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

[David in FL]

The 7 on 11 was not that great as well. Both 11 and 14 are fairly easy holes, there is water on 14 and some OB, so one could get into decent trouble there, but not much trouble on 11.

Should have said "keep the quads and 10's off the card"...... My post was really tongue in cheek.....he's a third of the way there and not quite a 5 hcp. Long ways to go! Still, it's interesting to follow his progress.....

[x129]

Yeah that Rory guy is never going to amount to much. A couple bad holes at the master's and he totally breaks down. Bad rounds tend to snowball. It happens.

Dan posted round 2 results and they were about as bad (15 over). Pretty much the same story of not being able to hit fairways. The fun part is in the blog he mentions that he switched to a new driver (club hoing is not the path to success) and even better dropped the loft to 7.5 degrees 2 days before the tournament.  Given the problems he had off the tee, I am going to say this was a big mistake.

Quote:

I don't want to be too hard on the guy, but if he can't maintain concentration past five holes he's never going to reach his goal.  He could have had a bad day, so no sense reading too much into one tournament result, but it's definitely something to watch as he goes forward.

[meta87]

7.5 degree driver?? Dang no wonder he's having problems hitting fairways. Seems crazy to make a change like that right before a big tournament.

[newtogolf]

Guess you didn't bother reading the rest of my post where I said, "He could have had a bad day, so no sense reading too much into one tournament result, but it's definitely something to watch as he goes forward."

It's also an insult to Rory to even compare him to Dan.  Overall, my point was some people aren't able to perform as well under pressure.  Since this was his first real tournament, I felt it was worth watching going forward.

Originally Posted by x129

Yeah that Rory guy is never going to amount to much. A couple bad holes at the master's and he totally breaks down. Bad rounds tend to snowball. It happens.

Dan posted round 2 results and they were about as bad (15 over). Pretty much the same story of not being able to hit fairways. The fun part is in the blog he mentions that he switched to a new driver (club hoing is not the path to success) and even better dropped the loft to 7.5 degrees 2 days before the tournament.  Given the problems he had off the tee, I am going to say this was a big mistake.

Quote:

[Shorty]

+10 for the par 5s is a pretty fair indicator of the legitimacy of his handicap.

As I've said before - rule of thumb - add 10 to the DIY handicaps.

[Williamevanl]

I agree that he's certainly not anywhere near a 5 handicap, the guy shot 35 over over the course of two days! On his home course!

[David in FL]

+10 for the par 5s is a pretty fair indicator of the legitimacy of his handicap. As I've said before - rule of thumb - add 10 to the DIY handicaps.

His website says 5.6. Thought that was a real index. No? Regardless, he's got a looooong ways to go. There are 10 year olds out there that would beat him and who will never play professionally...... We'll see.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Shorty

+10 for the par 5s is a pretty fair indicator of the legitimacy of his handicap.

As I've said before - rule of thumb - add 10 to the DIY handicaps.

Add 10 for people who use a handicap to "rate their progress" and subtract 10 from the guys in my league with high match winning percentages (e.g. > 90%).

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by David in FL

His website says 5.6. Thought that was a real index. No? Regardless, he's got a looooong ways to go. There are 10 year olds out there that would beat him and who will never play professionally......

We'll see.

Shorty keeps forgetting how we do handicaps here.  In Australia, supposedly they only build your handicap from verifiable tournament rounds.  (Which, by the way is a great idea if everybody played enough tournaments to keep their handicap up to date)  So, in that aspect, he is right.  All of the rounds we've seen from Dan in tournaments are really high relative to his handicap.  So, in Australia, I think he would be a 12 or 15.

But, here it's different.  We count all rounds, even the casual rounds played under no pressure whatsoever by yourself on easy courses.  He says he's a 5.6 or whatever now, and I see no reason to dispute that.

But, again towards Shorty's point, if his goal is pro, then all that should really matter is his pressured tournament rounds.  (But he's still early on in his quest so we'll just have to wait and see.)

[LovinItAll]

+10 for the par 5s is a pretty fair indicator of the legitimacy of his handicap. As I've said before - rule of thumb - add 10 to the DIY handicaps.

As I've said before, Dan's handicap is not a DIY. It's incredible how some folks are so quick to criticize others, yet too lazy to do any actual research before opening their mouth and spewing bullshit.

[Shorty]

Originally Posted by LovinItAll

As I've said before, Dan's handicap is not a DIY.

It's incredible how some folks are so quick to criticize others, yet too lazy to do any actual research before opening their mouth and spewing bullshit.

I am calling self managed handicaps DIY where the expectation is that one will shoot 10 shots above their handicap.

This guy is not a 5 handicap by any stretch of the imagination.

It's the equivalent of the American dress sizing system where a size 6 is perceived as medium, but would be  a16 in any other country.

I know I have I have said it to the point of irritating other members, but it's true.

It is all vanity and refusal to face reality.  A five marker should break 80 on decent courses half the time and be close to par a couple of times out of each 20 rounds.

The idea that he has ever broken 80 on a proper golf course off the proper tees is a joke.

