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

[Pretzel]

Dan's Twitter

The last activity I see from his twitter feed is August 24th. He's given up, and is now going to slink away with what little money he conned people into donating to his "plan".

[Lihu]

What's the '1.75 out of 5 swing' mean?

Also want to understand your comparison. You've gone from beginner to 11 handicap in 3 years? About how many hours per year would you estimate in practice & play?

This is slightly off topic, but. . .

1.75 out of 5 keys. Using some video, I think I have a roughly 1.75 key swing? This is on my better swings which depend upon if I remember to make certain movements or not. Sometimes, I get on this weird lie and don't shift enough weight and it drops to a 1 or less. . .

In any case, I hit long enough that most of my par 4 end up with 9i or PW approaches, so that's why when I was playing a round a day (including practice rounds) I was able to get better. Now I am only playing 2 to 3 rounds a week and practicing every day.

So, I practiced maybe half the amount that Dan did because I am still holding a full time job and spend lots of time with my family. Luckily for my game, that the kids play quite frequently. Lately, I've been hitting a lot more balls because the kids don't need me to help them with their homework so I get to do 2 range sessions per day/night. Each session is about 2.5 hours. One really early in the morning and one right after dinner or before sometimes depending upon my workload. So, I can practice anywhere from 2.5 hours per day up to 5 hours and get like 5 hours of sleep.

[rkim291968]

205 pages worth posts on Dan's plan.  Why?  What is this obsession about Dan's every move?   It's just another failed attempt albeit well published one.   It's like CNN giving so much air time to Trump .

[Lihu]

205 pages worth posts on Dan's plan.  Why?  What is this obsession about Dan's every move?   It's just another failed attempt albeit well published one.   It's like CNN giving so much air time to Trump .

For the same reason you just posted here. . .

[nevets88]

205 pages worth posts on Dan's plan.  Why?  What is this obsession about Dan's every move?   It's just another failed attempt albeit well published one.   It's like CNN giving so much air time to Trump .

Not many of us here are ever going to run a national campaign, but many of us have gone through a similar learning experience. It is very relatable. I'm just reposting from social media, like almost everything else I post here. I think in some ways, it serves as a cautionary tale.

Edited October 12, 2015 by nevets88

[DrvFrShow]

@ Pretzel: I don't think he conned anyone except himself. Conning other people means there was intent. I do not believe he had any intent to defraud anyone. I believe he really thought he could do it. Things didn't work out. It was a risk. It was like donating money to a Kickstart project. His didn't work out. Get over it.

[Pretzel]

@ Pretzel: I don't think he conned anyone except himself. Conning other people means there was intent. I do not believe he had any intent to defraud anyone. I believe he really thought he could do it. Things didn't work out. It was a risk. It was like donating money to a Kickstart project. His didn't work out. Get over it.

Get over it? I'm not angry, I could have predicted this from the start. He too could have predicted it as well, if he bothered to do cursory research before embarking upon his plan.

I'm not saying that he made a lot of money, but I am saying that anybody who contributed to his plan definitely didn't get the value that they paid for. They expected regular content updates through the completion of the plan. They got someone who bailed midway through when things started to get tough.

[pumaAttack]

Dan's Twitter

The last activity I see from his twitter feed is August 24th. He's given up, and is now going to slink away with what little money he conned people into donating to his "plan".

You mean besides the post from Oct. 7th...

[Lihu]

You mean besides the post from Oct. 7th...

I think it's latest post on top?

[pumaAttack]

I think it's latest post on top?

No, he has one pinned tweet from August of last year.

 

Then a retweet of a post from October 7th.   Stating he is going to some muscle memory conference.

[nevets88]

 

No, he has one pinned tweet from August of last year.

 

Then a retweet of a post from October 7th.   Stating he is going to some muscle memory conference.

That timestamp is from the original Tweet. There is no timestamp on a Retweet. I did not see that Retweet in my feed this morning.

Edited October 12, 2015 by nevets88

[natureboy]

This is slightly off topic, but. . .

