/14	88	82.1				75.3
6/12/14	80	82.5				75.6
6/13/14	81	82.9				75.7
6/18/14	78	82.3		4.1	76.1	75.6
6/19/14	81	82.5				75.8
6/20/14	78	81.7				76.6
7/4/14	76	81.4		4.1	76.1	76.5
7/5/14	88	82.5				76.7
7/6/14	82	81.9		4.1	76.1	76.9
7/27/14	78	81.0				76.8
7/30/14	80	80.2				77.0
8/6/14	74	79.6		4.1	76.1	76.8
8/7/14	83	79.8				77.1
8/12/14	78	79.8				76.9
8/12/14	80	79.7				77.0
8/13/14	79	79.8				76.9
8/14/14	80	80.2				77.0
8/16/14	83	79.7		4.3	76.3	77.3
8/17/14	80	79.5				77.3
8/18/14	73	79.0				76.6
8/23/14	87	79.7				76.6
8/24/14	80	80.3				76.6
8/25/14	79	79.9				76.5
8/26/14	78	79.9		5.3	77.3	76.5
9/12/14	76	79.5				76.1
9/19/14	75	79.1		5.3	77.3	75.8
9/20/14	81	79.2				76.2
9/21/14	73	78.2				75.5
9/22/14	84	78.6				75.5
9/25/14	73	78.6				75.0
10/1/14	81	78.0		3.6	75.6	75.0
10/3/14	80	78.0				75.6
10/4/14	85	78.6				75.6
10/6/14	74	78.2				75.2
10/9/14	83	78.9				75.2
10/10/14	79	79.3				75.2
10/16/14	80	79.2		3.1	75.1	75.2
10/18/14	82	80.1				75.2
10/19/14	83	80.0				75.2
10/23/14	84	81.1				75.9
10/27/14	83	81.3				75.9
11/7/14	79	81.2		3.1	75.1	75.8
11/15/14	80	80.7				75.9
11/16/14	80	81.3				76.1
11/18/14	77	80.7				76.2
12/5/14	74	80.2				76.1
12/6/14	85	80.7		3.4	75.4	76.1
12/8/14	80	80.5				76.8
12/31/14	80	80.2				76.8
1/1/15	80	79.8				77.5
1/2/15	80	79.5	73			77.5
1/8/15	85	80.1				77.5
1/9/15	75	79.6				77.0
1/10/15	87	80.3				77.6
1/14/15	78	80.4		3.4	75.4	77.4
1/26/15	82	81.2				77.5
1/29/15	82	80.9				77.5
1/31/15	76	80.5				77.1
2/4/15	80	80.5		3.6	75.6	77.1
2/5/15	85	81.0				77.1
2/7/15	80	81.0				77.1
2/9/15	79	80.4				77.1
2/16/15	83	81.2				77.1
2/19/15	86	81.1				77.1
2/20/15	83	81.6				77.4
2/22/15	78	81.2				77.8
2/23/15	90	82.0				77.8
2/24/15	83	82.7				77.8
2/26/15	79	82.6				77.7
3/2/15	83	82.4				77.9
3/3/15	79	82.3				77.8
3/4/15	78	82.2				77.4
3/7/15	83	82.2				78.1
3/8/15	79	81.5				77.8
3/9/15	79	81.1		3.9	75.9	77.9
3/28/15	84	81.7				77.9
3/29/15	81	80.8				77.9
3/30/15	83	80.8				78.4
4/1/15	83	81.2				78.7
4/3/15	77	80.6				78.1
4/8/15	74	80.1				77.5
4/9/15	79	80.2				77.5
4/10/15	77	79.6	72	5.4	77.4	77.1

[rkim291968]

Did anyone notice that very few of us has a long term plan on improving golf?   I had goals, and short term plan for specific practices but never a long term plan.   Besides Dan's plan, I've seen just another one (a UK man in 30's I think).   It's no wonder our golf improvements stall quicker than it should.  Who amongst us have a detailed long (more than a year) term plan?   Maybe it's a thread deserving its own.   I for one am shocked that I never had a long term plan and I work for corporate America for a living where long term planning is a must.

[Nosevi]

Did anyone notice that very few of us has a long term plan on improving golf?   I had goals, and short term plan for specific practices but never a long term plan.   Besides Dan's plan, I've seen just another one (a UK man in 30's I think).   It's no wonder our golf improvements stall quicker than it should.  Who amongst us have a detailed long (more than a year) term plan?   Maybe it's a thread deserving its own.   I for one am shocked that I never had a long term plan and I work for corporate America for a living where long term planning is a must.

My plan goes into such utter 'geekery' and ridiculous lengths that I wouldn't want to bore you all with it. There's an overall plan, progress targets, intermediate targets, intermediate intermediate targets, a financial plan, a practice plan, a fitness plan, a dietary plan. I use technology to help ($15k outlay to set up a swing studio. that's not including $60k for the building to house it) to offset the rubbish weather here, I spent an age seeking out the right coach (head coach at our National Academy in the end), a guy you all know and love to look at my stats (who's doing a great job) and I 'enlisted' the help of a local tour pro who I occasionally practice with so I could see what my end goal looks like up close and first hand (this guy as it happens   http://www.punditarena.com/uncategorized/ecas/brian-casey-chasing-birdies/  ) - I've got one hell of a long way to go, he really is that good :)

This is going to come across as massively harsh and I don't mean it to be but I don't really care about whether Dan is practising deliberately or whether he's realistic in his goals. The only bit I don't get is the lack of a plan in The Dan Plan.

Planning things like the financial side and as a result the coaching plan is totally and utterly under your control. Whether you end up being able to drive it 300 down the middle isn't (although your hard work will influence your chances of it). I don't get why he didn't nail down the things under his control at the beginning and is only now finding out they are, in fact, important.

I wish Dan well in his endeavour but I do think he needs to draw a line under where he has got to thus far and look at the rest of the plan in an entirely different way. Planning it would be a good start.

[Nosevi]

Just as a last thought on the above, I think that's why I'm more optimistic about Dan's chances going forwards than some are. He's got this far despite not having used a coach for most of the time; not having been target and goals focused (which I think he needs to be); not having had a detailed fitness regime, at least not one he's shared; not practising with players at the level he's aiming at for more than a few holes of golf so he can learn from them. My point is he's got this far without any of that. If he puts all this in place I pretty much guarantee he'll move forwards again.