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

[bkuehn1952]

I've kept an eye on Dan's effort via his blog postings.  This has sort of been a "lost season" for him.  Like many of us, he continues to fiddle with his equipment in hopes of buying a game.  Now on his third instructor, he has begun to rebuild his swing after spending years grooving a very flat stroke.

Early in 2013 he was full of optimism and excitement.  He was taking predictions on when he would first shoot par and looking forward to a season of successful low level amateur tournaments.  Almost 9 months into 2013 he has definitely lost much of his enthusiasm.  Few tournaments and even fewer discussions of his day-to-day play.  As David in FL pointed out, he pretty much has abandoned posting scores to his GHIN handicap.

One would have to think that money issues are starting to take its toll.  Even with a few donations and renting part of his home, his piggy bank has got to be running low.  He no longer has a free membership.  It is doubtful his professional is doing the work at no cost.  If he can't afford to spend the winter in a warm climate he is going to find himself starting over next spring like the rest of us schlubs that live above the Mason-Dixon line.

I never thought Dan was going to be a PGA Tour pro but it seemed possible he might build himself into a scratch golfer, which would be no mean feat.  Now, it is starting to look like he is going to run out of time before he even is competitive in the club championship.

[Slice of Life]

bkuehn...to that I say...

[Nutter]

Let me put it another way.  Have you ever had someone tell you you'll never make it as an NBA player (or something else, doesn't matter what).. not because you aren't tall enough or fast enough or don't have the wingspan or lack any of the other million things that make the great players great but because of some lack of secret mojo that would prevent you from being great no matter how well your body fits the game, how long you practice, and how hard you try?  They're basically telling you that you lack some intangible thing that you have to be born with and if you don't have it, you're screwed.  This is the impression I get when people when people talk about natural talent or natural ability, or whatever you want to call it.  I think it's a load of bs, that's all I'm saying.  It's literally that simple.  If you can't comprehend what I'm getting at I simply don't know what to tell you.

It's not that anyone doesn't get what you're saying.  If you're trying to sway people into thinking that the top 50 players in the world (who stay in that position for a decade or more with ease) don't have some natural God given ability that the other millions trying to make it don't have, it's just not gonna happen.

[hawky]

This is an interesting discussion. Have you ever wondered why some people pick different things up quicker than others? For example every child has the same amount of math tuition at school (unless they have some private tuition, which is rare), and some children understand the different concepts a lot quicker than other children. Even before the teacher sends them off to do homework. The children that get it quicker than the others have a natural aptitude for it, which happens to be the definition of talent. So talent does not exist? Every child understands the math lesson at the end of the day?

[golf55]

So what's going on with this guy? any updates?

[Kelzzy]

So.. basically this Dan guy is quitting his job to practice golf all day, and for some reason gets famous from it? There's thousands of other people doing the same thing.. like why?

[golf55]

So.. basically this Dan guy is quitting his job to practice golf all day, and for some reason gets famous from it? There's thousands of other people doing the same thing.. like why?

he gets paid to do it.

[flopster]

So.. basically this Dan guy is quitting his job to practice golf all day, and for some reason gets famous from it? There's thousands of other people doing the same thing.. like why?

It's not the same thing, he's testing a theory that 10,000 hours of dedicated practice will supposedly make anyone an expert at that task.

[golf55]

It's not the same thing, he's testing a theory that 10,000 hours of dedicated practice will supposedly make anyone an expert at that task.

that theory is bs though. if everyone spend 10,000 at the gym could we all be professional bodybuilders? I Haven't even spend half of 10,000hrs and planning on turning pro. It's all about talent.... Even if he makes it, he chose something he was interested in. How about letting the users choose which profession to master to prove that theory. This has nothing to do with theory, he's just a guy wanting to turn pro and milking every penny. GOOD FOR HIM.

[flopster]

that theory is bs though. if everyone spend 10,000 at the gym could we all be professional bodybuilders? I Haven't even spend half of 10,000hrs and planning on turning pro. It's all about talent.... Even if he makes it, he chose something he was interested in. How about letting the users choose which profession to master to prove that theory. This has nothing to do with theory, he's just a guy wanting to turn pro and milking every penny. GOOD FOR HIM.

I agree lack of natural talent will keep him from his goal but apparently he never played a round of golf in his life before embarking on this, or maybe once or twice in 15 years but basically never enough to even label himself a casual player. Basically he started as green as they get.

[Kelzzy]

that theory is bs though. if everyone spend 10,000 at the gym could we all be professional bodybuilders? I Haven't even spend half of 10,000hrs and planning on turning pro. It's all about talent.... Even if he makes it, he chose something he was interested in. How about letting the users choose which profession to master to prove that theory. This has nothing to do with theory, he's just a guy wanting to turn pro and milking every penny. GOOD FOR HIM.

this

[newtogolf]

that theory is bs though. if everyone spend 10,000 at the gym could we all be professional bodybuilders? I Haven't even spend half of 10,000hrs and planning on turning pro. It's all about talent.... Even if he makes it, he chose something he was interested in. How about letting the users choose which profession to master to prove that theory. This has nothing to do with theory, he's just a guy wanting to turn pro and milking every penny. GOOD FOR HIM.

