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

[Abu3baid]

This is just so good.. I'm going to use it at work with my CEOs plans ;) I think Randy nailed it, with the lack of mechanism or will to follow up it track stated objectives he is just being delusional about his progress!

[divot dave]

To me, if you are AVERAGING 72, your handicap is now a "plus" value, right?!?! Throw out your 10 worst, and your top 10 scores for the handicap calculation are likely going to be mostly better than 72 (taking into account the difference between average and median, of course).  Dan has shot par only once so far, I believe. If I were him, I suppose I'd not want to revisit that goal from his guru, because it would indicate how far off from his own goals he really is.

He's in pretty bad shape here. Considering his tournament scores from last year... most in the mid to upper 80's, he's no where close to his goal at the 3000 hour mark much less the 6000 mark. His current handicap consists of a mixture of mostly casual rounds which he performs much better in as well as those tournament rounds where he does much worse. I'm inclined to look at his tournament scores as a better indicator of how he's doing since his ultimate goal is to end up playing professional tournament golf. I was really cheering him on at first but its not looking good at all.

[DrvFrShow]

One thing to realize is how gifted professional athletes really are at their game. Dan can put his 10,000 hours in. Any of us can put in 10,000 hours and not make it. We could have started at 9 years old and worked our butts off through our 20s and not made it. If you look at the field and how many teaching pros there are out of all the people who play golf the number is pretty small. When you go to the regional tours the number gets smaller. Then when you go to the major tour where the legends play the number is tiny.

Being a good amateur and being a good pro are two entirely different things. The legends are essentially freaks of nature. It's not just practice and dedication that got them where they are. They have  natural ability that none of us will ever have.

We have these in the music world. I know too many phenomenal classical performers who never made the big time because the requirements are so tight and pool of those who can meet those requirements is so tiny. They're still professionals, teaching in universities, and performing locally. Others ended up in day jobs because they didn't get PhDs.

Dan is trying to do this on practice and dedication, and while I applaud him on that, he doesn't stand a chance. He's showed his determination, but he's showing he doesn't have the gift. I hope he proves me wrong.

Another thought: Which tee is he using for his HC? White? Blue? Black? The blacks are a lot longer. Example: our local muni - whites: 6278; blacks: 7083. The course can play 7300 with back positions acc'd to the groundskeeper.

[RFKFREAK]

Dan is trying to do this on practice and dedication...

Not sure I agree with the dedication part.

[garybbq]

My take on all that above is that he's good at talking about goals in the abstract. He's good at talking about the importance of goals. He's good at wanting to track goals and says the right things. But in the end, it seems like the goals are just momentary flashes in his head, never to be followed up on, and never to be measured against.

He was even given specific advice by Dr Ericsson to come up with specific goals on the driver. He agreed. But nothing was ever posted that I could find.

To my knowledge, he has not ever once revisited the first quoted goal above, which was from his very own "goal guru," Stuart.  His stroke average when he gets to 4000 hours left (at the "6000" mark on the chart above) must be 72.

To me, if you are AVERAGING 72, your handicap is now a "plus" value, right?!?! Throw out your 10 worst, and your top 10 scores for the handicap calculation are likely going to be mostly better than 72 (taking into account the difference between average and median, of course).  Dan has shot par only once so far, I believe. If I were him, I suppose I'd not want to revisit that goal from his guru, because it would indicate how far off from his own goals he really is.

This is interesting, this is exactly how I think Dan views his swing. He's said a few times that he's "making swing changes" but yet his swing doesn't look much different.

[Shorty]

Not sure I agree with the dedication part.

Nor do I.

He is dedicated to being flown around the world, playing with good players who obviously don't know much about him, being interviewed and living in a fantasy world.

He loves looking the part and talking then talk, but the more I see him with his hideous swagger and manner of speech, the more I think that he is certifiable.

[RFKFREAK]

Nor do I.

He is dedicated to being flown around the world, playing with good players who obviously don't know much about him, being interviewed and living in a fantasy world.

He loves looking the part and talking then talk, but the more I see him with his hideous swagger and manner of speech, the more I think that he is certifiable.

Seriously.

It seems like he'd be the type of person who would enjoy being a reality TV performer or a top tier athlete.

His best bet at this point for what it seems he wants is to parlay this into something dealing with reality tv because he's never going to be a top tier athlete.

