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


Jonnydanger81
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If his TM was calibrated properly and you're going by TM, he does. One of his drives went 275+. And his swing could be more... optimized, duh, you could say that for everyone but you know what I mean. Plus his average driver AA was negative. http://thedanplan.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Dan-Plan-2013-01-25-Multi-Group-Report.pdf Now all this assumes the TM data is accurate. I've never seen the guy swing live, or have an idea of how strong he is by watching his workouts, so I'm neither saying he is or isn't capable of a 270 yard drive under normal conditions. We don't know yet what he's truly capable of because he hasn't really gotten the most out of his swing yet. And I'm not going state definitively what he's capable of. How can we know that?

He took videos of his swing with a club fitter, and from those videos I figured he does not have the potential for speed. If he had a super fast swing, and had to reel it in just to hit the ball I would agree with you. I just don't see that potential in him, I could be completely wrong.

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He took videos of his swing with a club fitter, and from those videos I figured he does not have the potential for speed. If he had a super fast swing, and had to reel it in just to hit the ball I would agree with you. I just don't see that potential in him, I could be completely wrong.

I've seen too many instances of a swing that doesn't "look" that great but the guy is an amazing player, so I don't even bother to guess current skill level or latent potential anymore.

What I do know is there are those (very few) who can get really good with minimal guidance and those who need help and he looks like he's definitely the latter.

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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I've seen too many instances of a swing that doesn't "look" that great but the guy is an amazing player, so I don't even bother to guess current skill level or latent potential anymore.

What I do know is there are those (very few) who can get really good with minimal guidance and those who need help and he looks like he's definitely the latter.

My experience has not been the same, it was pretty obvious from watching their first swing. I agree that you can't tell by just glancing at someone the first time.

The golfer who hit a 370 yard drive, started the round by meekly hitting his 6i to the center of the fairway. I was watching him pretty intently as he setup. It was already obvious that he is a good golfer just at setup, or at least that thought ran through my mind***. Once he made his swing, I knew he was good even though he slightly toed the shot. I didn't get suckered into a heavily wagered game even after he "bogeyed" the first hole. When he realized that two of us in the group wouldn't even attempt to "take his bet" he started shooting a lot more pars. I still wonder if the other long hitter took him up on the offer?

Good skill to have in my opinion. ;-)

***Many of the statements that @MS256 stated in various posts were running through my mind.

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"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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You can't necessarily tell from what their swing looks like, but you usually can tell from how they carry themselves from what I've seen. I've seen people with beautiful swings that I know can't play because they just sort of whack the ball, then aimlessly wander over to it, etc. I've also seen people with horrid swings who, in tournaments, have laser focus over the ball and will score even if their individual shots may not appear like they're doing well. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but you can just kind of tell if they put some authority into the swing or not as if they know what they're doing. Dan appears to me (through his writing) to be the earlier type who just sort of whacks at the ball hoping for the best.
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:-D

Rich C.

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You can't necessarily tell from what their swing looks like, but you usually can tell from how they carry themselves from what I've seen. I've seen people with beautiful swings that I know can't play because they just sort of whack the ball, then aimlessly wander over to it, etc. I've also seen people with horrid swings who, in tournaments, have laser focus over the ball and will score even if their individual shots may not appear like they're doing well.

I'm not sure exactly what it is, but you can just kind of tell if they put some authority into the swing or not as if they know what they're doing. Dan appears to me (through his writing) to be the earlier type who just sort of whacks at the ball hoping for the best.

This is the only way to really catch someone sand bagging. I guess I can't really put my finger on it either, but having played pool/billiards in college for pizza money you learn really fast.

Ditto on the :-D

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Dan is a "Golf ball whacker dude" like in "Happy Gilmore". without the distance.

The guy is more a savvy marketer, coasting off of superficial good vibes, to me, more than anything. It's 25% golf and 75% something else, entertainment-ish?, I can't put my finger on.

Steve

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This is the only way to really catch someone sand bagging. I guess I can't really put my finger on it either, but having played pool/billiards in college for pizza money you learn really fast.

Ditto on the

I have seen people intentionally hit lag putts off line, too hard, or soft just to insure a 3 putt happens right before revision dates with a tournament that next weekend. Usually happens in the last 4 holes, and then they have the hottest damn putter ever on tournament weekend, just saying.

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The guy is more a savvy marketer, coasting off of superficial good vibes, to me, more than anything. It's 25% golf and 75% something else, entertainment-ish?, I can't put my finger on.


I think for some time he's realized that he has zero chance obtaining his goal but now sees a different opportunity.

Rich C.

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I think for some time he's realized that he has zero chance obtaining his goal but now sees a different opportunity.

Very much agree. Likely a book combined with speaking engagements.

Michael

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I have seen people intentionally hit lag putts off line, too hard, or soft just to insure a 3 putt happens right before revision dates with a tournament that next weekend. Usually happens in the last 4 holes, and then they have the hottest damn putter ever on tournament weekend, just saying.

Yeah, when they make GIR then 3 putt it looks really susp. . .wait, I've done this before. Definitely not a sandbagger.

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Very much agree. Likely a book combined with speaking engagements.