Hidden Content

Well I don't know how to hide an OT and you are unable to receive PMs so....

 

Okay, I thought that was some Trackman reference.

Just to make sure I understand, before 3 years ago you had never played golf and were a 'max handicap' of 36.4. Then three years ago you started playing a round a day (with no other practice) for 1-2 years for about 1,460 hours per year. Recently you have more time and practice 5 hours a day, 7 days a week which includes 2-3 rounds per week? Now you are an 11 HCP, yes?

Also, what was your HCP at the end of year 1 and at the end of year 2? We know at the end of year 3 it is 11 HCP, or are you only halfway through the 'golf year'? What date did you pick up the game?

That's a lot of practice and dedication. No wonder you've improved so much.

[Lihu]

Well I don't know how to hide an OT and you are unable to receive PMs so....

 

Okay, I thought that was some Trackman reference.

Just to make sure I understand, before 3 years ago you had never played golf and were a 'max handicap' of 36.4. Then three years ago you started playing a round a day (with no other practice) for 1-2 years for about 1,460 hours per year. Recently you have more time and practice 5 hours a day, 7 days a week which includes 2-3 rounds per week? Now you are an 11 HCP, yes?

Also, what was your HCP at the end of year 1 and at the end of year 2? We know at the end of year 3 it is 11 HCP, or are you only halfway through the 'golf year'? What date did you pick up the game?

That's a lot of practice and dedication. No wonder you've improved so much.

 

Use the "eye" tool to hide stuff.

We can discuss in my swing thread as well. My PM memory is full! Going to have to clear out some stuff. . .

[Nosevi]

There's a lot of people assuming Dan is done. I really don't think it's the end, he's got too much time invested in it and to stop now would prove very little and doesn't even test the 10,000 hours theory. He'll see it through.

To anyone saying Dan has conned people out of their money I'd disagree. As far as I know there were no concrete promises made and people just wanted to help Dan succeed. They liked seeing someone give it a go so freely handed over cash to help him along. I'm not sure my golfing union would allow it as you're not allowed to be sponsored financially in any way to play golf as an amateur over here but I'm not sure how it works over there. That said over here many top amateurs are 'sponsored' by the bank of mum and dad to roam the world playing golf in amateur tournaments for zero reward to gain experience of big competitions all in the hope they'll make it to the pro ranks, while other talented youngsters whose parents aren't in a position to pay for their child to chase their dreams in this way and continue to support them into adulthood have to look them in the eye and tell them they need to go get a job - it's far from a level playing field. Quite a few get sponsored by Universities over there but for those that don't it's an uphill struggle compared to the 'rich kids'. Maybe it'd be fairer if amateurs could be 'sponsored' or at least have their golf and travel expenses picked up by someone other than parents. At the end of the day practically every (but not all) top amateur is in fact sponsored it's just that the golfing unions make sure it's only by family - it could be argued that's a tad elitist.

While people may disagree with methods Dan's used and maybe say he should be more open (Gamegolf rounds, video updates, correct inaccuracies about progress in interviews etc) as that was the pretense of the whole thing, I don't think he's conned anyone or been dishonest. The problem is more that he's slowly shown less and less of what's going on as progress has slowed whereas people want to see more and more as they get interested in the project. I think I'd always answer people who ask questions on the blog etc as they're the ones interested in the project, I'd be tempted to back away from the media side of things.

Anyway, I think you'll find he's not done and personally I hope he is able to change his approach a little for phase 2 of the plan. I think he needs to honestly assess where he is in every area right now, see where his skillset needs to be to achieve his goal (which maybe needs looking at given the time left as well as the fact that a direct route to the PGA Tour has been cut off, Web.com would be the most lofty ambition now but perhaps one down from there would be more sensible) and track the progress required in every area to get from A to B. Just going out and playing lots of golf is not going to work, you need to develop a skillset in each area of the game that enables you to compete at a higher level be it driving distance, striking your irons, bunker play, chipping etc and the hard yards to do that are on the practice ground and in some cases in the gym, not out on the course. The course is for applying those skills, not developing them in the first place......... all IMO obviously

[Shorty]

a direct route to the PGA Tour has been cut off, Web.com would be the most lofty ambition now but perhaps one down from there would be more sensible) 

 

You don't think he would be better off becoming one of the best million players in the U.S first? Or breaking into the world's top 5 million?

