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

[RFKFREAK]

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

That's another thing that irritates me about this. Not only is he not dedicated to his practice, it's also quite obvious that he didn't come up with a viable financial plan for the project. Formulating a realistic five years budget probably wouldn't be the most fun activity but I think it is a pretty important component if this project were ever to have a chance of being successful. Instead of relying on donations and flying to different places for fun, I mean, to raise awareness to increase his donor base, he should have focused on making sure he had enough money at the start so that certain facets of this plan that would be vital to its success were covered, like getting coaching regularly. I'm not saying it would have been easy but apparently he didn't do this which makes me question his real motivation for going through with this project. From my perspective, The Dan Plan isn't a well thought out plan.

[nevets88]

[quote name="garybbq" url="/t/45853/the-dan-plan-10-000-hours-to-become-a-pro-golfer-dan-mclaughlin/2400_100#post_1093270"] I doubt it, since Dan doesn't take many lessons it probably just a bad habit he picked up

That's another thing that irritates me about this. Not only is he not dedicated to his practice, it's also quite obvious that he didn't come up with a viable financial plan for the project. Formulating a realistic five years budget probably wouldn't be the most fun activity but I think it is a pretty important component if this project were ever to have a chance of being successful. Instead of relying on donations and flying to different places for fun, I mean, to raise awareness to increase his donor base, he should have focused on making sure he had enough money at the start so that certain facets of this plan that would be vital to its success were covered, like getting coaching regularly. I'm not saying it would have been easy but apparently he didn't do this which makes me question his real motivation for going through with this project. From my perspective, The Dan Plan isn't a well thought out plan.[/quote] Curious. Anyone know a ballpark range of how much a guy trying to get on web.com/minor league tour pay for instruction in a year typically?

[natureboy]

As far as an accurate / realistic charting of his progress, shouldn't he do a Trackman Combine to get a realistic sense of where he stands relative to the PGA Tour and the other hopefuls out there who have put up numbers?

[Shorty]

As far as an accurate / realistic charting of his progress, shouldn't he do a Trackman Combine to get a realistic sense of where he stands relative to the PGA Tour and the other hopefuls out there who have put up numbers?

When are people going to realise that this sort of thing is the LAST thing he is going to do.

He is not even good enough to be in the final 16 of any decent A grade golf club championship in the world.

His "plan" is a fantasy, an illusion where he can talk about certainty and "feelings" etc.

Why would he do something that proves what a joke his quest is.

He will become a better than average player - a good single digit player. That's it. And that's possibly better than many people expected.

I seriously think he is so strange that he doesn't actually see what good players do and he certainly has no respect for the guys who are good enough to play on tour because he thinks the difference between him and them is a couple of years.

He sent me a VERY strange email, BTW.

[RFKFREAK]

He sent me a VERY strange email, BTW.

Ok, I'll bite, what was strange about it?

[Abu3baid]

When are people going to realise that this sort of thing is the LAST thing he is going to do.

He is not even good enough to be in the final 16 of any decent A grade golf club championship in the world.

His "plan" is a fantasy, an illusion where he can talk about certainty and "feelings" etc.

Why would he do something that proves what a joke his quest is.

He will become a better than average player - a good single digit player. That's it. And that's possibly better than many people expected.

I seriously think he is so strange that he doesn't actually see what good players do and he certainly has no respect for the guys who are good enough to play on tour because he thinks the difference between him and them is a couple of years.

He sent me a VERY strange email, BTW.

Anyway that you can share this email with us?  You can redact any sensitive information.

[Shorty]

I made a post on his site about him whingeing about not attracting sponsors.

He basically said that Titleist was exploiting him - referring to himself as  the "world's cheapest billboard".

I asked what it was that he thought he had to offer and why he thought he was worthy of sponsorship. What was in it for the sponsors, pointing out that it is a two way street and that "he who makes the gold makes the rules", essentially. All in a fair and reasonable (for me) manner ;-)

Naturally, this post was "moderated" (meaning deleted).

A few weeks later I got an email from him saying "Who are you? What is it that you do?"

Nothing more, nothing less. I call it strange because he had an opportunity to probe into why I was a critic. Perhaps get some perspective from an outsider. Instead, he implied that I was a bit odd. Stop grinning, you guys. NOW! :-)

As is his pattern - he doesn't address specifics, he talks in generalities. I think he probably is on the Asperger's spectrum. Not a big deal and certainly not a criticism, but he can't focus.

Certainly not on reality - and the irony is that his "plan" is supposedly all about focus.

Unfortunately (and predictably) he focuses on anything but what he needs to in order to become a decent player. He wants the fantasy, but can't handle the truth, so he concentrates on warm fuzzies and bullshit.

I almost vomited when I heard him say in the very recent video that he still expected to play on the PGA Tour and was adamant about it.

[HanNL]

As is his pattern - he doesn't address specifics, he talks in generalities. I think he probably is on the Asperger's spectrum. Not a big deal and certainly not a criticism, but he can't focus.

Certainly not on reality - and the irony is that his "plan" is supposedly all about focus.

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. Aside from that, not focussing on what we think (yes, me too) is the right thing, doesn't mean someone isn't able to focus at all. I think it is more logical to assume that Dan is invested in the approach he has taken from Day 1 and is finding it difficult to leave that path if a better one reveals itself. The step to do the Vision54 training is in my opinion a step in the right direction, but far from a complete overhaul of the approach (which he might need).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome

[Lihu]

I almost vomited when I heard him say in the very recent video that he still expected to play on the PGA Tour and was adamant about it.

If you almost vomited on that statement, check this out: http://golfuniversity.tv/

Dan is listed as one of the coaches, I wonder if he does have the ability to coach?

In any case, his wimpy looking swing seems to get him reasonable high single digit scores.

BTW, the fact that he emailed you is pretty cool. The content was a little disturbing to say the least. . .

[Pretzel]

If you almost vomited on that statement, check this out: http://golfuniversity.tv/

Dan is listed as one of the coaches, I wonder if he does have the ability to coach?

In any case, his wimpy looking swing seems to get him reasonable high single digit scores.

BTW, the fact that he emailed you is pretty cool. The content was a little disturbing to say the least. . .

If he's a coach for that Golf University, I sure hope he isn't getting paid... That would throw a wrench into his tournament plans for the coming year if he was.

[garybbq]

If he's a coach for that Golf University, I sure hope he isn't getting paid... That would throw a wrench into his tournament plans for the coming year if he was.

How can he possibly coach.... Doesn't he need some credentials etc. ?

[b101]

How can he possibly coach.... Doesn't he need some credentials etc. ?

He has credentials - he is Dan.

[garybbq]

He has credentials - he is Dan.

Hahahahah this is great. Well I think Dan needs a student for his first lesson and I'm pretty sure we could all agree on who that should be. So what do you say shorty? You up for taking a lesson from Dan

[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