That's fine and all and hopefully he has some sort of insight upon his breakthroughs and plateaus to share with people so they may better understand how someone evolves into a better player, I'm really not sure where Dan lands in the averages of physical ability at this game but if I had to I would say just below median, he really has no previous experience in any type of other athletic activities other than track and field in high school I would assume so unless he threw discuss or javelin there isn't a vast amount of athleticism required other than running fast or long distance in his only other known athletic endeavor. I'm afraid though there really isn't going to be much for the golfing community to benefit from this and hopefully he doesn't wind up discouraging some when they realize just how much time he put in and how much further he had to go. On another note, the OP in his opening post said something I found sort of strange, has anyone else noticed his schedule is 6 hours a day 6 days a week for 6 years, 666 :bugout: this thing was doomed from the get go.

Rich C.

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Yeah, when they make GIR then 3 putt it looks really susp. . .wait, I've done this before. Definitely not a sandbagger.


Hell, I have even 4 putted from 20 feet, but I'm talking about guys I know play the same course 4 to 5 times a week and have the speed dialed in along with knowing all the breaks, lets just say I wasn't the only one noticing it when it happened,

Rich C.

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2 Hybrid Cobra baffler 17*
4Hybrid Adams 23*
Irons Adams CB2's 5-GW
Wedges 54* and 58* Titleist vokey
Putter Scotty Cameron square back 2014
Ball Srixon Zstar optic yellow
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That's fine and all and hopefully he has some sort of insight upon his breakthroughs and plateaus to share with people so they may better understand how someone evolves into a better player, I'm really not sure where Dan lands in the averages of physical ability at this game but if I had to I would say just below median, he really has no previous experience in any type of other athletic activities other than track and field in high school I would assume so unless he threw discuss or javelin there isn't a vast amount of athleticism required other than running fast or long distance in his only other known athletic endeavor. I'm afraid though there really isn't going to be much for the golfing community to benefit from this and hopefully he doesn't wind up discouraging some when they realize just how much time he put in and how much further he had to go.

Track is the ultimate fast twitch sport. 100 yard, 100m, football recruits from the track team. By 30 we're all overweight. He looks more like a miler or cross country.

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Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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Track is the ultimate fast twitch sport. 100 yard, 100m, football recruits from the track team. By 30 we're all overweight.

He looks more like a miler or cross country.

I think your right

Rich C.

Driver Titleist 915 D3  9.5*
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2 Hybrid Cobra baffler 17*
4Hybrid Adams 23*
Irons Adams CB2's 5-GW
Wedges 54* and 58* Titleist vokey
Putter Scotty Cameron square back 2014
Ball Srixon Zstar optic yellow
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Plus, the mental game isn't terribly important.

I think Yogi Berra said it best - "90 per cent of this game is half mental". Of course he was talking about baseball.

Occam's razor

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Very much agree. Likely a book combined with speaking engagements.

Ugh. And what is it that's new and compelling does he have to tell us? Golf is hard. Yeah, we knew this. I appreciate the positivity aspect, but whatever he has to say, seems, sorry, superficial. What he has proven to me is you can do a one man reality show on a shoestring budget. Golf is a perfect venue. Lots of people with disposable incomes watching.

I'm sorry I'm coming across as so cynical. I'll stop here.

Track is the ultimate fast twitch sport. 100 yard, 100m, football recruits from the track team. By 30 we're all overweight.

He looks more like a miler or cross country.

I think focusing on physicality is going on a tangent w/respect to deliberate practice and getting the most of our abilities, the original goal. Imho, I thought, In the beginning, the goal was getting the most of what you have, not trying to figure out which parts of what we have that makes people good?

Golfers are not bulky guys. The trend seems to be they're bigger, but like American football safety bigger, not linebackers. Or a svelte NBA point guard. They're taller, just a smidge wider. Why the focus on build so much?

And despite all the focus on the weight room, you still have your Jason Dufners, Kevin Stadlers, Angel Miguel wacked out warmup routine Jimenezs , etc...

Steve

Kill slow play. Allow walking. Reduce ineffective golf instruction. Use environmentally friendly course maintenance.

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Ugh. And what is it that's new and compelling does he have to tell us? Golf is hard. Yeah, we knew this. I appreciate the positivity aspect, but whatever he has to say, seems, sorry, superficial. What he has proven to me is you can do a one man reality show on a shoestring budget. Golf is a perfect venue. Lots of people with disposable incomes watching. I'm sorry I'm coming across as so cynical. I'll stop here. I think focusing on physicality is going on a tangent w/respect to deliberate practice and getting the most of our abilities, the original goal. Imho, I thought, In the beginning, the goal was getting the most of what you have, not trying to figure out which parts of what we have that makes people good? Golfers are not bulky guys. The trend seems to be they're bigger, but like American football safety bigger, not linebackers. Or a svelte NBA point guard. They're taller, just a smidge wider. Why the focus on build so much? And despite all the focus on the weight room, you still have your Jason Dufners, Kevin Stadlers, Angel Miguel wacked out warmup routine Jimenezs , etc...

You're right we should just focus on reaching maximum potential. None of us can say what he can or can't do. We'll all see in another 4000 hours how good he can get. I would like to add that just because he can't attain a certain level does not imply that we can't. Some of us, like you, have more talent potential than Dan.

:ping:  :tmade:  :callaway:   :gamegolf:  :titleist:

TM White Smoke Big Fontana; Pro-V1
TM Rac 60 TT WS, MD2 56
Ping i20 irons U-4, CFS300
Callaway XR16 9 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S
Callaway XR16 3W 15 degree Fujikura Speeder 565 S, X2Hot Pro 20 degrees S

"I'm hitting the woods just great, but I'm having a terrible time getting out of them." ~Harry Toscano

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