Also, the notion that people can select tees so that they have a shot into every par four for 2 despite being short off the tee is ridiculous in terms of maintaining a handicap. It is a great idea for people who want to play golf, but silly in terms of maintaining a handicap.

[LovinItAll]

Originally Posted by Shorty

I am calling self managed handicaps DIY where the expectation is that one will shoot 10 shots above their handicap.

This guy is not a 5 handicap by any stretch of the imagination.

It's the equivalent of the American dress sizing system where a size 6 is perceived as medium, but would be  a16 in any other country.

I know I have I have said it to the point of irritating other members, but it's true.

It is all vanity and refusal to face reality.  A five marker should break 80 on decent courses half the time and be close to par a couple of times out of each 20 rounds.

The idea that he has ever broken 80 on a proper golf course off the proper tees is a joke.

Also, the notion that people can select tees so that they have a shot into every par four for 2 despite being short off the tee is ridiculous in terms of maintaining a handicap. It is a great idea for people who want to play golf, but silly in terms of maintaining a handicap.

"The Guy" is absolutely a 5.x handicap based on the America handicap system. Period. If you're too lazy to do the research to determine that his is not a vanity HC, shut it.

[Dave2512]

I don't keep up with Dan. Which tees does he play to maintain a 5 HC? Something seems amiss with his scores and HC if he's having trouble breaking 80. I read an article several months ago stating he hadn't broke 80.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Shorty

I am calling self managed handicaps DIY where the expectation is that one will shoot 10 shots above their handicap.

This guy is not a 5 handicap by any stretch of the imagination.

It's the equivalent of the American dress sizing system where a size 6 is perceived as medium, but would be  a16 in any other country.

I know I have I have said it to the point of irritating other members, but it's true.

It is all vanity and refusal to face reality.  A five marker should break 80 on decent courses half the time and be close to par a couple of times out of each 20 rounds.

The idea that he has ever broken 80 on a proper golf course off the proper tees is a joke.

Also, the notion that people can select tees so that they have a shot into every par four for 2 despite being short off the tee is ridiculous in terms of maintaining a handicap. It is a great idea for people who want to play golf, but silly in terms of maintaining a handicap.

Shorty, if you look at the post where Lovinitall posted his actual handicap card (#295, I believe) he isn't far off from what you are saying.  He broke 80 6 or 7 out of 20 times, and they are (based on the ratings, 71s and 72s) decent courses.

I do want to agree with you that an average (American) 5 handicap who doesn't play in tournaments is generally nowhere near a person who has a 5 handicap based solely on tournament rounds (Australian style, it sounds like).

But it sounds more like you are suggesting that he is lying about his scores.  Why would he do that?  What does he possibly gain by carrying a vanity cap?

Lastly, regarding the notion that you can select tees that give you shots into all of the holes; the USGA rating system accounts for that.  If I play from the tips on one of my home courses and shoot a 75 (in my dreams!) I would have a HDCP based on that round of between 1 and 1.5.  But if I choose to play from the most forward set of tees and shoot that exact same 75, my HDCP would be right around 10.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Dave2512

I don't keep up with Dan. Which tees does he play to maintain a 5 HC? Something seems amiss with his scores and HC if he's having trouble breaking 80. I read an article several months ago stating he hadn't broke 80.

Originally Posted by LovinItAll

Here are Dan's rounds used to compute his current HC:

From about 6 weeks ago, courtesy of Lovinitall.

[jamo]

His scores as of Sept. 1st:

[mailman]

Just had a look at his website and to be honest...I really enjoyed his videos and blog posts.

Good on him for having a go and getting out there and at least trying to make something happen for himself.

Not sure why a few of you are knocking the guy so hard though. Could there be a little bit of jealousy involved?

Regards

Mailman

[Williamevanl]

Lot of excuses about the equipment...

Played another tournament, shot:  92-82  shot +30 over.

Also, as I predicted several months back (when he was a 5.9) , it looks like his handicap should be 7.27 with the next revision. This will ultimately be about a 1 index gain in the last 8 months. last 20 scores:

T	Date	Score	CR/Slope	Diff.
AI	9/12	83	71.4/141	9.3
H	9/12	81	71.1/135	8.3
H	9/12	86	71.1/135	12.5
T	9/12	82	69.9/123	11.1
TI	9/12	82	69.9/123	11.1
T	9/12	90	69.9/123	18.5
TI	9/12	90	69.9/123	18.5
AI	9/12	79	71.7/123	6.7
AI	9/12	81	73.1/136	6.6
AI	9/12	78	72.0/128	5.3
AI	9/12	80	70.0/123	9.2
H	9/12	79	71.1/135	6.6
T	9/12	85	72.4/135	10.5
T	9/12	86	72.8/136	11.0
H	9/12	84	73.2/137	8.9
H	9/12	85	71.1/135	11.6
AI	9/12	80	72.0/128	7.1
H	8/12	82	71.1/135	9.1
H	8/12	82	71.1/135	9.1
AI	8/12	78	71.9/137	5.0

Writing is on the wall...