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

[Pretzel]

1 hour ago, newtogolf said:

So after all that time he just abandoned the Dan Plan and moved on.  Fail

He could've at least had the balls to say, "Yeah, I'm moving on to other things that have captured my time and interest. I gave it my best effort but it turns out it's a lot harder than it looks."

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, Pretzel said:

He could've at least had the balls to say, "Yeah, I'm moving on to other things that have captured my time and interest. I gave it my best effort but it turns out it's a lot harder than it looks."

Yeah, that would be a lot better than letting his hapless fans stay in limbo.

He probably just realized that he was as good at golf as he was going to get.

[Golfingdad]

2 hours ago, newtogolf said:

So after all that time he just abandoned the Dan Plan and moved on.  Fail

 

1 hour ago, Pretzel said:

He could've at least had the balls to say, "Yeah, I'm moving on to other things that have captured my time and interest. I gave it my best effort but it turns out it's a lot harder than it looks."

Yeah, he passed it off as a science experiment at the beginning so you'd think, succeed or fail, there should be some kind of wrap up.

[newtogolf]

7 hours ago, Pretzel said:

He could've at least had the balls to say, "Yeah, I'm moving on to other things that have captured my time and interest. I gave it my best effort but it turns out it's a lot harder than it looks."

 

6 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

 

Yeah, he passed it off as a science experiment at the beginning so you'd think, succeed or fail, there should be some kind of wrap up.

I agree, imo he owed his sponsors and supporters some closure and thanks for supporting him while they did.  It's disappointing that he not only walked away from the Dan Plan without closure but that he'd also reference it in his bio for the new business.  I'm not sure that as his business partner I'd be comfortable with the way he jumps from career to career.  

[gregsandiego]

11 hours ago, RandallT said:

Dan is in business.

http://portlandsoda.com/our-story/

No, not golf. Portland Soda Works. Good for him! Now we know why he has gone dark. 

Thanks for posting this update. Though it seems like another long shot to me. The soda business is so tough to penetrate. I wonder if he still plays golf much.

 

 

[nevets88]

11 hours ago, RandallT said:

Dan is in business.

http://portlandsoda.com/our-story/

No, not golf. Portland Soda Works. Good for him! Now we know why he has gone dark. 

How'd you find this @RandallT?

[RandallT]

21 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

How'd you find this @RandallT?

Every couple months or so, I google something like: "Dan McLaughlin Plan PGA" or some variation, just to see if there are any podcasts, videos, whatever.  I use the Search Tools thing and select Last Month only. This is what I got last night:

The Golf Channel link always shows up #1. It is static content, so they must edit the page every week or something to keep showing up in the search. But it's some old video that aired near the start of the plan. 

This thread on SandTrap always shows up near the top. We're famous!

Alan Shipnuck always shows up too.

After that, the search usually picks up a sportscaster named Dan McLaughlin, and the results get less and less relevant after that. The past year, there's been very few hits (as his publicity waned), so I hardly ever do it. Not sure why I even did the search last night. Curiosity I guess.

But there is was, the new Portland Soda link. I thought it was spam, or just a phony hit to lure clicks, but followed it anyway. You know those clever spammers, they'll latch onto anything to lure you in- even the Dan Plan! Lo and behold, there's Dan's pic. At first, I thought it was a company in Portland doing a feature on him for their web site. Perhaps a series of stories of local patrons. Then it dawned on me that this was a new venture that Dan was involved with.

Seems like the other guy is the true brains of the operation, and Dan is in more of a support role. It will be interesting to see if he "tidies up" the Dan Plan, and brings it to a conclusion. He's clearly moved on, and there's zero hope he'll get in golf shape now. The plan is done. 

If he doesn't wrap up his experience at his site, I suppose we should wrap up this thread here. Who is good at eulogies? This has been too much fun for too long. 

FYI: a similar google search as above is actually how I found TST. My first post here was in a Dan Plan thread, after some guy I played a round with told me about Dan. You have that random stranger to thank for my joining here. Now that it's done, I guess I'll still stick around here.

[nevets88]

27 minutes ago, RandallT said:

Every couple months or so, I google something like: "Dan McLaughlin Plan PGA" or some variation, just to see if there are any podcasts, videos, whatever.  I use the Search Tools thing and select Last Month only. This is what I got last night:

The Golf Channel link always shows up #1. It is static content, so they must edit the page every week or something to keep showing up in the search. But it's some old video that aired near the start of the plan. 

This thread on SandTrap always shows up near the top. We're famous!

Alan Shipnuck always shows up too.

After that, the search usually picks up a sportscaster named Dan McLaughlin, and the results get less and less relevant after that. The past year, there's been very few hits (as his publicity waned), so I hardly ever do it. Not sure why I even did the search last night. Curiosity I guess.

But there is was, the new Portland Soda link. I thought it was spam, or just a phony hit to lure clicks, but followed it anyway. You know those clever spammers, they'll latch onto anything to lure you in- even the Dan Plan! Lo and behold, there's Dan's pic. At first, I thought it was a company in Portland doing a feature on him for their web site. Perhaps a series of stories of local patrons. Then it dawned on me that this was a new venture that Dan was involved with.

Seems like the other guy is the true brains of the operation, and Dan is in more of a support role. It will be interesting to see if he "tidies up" the Dan Plan, and brings it to a conclusion. He's clearly moved on, and there's zero hope he'll get in golf shape now. The plan is done. 

If he doesn't wrap up his experience at his site, I suppose we should wrap up this thread here. Who is good at eulogies? This has been too much fun for too long. 