[nevets88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RFKFREAK

Not sure I agree with the dedication part.

Nor do I.

He is dedicated to being flown around the world, playing with good players who obviously don't know much about him, being interviewed and living in a fantasy world.

He loves looking the part and talking then talk, but the more I see him with his hideous swagger and manner of speech, the more I think that he is certifiable.

This isn't around the world, but getting about:

OK, the word gamer. Gamer clubs. From some of those I've talked to here, it's not used much. But I do see it used among Twitter in the golf industry accounts. What's the Urban Dictionary aspect of this term. Is it tacky? Is it "cool"? I don't hear the term a lot among golfers in my area.

Yo, I game these gamers. Peace out! I dunno, I guess I would say the clubs/woods/putter I put/use in play/tournaments. My primary set?

[Golfingdad]

He loves looking the part ...

He doesn't even pull this off very well, IMO.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RFKFREAK

Not sure I agree with the dedication part.

Nor do I.

He is dedicated to being flown around the world, playing with good players who obviously don't know much about him, being interviewed and living in a fantasy world.

He loves looking the part and talking then talk, but the more I see him with his hideous swagger and manner of speech, the more I think that he is certifiable.

Needed to rummage through the video again, and I see where you get this now. His comment that Kota is " a step above where I am now". I can picture you saying with an Australian accent in Paul Hogan's voice "Pompous a$$"

[garybbq]

This is not how I pictued the Dan Plan to play out at all. I thought that Dan would struggle for quite a while at first and then progress quite quickly to about a 4 handicap. The main difference though is that I thought his swing would look very good on video and he would hit a wall of sorts trying to figure out how to get down to scratch and have lots of people comment something like "well your swing is pretty good, you should be able to shoot lowered then that"

[Lihu]

This is not how I pictued the Dan Plan to play out at all. I thought that Dan would struggle for quite a while at first and then progress quite quickly to about a 4 handicap. The main difference though is that I thought his swing would look very good on video and he would hit a wall of sorts trying to figure out how to get down to scratch and have lots of people comment something like "well your swing is pretty good, you should be able to shoot lowered then that"

I think it's just that "twitchy" thing he does at the end of his swing that makes it look pretty stupid. If he just swung then stopped twitching around after his swing, it doesn't really look all that bad to me.

[garybbq]

I'm not an instructor but it doesn't look good at all. I think iacas said above that he doesn't turn but also he has no power and his sequencing is all weid. I'd bet he hits it no where and I can see how he has so many problems with his driver with that flat whips action.

[Lihu]

I'm not an instructor but it doesn't look good at all. I think iacas said above that he doesn't turn but also he has no power and his sequencing is all weid. I'd bet he hits it no where and I can see how he has so many problems with his driver with that flat whips action.

Yeah, for a single digit his swing is kind of weak.

[RFKFREAK]

Too bad no one will do a plan where someone would spend hours of smart and real dedicated practice to get to the level where if you played Dan heads up over 20 rounds that you would win.

Anyone want to guess how many it would take them?

[Lihu]

Too bad no one will do a plan where someone would spend hours of smart and real dedicated practice to get to the level where if you played Dan heads up over 20 rounds that you would win.

Anyone want to guess how many it would take them?

You mean to get better than his reported handicap, or just to be able to beat him stroke play the majority of the 20 rounds you play him?

[nevets88]

[QUOTE name="garybbq" url="/t/45853/the-dan-plan-10-000-hours-to-become-a-pro-golfer-dan-mclaughlin/2394#post_1093147"] This is not how I pictued the Dan Plan to play out at all. I thought that Dan would struggle for quite a while at first and then progress quite quickly to about a 4 handicap. The main difference though is that I thought his swing would look very good on video and he would hit a wall of sorts trying to figure out how to get down to scratch and have lots of people comment something like "well your swing is pretty good, you should be able to shoot lowered then that"[/QUOTE] I think it's just that "twitchy" thing he does at the end of his swing that makes it look pretty stupid. If he just swung then stopped twitching around after his swing, it doesn't really look all that bad to me.

Twitch to me looks like an instructor told him fire bottom just as you finish bs and he overdid it.

[garybbq]

Twitch to me looks like an instructor told him fire bottom just as you finish bs and he overdid it.

I doubt it, since Dan doesn't take many lessons it probably just a bad habit he picked up