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

[nevets88]

I perused the Golf University website quickly and it's a deliberate practice type article, more of an academic angle, that is his contribution. The pro who is actually doing the lesson videos can play, he's won events and the lesson video I watched on chipping is not bad and he's the only one doing the teaching. There are no links to online lessons and I only just subscribed and haven't received any solicitations for lessons and I would think only the former pro is giving the lessons should any online lessons be given. There'a a bit of pile on going on here. We've all been critical, but you can only go so far.

[Lihu]

I perused the Golf University website quickly and it's a deliberate practice type article, more of an academic angle, that is his contribution. The pro who is actually doing the lesson videos can play, he's won events and the lesson video I watched on chipping is not bad and he's the only one doing the teaching. There are no links to online lessons and I only just subscribed and haven't received any solicitations for lessons and I would think only the former pro is giving the lessons should any online lessons be given. There'a a bit of pile on going on here. We've all been critical, but you can only go so far.

He asked for the piling just like anyone else who says they want to make the tour as a high handicap. ;-)

[RandallT]

Here is Dan's rolling average of last 10 rounds from for the past two years. No regard for tournament play or tees used. Just raw score. This was the KEY part of his 10,000 hours. If he were to make it, these central 2,000 hours around the midpoint were critical, I think.

Far right of graph is 1/1/13- he had 6300 hrs left of his 10,000.  His goal at that point was to average about 79. He was about 81.  (deficit of 2)

Middle of graph is 1/1/14- he had 5300 hrs left of his 10,000.  His goal at that point was to average about 75. He was about 79.  (deficit of 4, but was dropping fast)

Far left of graph is 1/1/15- he has 4300 hrs left of his 10,000.  His goal at this point is to average 73. He is about 80. (deficit of 7)

(Source of his goal: http://thedanplan.com/concerning-the-goals/ - I've estimated for the points above)

His lowest 10-round rolling average was about 76 in the summer of 2014 (his deficit from his goal was only 1 or 2 at that point).

His average crept back up to over 81 by the end of the season. Some winter rounds have brought his average heading back in the right direction near 80.  Only 7 strokes off his plan. Within a few hundred hours, he needs to be at an average of 72, as shown below.

From here, his goal is:

4000 left: 72

3000 left: 70.5

2000 left: 69

1000 left: 68

0: Playing at the Masters in April 2018

Quote (http://thedanplan.com/5000-of-10000-practice-hours-completed-half-way/):

Today randomly happens to also be the 4 year anniversary of this pursuit.  A fitting day to be both half way and 4 years in.  And, the Masters start today.  To me that means my goal is to be playing in the Masters on the 10k finishing day which should be early April 2018.  Now that’s a target I can shoot for.

As I've written before, he was likely overly optimistic at the midpoint of his 10,000 hours. By the numbers above, he was slipping in the attainment his own goals, and the rate was just starting to accelerate further behind- just when things were going to get the toughest at the end (according to many, many people, it is hardest to lost those last strokes).

@nevets88 - his score graph looks like your goal jpg above. He wanted it linear from his goals but he got this instead.

[Shorty]

Quote:

0: Playing at the Masters in April 2018

This is the thing -- - How does he think he is getting into the Masters? Seriously?

I truly don't think he understands how the game works.

He thinks "I'm going to be  a PGA Tour pro. Pros play in The Masters."

It really is bizarre.

[golfbarefoot]

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

[Lihu]

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

I'm not, because I need work to take the boredom out of my golf day.

[Pretzel]

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

Why would I be jealous of someone who appears to not enjoy what he does every day? I kind of feel bad for him since it seems like he doesn't have a lot of fun playing golf.

[nevets88]

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

I don't wish any ill will or failure. Just looking for good info that might help others to come out of it.

@nevets88 - his score graph looks like your goal jpg above. He wanted it linear from his goals but he got this instead.

The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go astray. - Robert Burns

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfbarefoot

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

Why would I be jealous of someone who appears to not enjoy what he does every day? I kind of feel bad for him since it seems like he doesn't have a lot of fun playing golf.

Maybe that's part of his plan. He wants us to think it's not fun for him and yet he thinks we think he is so good at it?

[acerimusdux]

I'm sorry Shorty, 'he is probably on the Asperger's spectrum'? That came out of nowhere tbh. Being rude/ not very sociable (in your experience, mine are different) is far from having an autism spectrum disorder.

Yeah, I think someone with Asperger's would probably be obsessed with detail. And would tend to be obsessively focused when interested in something. Moe Norman very probably had something like Asperger's, but never diagnosed. Moe probably became such a great ball striker partly because he enjoyed repetively hitting golf balls on the driving range.

I think Dan is more the opposite of that, not as focused, but more big picture stuff and long term planning. The project itself is really about the big concept. His background before this was a photographer for a marketing company.  His updates tend to be about how he's playing, how he's feeling, the weather, and pyschological stuff like motivation, etc. He is disciplined enough to have continued this far, and will probably see this through wherever it leads. But he seems very aware of the emotional and psychological end of things, and that rather than in depth details about his game or practice routine is what he's mostly providing his readership on his blog.

[Lihu]

From the Dan Plan. I think he is starting to realize that his driving is short of where he wants to be. He did not really state what the length of his drives were, but he had all the other information posted. He had some comments that alluded to his distance: 20 yard height drives. He used an Xstiff and only got 170 yards? Not sure what was going on there.

