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

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

There's really nothing to learn, academically, from an experience like this one. It's pretty obvious that you need talent and lots of practice time to get good at anything. People have been doing this for ages.

Mm, might be stretching it a bit. There are things we describe using fluffy terms (athleticism, talent, for example) which, as far as I know, we don't completely understand the scientific basis for. Surely those topics are worthwhile of further academic work? Or are you referring to just The Dan Plan (in which case I wholeheartedly agree).

This is what I am referring to. I agree that there is a lot more to learn academically about the physical sciences of our species.

[RFKFREAK]

Nice call.

BTW, this is a video of him on a "Gold Coast" show. His swing is not that painful to watch anymore, at least to an untrained eye like mine.

EDIT: He dunked in the water when playing with Kota and Andrew on a par 3 at 16:20. Guess his irons aren't as good as he thought. . .

Wow, these two guys are huge compared to Dan.  Haha.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

BTW, this is a video of him on a "Gold Coast" show. His swing is not that painful to watch anymore, at least to an untrained eye like mine.

EDIT: He dunked in the water when playing with Kota and Andrew on a par 3 at 16:20. Guess his irons aren't as good as he thought. . .

Wow, these two guys are huge compared to Dan.  Haha.

I did notice that. Plus, Koto is not the biggest player in the world which you can tell when he is propped up against his driver in the other video. Not relevant to his goal, but I kind of think Dan is in the 5'7" 130 pound range rather than his declared 5'9" 150 pounds.

[b101]

Mm, might be stretching it a bit. There are things we describe using fluffy terms (athleticism, talent, for example) which, as far as I know, we don't completely understand the scientific basis for. Surely those topics are worthwhile of further academic work? Or are you referring to just The Dan Plan (in which case I wholeheartedly agree).

I found this interesting as I listened to a great podcast on the topic of talent/effective practice a couple of days ago whilst driving to the course. http://birdiebank.com/ - shuffle down a bit and it's the interview with Daniel Coyle (Talent Code). Genuinely one of the more interesting things I've listened to/read in the last year or so as it backed up a lot of what I've thought or noticed about my own practice sessions.

Again, there's a lot Danplan could learn from this...

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by golf-noob-bruce

Mm, might be stretching it a bit. There are things we describe using fluffy terms (athleticism, talent, for example) which, as far as I know, we don't completely understand the scientific basis for. Surely those topics are worthwhile of further academic work? Or are you referring to just The Dan Plan (in which case I wholeheartedly agree).

I found this interesting as I listened to a great podcast on the topic of talent/effective practice a couple of days ago whilst driving to the course. http://birdiebank.com/ - shuffle down a bit and it's the interview with Daniel Coyle (Talent Code). Genuinely one of the more interesting things I've listened to/read in the last year or so as it backed up a lot of what I've thought or noticed about my own practice sessions.

Again, there's a lot Danplan could learn from this...

Interesting stuff. Dan could learn a lot from this, he could probably even learn a lot from just normal instruction as well.

[flopster]

Nice call.

BTW, this is a video of him on a "Gold Coast" show. His swing is not that painful to watch anymore, at least to an untrained eye like mine.

EDIT: He dunked in the water when playing with Kota and Andrew on a par 3 at 16:20. Guess his irons aren't as good as he thought. . .

Playing off a 2 right now?!? I'm calling bullshit on that, and scratch is on the horizon? Serious??? This guy has to be one of the most delusional individuals I have ever seen. Point is if Dan had any real athletic ability he should be past scratch by now, he's more like a 7 or 8 which is a long ways from 2, I'm real anxious to see his tournament scores this year.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

BTW, this is a video of him on a "Gold Coast" show. His swing is not that painful to watch anymore, at least to an untrained eye like mine.

EDIT: He dunked in the water when playing with Kota and Andrew on a par 3 at 16:20. Guess his irons aren't as good as he thought. . .

Playing off a 2 right now?!? I'm calling bullshit on that, and scratch is on the horizon? Serious??? This guy has to be one of the most delusional individuals I have ever seen. Point is if Dan had any real athletic ability he should be past scratch by now, he's more like a 7 or 8 which is a long ways from 2, I'm real anxious to see his tournament scores this year.

Yeah, his swing looks decent, but not for a 2 handicap. Dunking the ball at a roughly 180-185 yard forced carry seems a little unforgivable for a 2 handicap. I find it unforgivable for myself, and I'm a 12.8, currently playing like a 16.

[Abu3baid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Nice call.

BTW, this is a video of him on a "Gold Coast" show. His swing is not that painful to watch anymore, at least to an untrained eye like mine.

If he continues to take advice like that from Koto where he asks him what should I work on long game or short game and Koto says short game for sure, then this guy is heading in the wrong direction still.

[nevets88]

Here's Dan playing golf with Kota and Andrew of Golf Getaway. He has a couple of them and they look like nice courses.

I dunno, imho, it looks the same as it's always been to me.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Here's Dan playing golf with Kota and Andrew of Golf Getaway. He has a couple of them and they look like nice courses.

I dunno, imho, it looks the same as it's always been to me.

His swing looks a little bit more aggressive, he just has that funny stretching twitch thing going on at the end of the follow through as if to show everyone that he is "young and flexible" rather than approaching middle age? Andrew's commented that Kota is half of Dan's age and that Andrew was almost half of Dan's age.

Maybe Andrew was hoping that Dan would understand how much better Kota was than he during the interview in the end? The final score was something like: Kota 15, Dan 2, Andrew 1 with Kota just missing a couple eagles. That kid is only aspiring to be on the PGA tour, and Dan does not seem to understand how much better Kota is than he?

