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

[flopster]

Y

Yes but he is not scratch now, that is my point.

And he's not even 4.1 (current ghin),  and that's mine.

[RandallT]

Anyone ever attended a seminar like the one Dan says he will attend?

http://www.vision54.com/index.html

It looks like it's right up his alley with its mention of "unlimited human potential" and buzzwords like that, so it will give Dan good material to discuss on his blog. Fine. The "54" refers to striving for shooting a 54 by birdie-ing every hole. Why not!?

But I was curious if any of the competitive players here on TST have attended anything similar and found that it helped them to improve their mental game? Is Dan the right type of player to gain from it, or is it for those on the cusp of being on tour?

There are endorsements there from Sean Foley, Ai Miyazato, and Damon Hack, so it appears to be a broad cross-section! They were on the Pinehurst #2 course this week teaching a 2-day course--> http://www.vision54.com/CW-14A_Coach54_On-Course_Fact_Sheet-entryupdated.pdf for just $895. I wonder if many LPGA players signed up for that to get in gear for the US Open this weekend.

[BerkeleyRehab]

We'll I guess I find this strange, why would anyone who wants a legit handicap count gimmes etc.....

It is very standard to just give putts in casual play, even in gambling games.  There is a scratch player that I play with that finds it insulting if he asked to putt a one-footer.

The mentality of knowing that you don't have to make it in the hole is one separator of casual rounds vs tournament rounds.  Just got it somewhat near the hole and it is good.

The more he avoids tournaments, the worse he will play in tournaments.  And the couple he does play in will be layered with enormous pressure.  Like each one is a Major.

But...and I keep saying this, playing tournaments comes with great risk that he could lose sponsors/donations.  Upside of a 75 is ok, but the downside of an 88 and people will stop 'believing'.  And then it all unravels.  Look at what happened with this one meaningless tournament.  He couldn't even write for 2 weeks.

[GHIN0011458]

I don't know about playing more tournaments.... I don't see the point. He needs to get down to a legit scratch handicap any way he can. Unless he is a true scratch he has no hope of getting anywhere in professional golf

Very tough to get to legit scratch without tourney knowledge IMO

[Golfingdad]

Very tough to get to legit scratch without tourney knowledge IMO

Totally agree.  No handicap (from +5 through 38, or even higher) is truly "legit" until you've had some competitive experience.  And it could be argued that it's not even totally legit until you're playing almost exclusively in competitions.

[GHIN0011458]

Tournaments I think are golf at its' truest. Everything about tournament golf is legit. There is no drops from hitting OB. If you hit in the water you are not dropping on the side closest to the green to save time. Pin locations are put where the golf course designer intended them to be, not in locations chosen by a greens keeper. The course is typically in the best condition it can be(for that particular course) and the greens are rolling true. The mental side is a whole other ball game than with friends and I get to actually focus on what I have worked on. When I go out and shoot a 70-74 in a tournament I feel much more accomplished then when I shoot a 69 in a round for fun. Ahh.. I just love tournament golf. I wish there were more individual tournaments than scrambles. Scrambles are the farthest thing from real golf and I can't stand them.. unless they pay good money, but still not true golf. Sorry to go off on a tangent but I highly recommend competing in individual stroke play to everyone.

[Golfingdad]

When I go out and shoot a 70-74 in a tournament I feel much more accomplished then when I shoot a 69 in a round for fun. Ahh.. I just love tournament golf.

Totally agree with this as well ... so long as you add 8-10 strokes to each number. A 79 or 80 on a course set up for a tournament, requiring you to play 100% by every rule and hole out every putt, some with pressure, is 10 times more satisfying than a 74 on an easy 6200 yard muni, early in the morning, with a double bogey ESC and a couple of 18" gimmes.

I just love tournament golf.  Sorry to go off on a tangent but I highly recommend competing in individual stroke play to everyone.

I'm still fairly new to it - only played in about 8-10 real individual tournaments so far, all in the last 18 months - but I agree.  Everybody should give it a shot.

[Lihu]

Anyone ever attended a seminar like the one Dan says he will attend?

http://www.vision54.com/index.html

Okay, I see the ploy.

Here are the steps:

1) Say you are a 3 handicap.

2) Shoot badly in two consecutive tournaments to get an entire community of serious golfers to say there's no way you will ever be good.

3) Take this seminar.

4) Say you are inspired by this seminar.

5) Shoot to your handicap of 3 at the next 10 tournaments.

6) Tell all the interviewers that an entire community of serious golfers doubted you, but this seminar really turned you around.

7) Get millions of dollars from the profits generated by this strategy, because many golfers are now signing up for it.

8) Get a sponsors exemption to the Web.com or PGA, no Q-School needed. Presumably even a 3 handicap could play with a sponsors exemption?

9) Play one season then bow before its end.

10) Made the goal within 10,000 hours.

11) Sell millions of books and training DVDs etc to every parent on the planet netting millions of more dollars.

I know, what an imagination.

Just wait till it happens.