Golf is such an unpredictable thing. He should just come out with the truth of where he is distance and accuracy wise and post his swings so people can help him improve. He would need to filter out bad information from the good, but that's just part of getting his swing out there for people to see and maybe help him improve?

He can at least get help to become the best golfer he can be, then he'll pick up his confidence and enjoy the game more. He should also remove any aspirations to become a PGA pro, and just play some golf.

EDIT: http://thedanplan.com/inspiration-in-a-time-of-a-golfing-low/

[flopster]

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

I think he's failing just fine who needs to be jealous? I average at least 4 months off a year so it's not like he's getting tons more golf than I do, it's got more to do with his unrealistic goal and his entry into this with little or no research into what this really takes to achieve that level. He just came off day one that I don't have any golf experience period but I'm going to become one of the worlds most elite players because of my plan. It's just funny that he thinks this arbitrary number will get him to the promised land of golf while I'm sure the vast majority of players currently playing on the tour not only put in more hours than him but all of them had immense talent. This whole thing is just a crazy notion on his part now and he seems to feel slighted for some reason because golf companies will not sponsor him or give him free stuff but in reality he has gotten some so I don't what he's crying about, he's not even in the top 10,000 amateur rankings and he expects companies that know he has zero chance to sponsor him......come on now.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golfbarefoot

I'm convinced 99% of all amateur golfers are so jealous of this Dan guy, they want him to fail. Lol

I think he's failing just fine who needs to be jealous? I average at least 4 months off a year so it's not like he's getting tons more golf than I do, it's got more to do with his unrealistic goal and his entry into this with little or no research into what this really takes to achieve that level. He just came off day one that I don't have any golf experience period but I'm going to become one of the worlds most elite players because of my plan. It's just funny that he thinks this arbitrary number will get him to the promised land of golf while I'm sure the vast majority of players currently playing on the tour not only put in more hours than him but all of them had immense talent. This whole thing is just a crazy notion on his part now and he seems to feel slighted for some reason because golf companies will not sponsor him or give him free stuff but in reality he has gotten some so I don't what he's crying about, he's not even in the top 10,000 amateur rankings and he expects companies that know he has zero chance to sponsor him......come on now.

Lot's of good players out there. . .I would guess not even top 100,000

[Pretzel]

Lot's of good players out there. . .I would guess not even top 100,000

Well, if we go by our guys if him actually having a handicap of ~7, that would put him in around the top 21% of golfers with a USGA handicap. I'm going to assume that there are more than 500,000 golfers in the system (especially since this doesn't include any handicaps outside the U.S.), which would put him outside the top 100,000.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Lot's of good players out there. . .I would guess not even top 100,000

Well, if we go by our guys if him actually having a handicap of ~7, that would put him in around the top 21% of golfers with a USGA handicap. I'm going to assume that there are more than 500,000 golfers in the system (especially since this doesn't include any handicaps outside the U.S.), which would put him outside the top 100,000.

I think the number of golfers is around 3.6M in the HC system.

[golfbarefoot]

Regardless, I'm impressed how far this guy has come and to put it all out there for hacks to rip him apart. Some people don't realize how hard their jealousy is to hide, and root for folks to fail...in any facet really..it's comical actually. Read other sites too. This poor guy doesn't have many amateur golf fans it seems.. Personally, yes his goals are pretty lofty(Masters..) but sometimes it's the journey that makes us who we are. Kudos to the guy and I wish him luck. He was certainly ispired by Outliers..

[flopster]

Regardless, I'm impressed how far this guy has come and to put it all out there for hacks to rip him apart. Some people don't realize how hard their jealousy is to hide, and root for folks to fail...in any facet really..it's comical actually. Read other sites too. This poor guy doesn't have many amateur golf fans it seems..

Personally, yes his goals are pretty lofty(Masters..)but sometimes it's the journey that makes us who we are.

Kudos to the guy and I wish him luck. He was certainly ispired by Outliers..

Well you can always donate money and probably get a "DAN PLAN" hat or golf towel...........and make your friends jealous.

http://thedanplan.com/donations-2/

[Pretzel]

Regardless, I'm impressed how far this guy has come and to put it all out there for hacks to rip him apart.

I would say that a number of people that are hard on him are the people who are far more competent when it comes to golf than he is. You, Flopster, Shorty, Golfingdad, Dave2512, and I are some of the people who have commented in the last couple pages who nearly certainly are much better at golf than Dan is, and Lihu, Netvets88, and RandallT could probably go head to head in stroke or match play with Dan and probably come out pretty even.

The people who are most doubtful are the ones who know how hard it is to do what he thinks can be accomplished easily by anyone who puts in enough time, regardless of physical talent (or lack thereof) or dedication.

I can guarantee that I, during the school year this fall while balancing a full load of AP classes (and getting a 5.0 GPA to boot) played and practiced much more frequently than Dan, in addition to doing it with more purpose than him. That's why people are "ripping him apart", is because he obviously missed the part in Outliers where it mentioned that the 10,000 hours needed to be "deliberate practice". At this point his plan has devolved from something that could have been quasi-scientific at one point to a near-comedy about the trainwreck that his plan has become.