[RFKFREAK]

His swing looks a little bit more aggressive, he just has that funny stretching twitch thing going on at the end of the follow through as if to show everyone that he is "young and flexible" rather than approaching middle age? Andrew's commented that Kota is half of Dan's age and that Andrew was almost half of Dan's age. Maybe Andrew was hoping that Dan would understand how much better Kota was than he during the interview in the end? The final score was something like: Kota 15, Dan 2, Andrew 1 with Kota just missing a couple eagles. That kid is only aspiring to be on the PGA tour, and Dan does not seem to understand how much better Kota is than he?

Well, you know, Dan's playing off a 2HC and Kota is like a +5 and a prodigy but gosh darnit, Dan is confident he's going to get to the PGA so that's all that matters! ;)

[mailman]

I am willing to bet everyone else left testicle that dan doesn't make it on to the PGA tour (outside of guest invites or something like that) BUT by golly isn't he doing what any one of us would absolutely LOVE to do. Living the dream of playing golf day in day out!

Even when he eventually doesn't make it he is still doing stuff that most of us would love to do and in that respect he has my respect for making this thing of his happen.

Regards

Mailman

[nevets88]

Purely speculative and I could be wrong but I don't think he truly enjoys it, as much of a positive attitude he puts forward.

[RandallT]

If he continues to take advice like that from Koto where he asks him what should I work on long game or short game and Koto says short game for sure, then this guy is heading in the wrong direction still.

You're right! At the 15:15 mark of that video, Dan actually says... "So for me to get from where I am playing off a "2" to get where you are, about 6 or 7 strokes ahead, you think that I need to get back to grinding on that short game?"  The reply was basically "yes."  Wow.

Maybe Andrew was hoping that Dan would understand how much better Kota was than he during the interview in the end? The final score was something like: Kota 15, Dan 2, Andrew 1 with Kota just missing a couple eagles. That kid is only aspiring to be on the PGA tour, and Dan does not seem to understand how much better Kota is than he?

Funny that Dan thinks he's only about 6 or 7 strokes from Kota, yet it sounds like Kota cleaned up convincingly, perhaps by well over 10 strokes. When Dan enters his tournaments, he is typically about 18 strokes per day behind the leaders of those tournaments.  Dan keeps trying to frame it as he only needs to get a few strokes better, when reality suggests he needs to be well over 10 strokes better per round. Those 10 strokes will likely not be made up from short game improvement.

Purely speculative and I could be wrong but I don't think he truly enjoys it, as much of a positive attitude he puts forward.

Judging by the web site, the fun is gone. He holds on enough of his positive attitude in these videos here to stay alive, but compared to the early writings and the nicely produced "Dan Plan" regular videos on Vimeo, the thrill is gone (as BB King would say). Kenny Rogers is likely next up with advice for him...

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lihu

Maybe Andrew was hoping that Dan would understand how much better Kota was than he during the interview in the end? The final score was something like: Kota 15, Dan 2, Andrew 1 with Kota just missing a couple eagles. That kid is only aspiring to be on the PGA tour, and Dan does not seem to understand how much better Kota is than he?

Funny that Dan thinks he's only about 6 or 7 strokes from Kota, yet it sounds like Kota cleaned up convincingly, perhaps by well over 10 strokes. When Dan enters his tournaments, he is typically about 18 strokes per day behind the leaders of those tournaments.  Dan keeps trying to frame it as he only needs to get a few strokes better, when reality suggests he needs to be well over 10 strokes better per round. Those 10 strokes will likely not be made up from short game improvement.

The word "clueless" comes to mind. He probably needs to be 12-13 strokes better if we really think he plays to a 7-8 handicap.

[garybbq]

What I find so strange is that even when Dan plays along side + players and in this case someone who is going to turn pro he doesn't seem to comprehend how much worse he is........ thoughts?

[DrvFrShow]

I think Kota is making an assumption that the distance game is a given. Unfortunately this advice gets given to about everyone on how to get better scores. "Work on your short game." I got the same advice when I was 33 handicap. Yes it helped, but I'm still a 24 handicapper.

I think Dan knows how much worse he is, but he's putting on a good face for the camera. He has no choice at this point in time.

Becoming a successful touring pro is a rarity. When you consider how many excellent golfers there are who don't make it on the tour, what exactly are Dan's chances?

It's the same with any sport such as football, basketball, and making it in one of the pro leagues. What are the chances? You have to be really really good. You can even break all sorts of NCAA records (due to the quality of your graduating class) yet only end up a sub in the pros.

[Lihu]

I think Kota is making an assumption that the distance game is a given. Unfortunately this advice gets given to about everyone on how to get better scores. "Work on your short game." I got the same advice when I was 33 handicap. Yes it helped, but I'm still a 24 handicapper.

I think Dan knows how much worse he is, but he's putting on a good face for the camera. He has no choice at this point in time.

Becoming a successful touring pro is a rarity. When you consider how many excellent golfers there are who don't make it on the tour, what exactly are Dan's chances?

It's the same with any sport such as football, basketball, and making it in one of the pro leagues. What are the chances? You have to be really really good. You can even break all sorts of NCAA records (due to the quality of your graduating class) yet only end up a sub in the pros.

Kota was probably assuming that Dan was really a 2 handicap player, at that point in time they did not play a round together. That advice might make more sense to someone who hits greens or near the greens almost every time like a real 2 handicap. Kota's expression after the round didn't seem like that of someone who worked hard to beat his competition, as I suppose he might have expected if Dan were really a 2 handicap?