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

[tuffluck]

don't you guys think that you can be a + handicap all day long and only drive the ball 240y off the tee?  but that will not win you any majors.  IMO the biggest thing that sets the pros apart from the rest is their ability to hit the ball a very long way, way more than the average player regardless of handicap.  sure they are good in every other aspect as well, but if they were driving the ball <250y off of every tee, they could never pull off the scores that they do.  i mean hell they are playing courses ~7,500y and further.  i drive the ball about 270y and i really struggle on courses that are even 1 yard over 7,000.  i just don't think you could realistically do it if you aren't driving at least 285y with very strong irons to back it up.

and hitting a 4h further than a 3h and both further than a 3w will never be something we'll see on the PGA tour.  sure he has more time to sort that out, but being a 6 and doing that already is pretty impressive even if that's as far as he ever goes.  his short game must be fantastic (as previously mentioned).

[David in FL]

Originally Posted by tuffluck

but being a 6 and doing that already is pretty impressive even if that's as far as he ever goes.  his short game must be fantastic (as previously mentioned).

I hate to admit this, but honestly, you don't need to be a really great golfer (in the overall scheme of things) to play to a 6 hcp.

Ask me how I know.....

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by tuffluck

don't you guys think that you can be a + handicap all day long and only drive the ball 240y off the tee?  but that will not win you any majors.  IMO the biggest thing that sets the pros apart from the rest is their ability to hit the ball a very long way, way more than the average player regardless of handicap.  sure they are good in every other aspect as well, but if they were driving the ball <250y off of every tee, they could never pull off the scores that they do.  i mean hell they are playing courses ~7,500y and further.  i drive the ball about 270y and i really struggle on courses that are even 1 yard over 7,000.  i just don't think you could realistically do it if you aren't driving at least 285y with very strong irons to back it up.

and hitting a 4h further than a 3h and both further than a 3w will never be something we'll see on the PGA tour.  sure he has more time to sort that out, but being a 6 and doing that already is pretty impressive even if that's as far as he ever goes.  his short game must be fantastic (as previously mentioned).

LPGA golfers have all the putting and short game skills as the men (some are even better) but they don't have the distance.  It's a lot tougher to get to the flag when you have to hit a 3w and everyone else is hitting a 7i.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

LPGA golfers have all the putting and short game skills as the men (some are even better) but they don't have the distance.  It's a lot tougher to get to the flag when you have to hit a 3w and everyone else is hitting a 7i.

No they don't. Sorry - it's not even close. Men are way, way better at the short game than the women.

You don't even have to go back too far to find references to it - Golf Magazine or Golf Digest did a big thing on why women are lousy putters within the past year or six months or so.

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by iacas

No they don't. Sorry - it's not even close. Men are way, way better at the short game than the women.

You don't even have to go back too far to find references to it - Golf Magazine or Golf Digest did a big thing on why women are lousy putters within the past year or six months or so.

Before I posted that I took a quick look at the 2013 LPGA putting stats and saw a 4 LPGA players with average putts per round at 26 and under, while the men had no one under 26.  You do this for a living so I'll defer to your expertise.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Before I posted that I took a quick look at the 2013 LPGA putting stats and saw a 4 LPGA players with average putts per round at 26 and under, while the men had no one under 26.  You do this for a living so I'll defer to your expertise.

As you can imagine, that's a terrible stat to judge how good someone is at putting.

The stats are out there. Women have terrible (in comparison) short games and putting.

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by iacas

As you can imagine, that's a terrible stat to judge how good someone is at putting.

The stats are out there. Women have terrible (in comparison) short games and putting.

Actually I can't, what stats should one be looking at to determine the strength of their short game and putting?  I thought putts per round was used to indicate putting ability so I'd like to know for my own game what other stats should be focused on.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Actually I can't, what stats should one be looking at to determine the strength of their short game and putting?  I thought putts per round was used to indicate putting ability so I'd like to know for my own game what other stats should be focused on.

It's off topic for this thread. Again, go look at the article I referenced for starters. Or read the many threads here which explain why "total putts" is a lousy stat (clue: if you miss more greens, or have smaller greens, you'll have fewer putts at the same skill level). I'm guilty of assuming someone with 4000 posts has seen these. :D

[sofingaw]

Originally Posted by David in FL

Don't misunderstand.  I don't think there's a single person on this forum that wouldn't like to see him succeed.

But.....and it's a big BUT, there are a LOT of VERY experienced golfers here.  They include professionals, top amateurs, and respected instructors who have the experience and perspective to provide a lot of honest insight as to the progress he's making based on the information, data, and trends that are available.  No one is saying he won't, or can't make his goal of earning a PGA Tour card by 10,000 hours, but right now the trends and data doesn't seem to indicate he will......at least in the opinion of those who are in the best position to make that forecast.

