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

[Oz Max]

Come on guys, let's call Dan what he REALLY is...a genius!

That guy has managed to create a way to play golf everyday, for five years! and get enough attention to keep doing so without working... now to me that's genius!

He won't make the PGA methinks but that bold statement has granted him enough attention from the media and that's all that mattered.

I told my wife I was going to turn pro so had to quit my job and practice full time..... she punched me and sent me back to work... I'm no genius sadly

[mchepp]

Come on guys, let's call Dan what he REALLY is...a genius!

That guy has managed to create a way to play golf everyday, for five years! and get enough attention to keep doing so without working... now to me that's genius!

He won't make the PGA methinks but that bold statement has granted him enough attention from the media and that's all that mattered.

I told my wife I was going to turn pro so had to quit my job and practice full time..... she punched me and sent me back to work... I'm no genius sadly

Hmm. Not sure I agree here. At the end of this he will have no savings and 5 years of working experience lost. Basically he has spent a good part of his retirement so when he is in his 60's or 70's he will have to keep working because he lost these 5 years not only not saving, but spending his retirement.

This is one of those things that looks fun until he is older.

[Lihu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oz Max

Come on guys, let's call Dan what he REALLY is...a genius!

That guy has managed to create a way to play golf everyday, for five years! and get enough attention to keep doing so without working... now to me that's genius!

He won't make the PGA methinks but that bold statement has granted him enough attention from the media and that's all that mattered.

I told my wife I was going to turn pro so had to quit my job and practice full time..... she punched me and sent me back to work... I'm no genius sadly

Hmm. Not sure I agree here. At the end of this he will have no savings and 5 years of working experience lost. Basically he has spent a good part of his retirement so when he is in his 60's or 70's he will have to keep working because he lost these 5 years not only not saving, but spending his retirement.

This is one of those things that looks fun until he is older.

Agree, but I anticipate having to work till I can't for some reason or another, but that's fine.

What's funny is that he said how young he was and that he could achieve what us older golfers could never do. . .

[Oz Max]

Hmm. Not sure I agree here. At the end of this he will have no savings and 5 years of working experience lost. Basically he has spent a good part of his retirement so when he is in his 60's or 70's he will have to keep working because he lost these 5 years not only not saving, but spending his retirement.

This is one of those things that looks fun until he is older.

I see your point and that's a very valid, reasonnable argument. Dan might be one of those "Life's too short, Carpe Diem" sort of people. Or he might be trying to get an endorsement, deal out of this whole saga. Risky...

Still, in the meanwhile, Dan is outdoor, clubs in hand, playing golf. Kudos to him for that.

[golf-noob-bruce]

Latest blog and he's still going on and on about equipment. You better golfers out there please help me here. I believe good golfers are good, almost irrespective of equipment (within reason, of course). Is that your experience?

[Pretzel]

Latest blog and he's still going on and on about equipment. You better golfers out there please help me here. I believe good golfers are good, almost irrespective of equipment (within reason, of course). Is that your experience?

Provided that his equipment is within reason for his swing (which the x-flex isn't, I don't think), there shouldn't be this large an issue. I was used to my new irons I bought over the summer within a week, and it wad the same with the driver I recently purchased. Reshafting is an even shorter adjustment period for me, with me being used to it within a few rounds of hold out sessions on the range. Even when I'm not used to clubs, for example when I rent them on vacation, I'm still not shooting more than two or three strokes higher than usual. Dan's grasping at straws to explain why he isn't on track with his plan. I don't think it's realistic for anyone to expect him to be on track with his plan, and honesty ("I'm behind pace and need to work on x, y, and z to help me get on the right path") would probably be the best policy at this point IMO. EDIT: I think this is my most edited post ever... I had about six typos to fix.

[nevets88]

I switch between iron sets, woods and drivers not all the time, but enough times during the season, plus I have different sets at home and at the parents and at relatives. I don't think switching really affects my score that much. They're different style heads and brands but same shaft stiffness. I'm biased though. I think really think it's a lot of indian, arrow, to an extent, but not so much as the manufacturers would make you believe.