FYI: a similar google search as above is actually how I found TST. My first post here was in a Dan Plan thread, after some guy I played a round with told me about Dan. You have that random stranger to thank for my joining here. Now that it's done, I guess I'll still stick around here.

Interesting, kneel to your all knowing Google overlords. I recall a tweet awhile back to his account saying big changes or something like that, maybe this was it. I always thought he had at least a couple of things going on "on the side". The flavors sound tasty, actually tempted to buy one, the coffee flavor sounds interesting. Reminds me of Ribena, UK/Canadian folks will know what I'm talking about.

[jamo]

10 minutes ago, nevets88 said:

Interesting, kneel to your all knowing Google overlords. I recall a tweet awhile back to his account saying big changes or something like that, maybe this was it. I always thought he had at least a couple of things going on "on the side". The flavors look tasty, actually tempted to buy one, the coffee flavor sounds interesting. Reminds me of Ribena, UK folks will know what I'm talking about.

Its only the syrup though. You have to mix it with seltzer water (or, as the website says, absinthe, or drizzled over ice cream).

[nevets88]

Just now, jamo said:

Its only the syrup though. You have to mix it with seltzer water (or, as the website says, absinthe, or drizzled over ice cream).

Yep, that's what Ribena is.

[Lihu]

I'd say the Dan Plan worked great! He's famous enough to get this thing kick started. Next time I'm in Portland I will likely drop by and get some of his product.

It's a great idea.

[nevets88]

Here's the ending conclusion in three words.

Golf

is

Hard.

[RandallT]

1 minute ago, nevets88 said:

Here's the ending conclusion in three words.

Golf

is

Hard.

Maybe we all buy some syrups from Dan, make our beverages as we each prefer, and get together on the TST Chat line some evening and drink a toast to: 

"Golf is Hard"

(with appropriate trademarking for that phrase)

Then the moderators can ceremoniously close up this thread as we finally have reached the only proper agreement to it all. Nothing left to say.

 

[Pretzel]

On 5/24/2016 at 7:19 AM, RandallT said:

If he doesn't wrap up his experience at his site, I suppose we should wrap up this thread here. Who is good at eulogies? This has been too much fun for too long. 

There once was a man named Dan

He thought that he had a grand plan

He drummed up some money

Though most thought it funny

That he spoke like a confidence man

 

Dan thought that he ought to go pro

Better than others he thought he might know

"Aptitude shm-aptitude"

With these words he wooed

The people who handed him dough

 

It came as a suprise to only Dan

For it had turned out that his plan

Had but one glaring flaw

Despite Dan's chutzpah

Golf could only make him a poor man

[RandallT]

I'd give multiple thumbs up, if I could @Pretzel. A fitting limerick eulogy- genius. 

[RandallT]

In Ted Talks, it came as a bombshell:
The 10,000 Hour Theory’s death knell.
But The SandTrap found hysterics in
Mocking the erudition of Ericsson
And the pomposity of Malcolm Gladwell.
 

Too harsh? I actually enjoyed Outliers and I like Anders Ericsson in the interviews I've seen him in, although I find him often distancing himself from any practical application of his work and often warning of misunderstanding what he's trying to say (and I'm still unsure what exactly he truly meant). And like you, @nevets88, I think differently of Outliers after the years have passed, as it seems thinner and thinner of substance. 

[mchepp]

1 hour ago, RandallT said:

Too harsh? I actually enjoyed Outliers and I like Anders Ericsson in the interviews I've seen him in, although I find him often distancing himself from any practical application of his work and often warning of misunderstanding what he's trying to say (and I'm still unsure what exactly he truly meant). And like you, @nevets88, I think differently of Outliers after the years have passed, as it seems thinner and thinner of substance. 

I have Ericsson in a few interviews and I feel he is a bit wishy-washy. When asked how should someone go about doing the training you recommend he starts to say "well contact me and I'll will try to connect you" blah blah. 

Also he sounds a little angry with Gladwell for taking his theory on the 10,000 hours, but without it very few people would know about his theory. 

Now he is saying 10,000 under the watchful eye of a someone who knows how to teach the activity/sport/whatever. Oh, and it helps if your young. And also athletic if you are doing something athletic. Fine, but I feel that is not a theory, that is a really sound way to get good at something. It sounds to me that he is telling me something really obvious. 

I haven't read his book yet, but I will. I hope it is more in-depth than his interviews.

[Pretzel]

 

4 hours ago, RandallT said:

In Ted Talks, it came as a bombshell:
The 10,000 Hour Theory’s death knell.
But The SandTrap found hysterics in
Mocking the erudition of Ericsson
And the pomposity of Malcolm Gladwell.

See, the only thing I might disagree with here is that it was even a true test of the 10,000 hour theory since a majority of people with knowledge of golf could have told Dan he wasn't taking a very good path. It was an underfunded, unscientific study that appeared to also be testing the advising professionals pet theory about the best way to learn the golf game at the same time as the 10,000 hour thing, which then introduces even more variables into an already variable-laden type of test.

The 10,000 hour theory I know is hotly contested by another study that actually claims to have found the percentage difference in performance that deliberate practice makes, but Dan doesn't seem like he actually did much testing on the 10,000 hour theory. He had pretty clear goals from the onset, but I don't believe he ever actually defined "expert" as it would relate to golfing. If it meant getting to the top 5% of all golfers in the world then he would have achieved the goal by getting down to about a 2.7. If it meant that he had to be in the top 1% it would mean he'd have to be better than a +1. It's all very dependent on how you define "expert", which is what makes it so difficult.