Notice that we're following him pretty closely and have been for 2 years now.  That forecast could certainly change with time.  We'll see.......

Fair enough! Can't wait to see what happens

[sacm3bill]

Originally Posted by sofingaw

As I understand the info on his site, within the first year, working ONLY on putting, he had gotten to PGA Tour averages for distances of 1 ft, 3 ft, 10 ft, 20 ft, and 40 ft. Obviously not the whole game, and who knows if he has maintained that, and pressure is a whole other thing. But that still seems rather impressive to me. I bet some + players don't quite do that, even in practice.

Not disagreeing with you, and I too hope Dan succeeds - but I've often heard it said (and tend to believe) that putting is the one aspect of the game where everyone does have the ability to get as good as the pros, with enough dedication and practice. (As opposed to the full swing, where I believe you need some natural talent to succeed.) If true, then his success in putting is not all that relevant - the full swing is more what separates skilled golfers from unskilled, IMO.

Originally Posted by iacas

The stats are out there. Women have terrible (in comparison) short games and putting.

Yeah, not only are they worse, they're worse despite all their caddies lining them up on their putts before they pull the trigger. Sheesh.

[onephenom]

Originally Posted by iacas

No they don't. Sorry - it's not even close. Men are way, way better at the short game than the women.

You don't even have to go back too far to find references to it - Golf Magazine or Golf Digest did a big thing on why women are lousy putters within the past year or six months or so.

I can't help but agree... but did you see that pitch by stacy lewis today? she aimed at least 7 yards left and rolled it right down by the whole

[Rouleur]

I won't be writing him off when he has only completed 38% of the time he is going to dedicate to the task. He is already under a 6, so a decent golfer from an amateur perspective, and has plenty of more time to go.

It's funny, I guess some people just prefer to get 38% through learning something, then try and forecast what the 100% will be like based on a totally hypothetical assessment of their potential talent or ability, and if they don't like what they see, just quit.

Even if he doesn't make a tour, he will learn a lot and teach observers a lot about where dedicated practice can get you to. I believe it is about testing the theory, with an arbitrary yardstick of reaching the tour as a goal, rather than reaching the goal in and of itself.

I really wish Dan the best of luck, and will keep an eye on his progress.

[Williamevanl]

Originally Posted by iacas

Most golfers use your driver second most. :)

I don't think he sniffs status on a tour. I don't even think he gets to scratch.

Well it only took 30 pages to get that out of you. :P

I agree, I've had him at a 2 at the end of this thing for a long time now and a 4 at 5000 hours so he's about exactly where I expect him. Can't believe someone above thinks he's going to make it on the web.com tour.

And he's not pro at anything: (If Dan had stuck to his guns on that he would still be putting from 1-3 feet!)

[MyrtleBeachGolf]

My understanding is that Dan also chooses which rounds of golf to actually submit for his handicap. Some rounds he deems 'practice' rounds and does not submit them for his official handicap. This alone would mean to me that his handicap is not truly a 5.9 or whatever it's currently listed at?

[MacDutch]

Originally Posted by MyrtleBeachGolf

My understanding is that Dan also chooses which rounds of golf to actually submit for his handicap. Some rounds he deems 'practice' rounds and does not submit them for his official handicap. This alone would mean to me that his handicap is not truly a 5.9 or whatever it's currently listed at?

Why?

If you want to practice, you practice. So, you are not trying to make your best score. I almost never practice on the range and played last year something like 150 rounds. Only 40 of them were intentionally played for my handicap.

As for Dan: I think he will make it to scratch, but nowhere near progolf making money by playing.

[onephenom]

Originally Posted by MyrtleBeachGolf

My understanding is that Dan also chooses which rounds of golf to actually submit for his handicap. Some rounds he deems 'practice' rounds and does not submit them for his official handicap. This alone would mean to me that his handicap is not truly a 5.9 or whatever it's currently listed at?

Depends on what he means by practice round. If he's trying to do everything just right, play like it's a tournament, that shouldn't be practice. If he hits 2 balls off the tee and plays the worst one, hits extra balls out of the bunker, tries out shots he hasn't used on thhe course before, that should be a practice round.

Of course... he could be just throwing out his highest scores :)

[keeps21]

Is he uploading videos anywhere else? There doesn't seem to be any recent ones on his site...

[GarryGolfer]

It's a great blog, I follow it quite closely. It's a really interesting idea and he's working with a lot of people, such as the professor who hypothesized the original 10,000 theory - so it'll be really interesting to see the result when it's done.

It's well written too, he seems like a genuine guy.