[David in FL]

Okay, I see the ploy. Here are the steps: 1) Say you are a 3 handicap. 2) Shoot badly in two consecutive tournaments to get an entire community of serious golfers to say there's no way you will ever be good. 3) Take this seminar. 4) Say you are inspired by this seminar. 5) Shoot to your handicap of 3 at the next 10 tournaments. 6) Tell all the interviewers that an entire community of serious golfers doubted you, but this seminar really turned you around. 7) Get millions of dollars from the profits generated by this strategy, because many golfers are now signing up for it. 8) Get a sponsors exemption to the Web.com or PGA, no Q-School needed. Presumably even a 3 handicap could play with a sponsors exemption? 9) Play one season then bow before its end. 10) Made the goal within 10,000 hours. 11) Sell millions of books and training DVDs etc to every parent on the planet netting millions of more dollars. I know, what an imagination. Just wait till it happens. :smartass:

Wanna bet? ;-)

[Lihu]

Wanna bet?

[nevets88]

Okay, I was mistaken. He does have some high frame rate video on his YouTube account, but there's not many and the latest is February. Wish there were a more recent swing. It's not bad, but it looks like he's swinging too hard, some inefficiencies there but I'm guessing his swing might be a little different now.

[BerkeleyRehab]

Tournaments I think are golf at its' truest. Everything about tournament golf is legit. There is no drops from hitting OB. If you hit in the water you are not dropping on the side closest to the green to save time. Pin locations are put where the golf course designer intended them to be, not in locations chosen by a greens keeper. The course is typically in the best condition it can be(for that particular course) and the greens are rolling true. The mental side is a whole other ball game than with friends and I get to actually focus on what I have worked on. When I go out and shoot a 70-74 in a tournament I feel much more accomplished then when I shoot a 69 in a round for fun. Ahh.. I just love tournament golf. I wish there were more individual tournaments than scrambles. Scrambles are the farthest thing from real golf and I can't stand them.. unless they pay good money, but still not true golf. Sorry to go off on a tangent but I highly recommend competing in individual stroke play to everyone.

Well said.

And handicap has double-bogey max for single digits.

I just wish he was more honest with updating stats and scores and played more tournaments.

[flopster]

Okay, I was mistaken. He does have some high frame rate video on his YouTube account, but there's not many and the latest is February. Wish there were a more recent swing. It's not bad, but it looks like he's swinging too hard, some inefficiencies there but I'm guessing his swing might be a little different now.

I see a rolling of the hands at the take away that is something I'm surprised his instructor has not been all over him to stop, all that will do is cause timing issues which will only become more pronounced the longer the club, no wonder driver is such an issue with him.

[UGNgolf]

Wish I had that kind of time and money! Good luck to him!

[BerkeleyRehab]

Something else about tournaments is that you play with other good players. Can definitely raise his game. He will see how other experienced players handle pressure and play certain shots. I think he should turn pro and go on gateway tour. Problem is that he is financially strapped. He wasn't really open about this from the get-go.

[nevets88]

I see a rolling of the hands at the take away that is something I'm surprised his instructor has not been all over him to stop, all that will do is cause timing issues which will only become more pronounced the longer the club, no wonder driver is such an issue with him.

His hands initially aren't going in they're actually going out but he's not sucking the clubhead way way inside. It just looks like he's swinging out of his shoes. Should be able to swing easier and get similar distance. If it were me, I would be publishing more video. He'll get more scrutiny but if I were donating money, which I'm not, I'd expect more vids and photos. So much wall of text in his blog entries I just skim, get to the d@mn point, video says 1,000 words.

[flopster]

I'm seeing Dan has had a real reverse of fortune over the past 10 rounds, he only has 2 rounds in the 70's versus 2 in the 80's the previous 10, the next 5 rounds will drop revision scores, also he did play at tournament on the 13th but once again failed to break 80 but did better (81), so maybe he will get out to more tournaments, who knows. He still is not posting all of his rounds, according to his countdown he played 11 times before 6/15/14 but recorded only 9, not sure what is going on there.

[Lihu]

His hands initially aren't going in they're actually going out but he's not sucking the clubhead way way inside. It just looks like he's swinging out of his shoes. Should be able to swing easier and get similar distance.

If it were me, I would be publishing more video. He'll get more scrutiny but if I were donating money, which I'm not, I'd expect more vids and photos. So much wall of text in his blog entries I just skim, get to the d@mn point, video says 1,000 words.

I think he looks pretty well grounded. Not a bad swing, just a little too slow for an aspiring pro.

I'm seeing Dan has had a real reverse of fortune over the past 10 rounds, he only has 2 rounds in the 70's versus 2 in the 80's the previous 10, the next 5 rounds will drop revision scores, also he did play at tournament on the 13th but once again failed to break 80 but did better (81), so maybe he will get out to more tournaments, who knows. He still is not posting all of his rounds, according to his countdown he played 11 times before 6/15/14 but recorded only 9, not sure what is going on there.

I suppose everyone has slumps, I'm still wondering if the motivational golf therapy will help him.

He might be able to break into the mid/low single digits but only with serious help.