Your post makes  sense, but you are much too generous. Nothing in his plan makes sense and he has clearly plateaued to a point where he is where most keen amateurs get to when they maximise their capacity: a decent player.

How could he possibly make the web.com tour or any other tour? He hasn't competed at well at any level of any competition.

If you want to see some serious bombers, look at the Web.com tour, not the PGA tour. 

On a good day he might break 80 on an easy course. This is why it's so ridiculous.

This is the whole problem with him. If his ambition was to reach the club championship at his club and he achieved it it would be impressive.

He raised the bar so high to begin with it was a joke from the start. There was never any possibility but failure, which is no surprise to anyone.

The 10,000 hour theory is complete BS as well. 

Edited October 13, 2015 by Shorty

[Shorty]

 

You mean besides the post from Oct. 7th...

Retweeting the crap that other people ask him to retweet is not really evidence of anything other than his desire to become a media personality.

[Nosevi]

 

You don't think he would be better off becoming one of the best million players in the U.S first? Or breaking into the world's top 5 million?

Your post makes  sense, but you are much too generous. Nothing in his plan makes sense and he has clearly plateaued to a point where he is where most keen amateurs get to when they maximise their capacity: a decent player.

How could he possibly make the web.com tour or any other tour? He hasn't competed at well at any level of any competition.

If you want to see some serious bombers, look at the Web.com tour, not the PGA tour. 

On a good day he might break 80 on an easy course. This is why it's so ridiculous.

This is the whole problem with him. If his ambition was to reach the club championship at his club and he achieved it it would be impressive.

He raised the bar so high to begin with it was a joke from the start. There was never any possibility but failure, which is no surprise to anyone.

The 10,000 hour theory is complete BS as well. 

Hard to argue with most of that. For starters I don'd buy the 10,000 hours theory either especially when applied to a sport - how many golfers spend 10,000 hours doing golf over their lives vs how many play at the top level? Any brief look at the available evidence shows by simply spending time golfing in the hope to get good enough to play at an elite level simply doesn't work, at least not to get the vast majority of people anywhere close to tour level.

Regarding becoming one of the top x golfers in the US first, fair point and I'm actually agreeing with you. But whatever your target, be it PGA Tour, Web.com, one down from there (which is really what I was saying would be a bit more sensible) you've got to know what you are aiming at in terms of raw performance and have a plan as to how to get there. When Dan went to Pebble he said he was amazed at how well the pros struck their long irons. Most people would be if they had the chance to stand next to tour pros striking them. But then again most people aren't trying to emulate them. I just think it was a bit of a blind spot in Dan's approach from the begining. That's not a criticism but on day one when he went to see a coach that coach should have as a minimum said "Ok, you want to be a tour pro. This guy plays on tour - go hit some balls with him and see exactly what you're aiming at." My coach called over one of the England international squad and had him practice along side me as most go from there directly to a tour of some description, probably to point out how daft I was being. A year down the line and looking at my launch data vs theirs and the void between the two has gone. But that's not by accident and it's not just from playing lots of golf. It's by working out what they do that I didn't do by looking at high speed video of pros together with their launch data (not random youtube clips but the guy hitting the ball and the resultant data from that swing) and working out how to get from where I was to where they are. 

But you absolutely have to know what your target is in terms of performance and have a detailed plan of how to get there. Simply putting in the hours isn't going to work.

[nevets88]

World Golf Skills® will feature a weekly episode from The Dan Plan chronicling Dan McLaughlin’s 10,000 hour journey and preparation for the 2016 World Golf Skills Challenge in Las Vegas.

https://worldgolfskills.com/the-dan-plan/