[DrvFrShow]

I wonder if Dan's shafts are too stiff?

[RFKFREAK]

I was reading the comments a  couple of people pointed out that Dan seems to change equipment very often and Dan responded to these folks and said, amongst other things that, :

Quote:

I think I talk about changing gear a lot, but the truth is, I have had 3 sets of irons and wedges over the past 4 years and basically one driver and 3-wood for the past two years that are not quite right.

3 sets of irons and wedges in 4 years.  That seems a lot to me.

[Golfingdad]

3 sets of irons and wedges in 4 years.  That seems a lot to me.

That's beyond excessive.  I've had three sets of irons since 1989.  And I'd have to go back to my mom's hand-me-down clubs to get to 4 sets of wedges, and that would be around 1986 maybe?

He's spending way too much time worrying about stuff that just doesn't matter to him at this point.

[RFKFREAK]

That's beyond excessive.  I've had three sets of irons since 1989.  And I'd have to go back to my mom's hand-me-down clubs to get to 4 sets of wedges, and that would be around 1986 maybe?

He's spending way too much time worrying about stuff that just doesn't matter to him at this point.

This might be his way of justifying why he's not playing to the HC people would expect him to be at and can be something he points to in the future once his plan fails as the reason why it failed.

[Pretzel]

That is a good number in only four years for sure. I can understand it though if he's getting them for free. I'd replace my wedges as often as I was allowed to with whatever deal he has worked out with Titleist. He probably had one starter set of GI irons then went straight to the AP2's would be my guess, with him having used two sets of those so far. I'm still confused as to how he managed to snap the shafts on his irons while playing normally. I've never seen it happen once before (with irons), even living in Colorado where the ground can behave like concrete.

[nevets88]

Maybe he's getting high pressure pitches from manufacturers, reps, salesmen. He's getting them for free I think so I guess the attitude is take it, why not, not paying for it?

[Oz Max]

Maybe trying to fix swings probelm with changing gear? like:" I have a bad hook....get X-stiff shafts", I keep duffing my pitches...bounce on the wedges ain't right" instead of working on his swing mechanics.

Having said that you need to make sure your gear is not hindering your swing...like improper length or lie

[Pretzel]

Maybe he's getting high pressure pitches from manufacturers, reps, salesmen. He's getting them for free I think so I guess the attitude is take it, why not, not paying for it?

In that car though, there is absolutely no reason not to take it. Changing equipment doesn't really affect my game for more than a week so I know I'd take every bone they tossed me in Dan's shoes.

[RandallT]

Updated graph. A bit busier! This has some more updated rounds. Plus I found a swath of scores in his "countdown" that we missed from 2013.

We also added the actual handicap in YELLOW and actually calculated a pseudo-handicap in RED . The pseudo-handicap is based on raw score only (but averages the best 10 of the last 20)- no differentials, no regard for tees played. It tracks fairly well actually.  Some divergence lately, but I think they shut down their handicap system for the winter.  The pseudo-handicap system in red does NOT shut down for winter!

This demonstrates Dan is basically a 5 handicap, I'd say. Maybe a 4?

[Shorty]

Maybe he's getting high pressure pitches from manufacturers, reps, salesmen. He's getting them for free I think so I guess the attitude is take it, why not, not paying for it?

Do you really think they give  a crap about this guy?

They aren't going to be encouraging an occasional 70s shooter to represent them.

They give Dan him a  few hundred dollars worth of stuff. So what?

He's hardly a good advertisement for anything golf related. Especially when he's snapping perfectly good shafts left right and centre.

If anything, he's the opposite.

[Oz Max]

Do you really think they give  a crap about this guy?

They aren't going to be encouraging an occasional 70s shooter to represent them.

They give Dan him a  few hundred dollars worth of stuff. So what?

He's hardly a good advertisement for anything golf related. Especially when he's snapping perfectly good shafts left right and centre.

If anything, he's the opposite.

You could argue that he's statiscally closer to the target  market than the pros, also his potential in representing  a brand might be more to do with how poular his blog and his overall plan are. I mean he's been talked about on this very thread for 141 pages!!!