Keep in mind, planning on turning pro and making it onto the PGA Tour are a huge chasm apart.  Making it on the PGA Tour requires a combination of talent and hard work.  Tiger has amazing talent, but he still puts in 10+ hours of practice per day.

[Lihu]

[QUOTE name="golf55" url="/t/45853/the-dan-plan-10-000-hours-to-become-a-*********er/690_30#post_928555"]   that theory is bs though. if everyone spend 10,000 at the gym could we all be professional bodybuilders? I Haven't even spend half of 10,000hrs and planning on turning pro. It's all about talent.... Even if he makes it, he chose something he was interested in. How about letting the users choose which profession to master to prove that theory. This has nothing to do with theory, he's just a guy wanting to turn pro and milking every penny. GOOD FOR HIM. [/QUOTE] Keep in mind, planning on turning pro and making it onto the PGA Tour are a huge chasm apart.  Making it on the PGA Tour requires a combination of talent and hard work.  Tiger has amazing talent, but he still puts in 10+ hours of practice per day.

If you make no progress for this many years of playing 6 hours a day, most people would lose interest. In other words, accept defeat. The main issue with the Dan plan is that he is not even built correctly for the task at hand. It's like saying a person 4'10" can play in the NBA if he puts 10,000 hours into it. If his plan was to become the CEO of a major Software corporation with 10,000 hours of work, I would say he has a really good chance of success. If you have an affinity to any activity, generally, it means that you could do well in it if you spent the time to get good. If you never even tried it and just out of the blue decide that you can do well if you put 10,000 hours into it, that's not going to happen. For example, if he were a baseball player or some kind of athlete in the past, he could stand a chance. This project was doomed from the start, because he did not choose something he was enjoying already. I'll go further to say that he might not even make a good instructor. He might still become a golf professional by taking his analytical skills into play, somehow.

[flopster]

I seriously doubt Tiger puts in 10 hours everyday though, I would say on average 4 or 5 and even that may be a stretch. Now I'm sure he does a few times a month the ten hour routine but a lot of his work is maintaining his groove and touch and working on certain things that he's trying to incorporate some time later. In fact there are days he never touches a club and sometimes those days come in bunches.

http://www.tigerwoods.com/fitness/tigerDailyRoutine

Okay so when it's NOT a tournament week, and he's not on vacation, and not doing some other engagement this is his routine, average it out and you probably get 3 or 4 hours a day over a years time. Dan is putting in way more time, notice I say time not work and definitely not more productive work either IMO.

[Lihu]

I seriously doubt Tiger puts in 10 hours everyday though, I would say on average 4 or 5 and even that may be a stretch. Now I'm sure he does a few times a month the ten hour routine but a lot of his work is maintaining his groove and touch and working on certain things that he's trying to incorporate some time later. In fact there are days he never touches a club and sometimes those days come in bunches.

http://www.tigerwoods.com/fitness/tigerDailyRoutine

Okay so when it's NOT a tournament week, and he's not on vacation, and not doing some other engagement this is his routine, average it out and you probably get 3 or 4 hours a day over a years time. Dan is putting in way more time, notice I say time not work and definitely not more productive work either IMO.

I agree with the essence of what you are saying, but . . .

The link indicates that he spends 10+ hours a day. That would be 50+ hours per week. If he takes vacations and weekends off you get roughly 208/365*50= 28 hours per week on average or 6 hours.day. Plus, I don't think he takes that much time off so we might be back to the 10 hours per day routine.

In any case, the fact that Tiger can spend 10+ hours per day means he is suited to the task, as are many of the other golf pros.

[newtogolf]

I seriously doubt Tiger puts in 10 hours everyday though, I would say on average 4 or 5 and even that may be a stretch. Now I'm sure he does a few times a month the ten hour routine but a lot of his work is maintaining his groove and touch and working on certain things that he's trying to incorporate some time later. In fact there are days he never touches a club and sometimes those days come in bunches.

http://www.tigerwoods.com/fitness/tigerDailyRoutine

Okay so when it's NOT a tournament week, and he's not on vacation, and not doing some other engagement this is his routine, average it out and you probably get 3 or 4 hours a day over a years time. Dan is putting in way more time, notice I say time not work and definitely not more productive work either IMO.

As the link you included shows, he puts in 10+ per day.  I'm not a pro golfer or runner but I still work out when I'm on vacation so I doubt he stops his fitness routine or range time during the entire vacation or when he has an engagement or business meeting.

[Golfingdad]

This project was doomed from the start, because he did not choose something he was enjoying already.

I disagree with this part because, as I understand it, he chose something he'd never done before ... at all.  He didn't pick a task that he disliked, he picked one he knew NOTHING about.  So he wouldn't know if it was something he was going to enjoy or not.

I do agree, though, that maybe since he is such a little guy, maybe it would have been wiser for him to try a task that required less physical attributes.  Maybe bowling, or playing the piano, or cooking, or archery, etc, etc.

The other major flaw in his experiment is that he's ignoring that when the guy came up with the theory, he was working backwards from 'talented'** people.  Meaning, he took a bunch of people who were already all really, really good violinists who studied at an elite music school, separated them into 3 categories of success, then tried to determine any commonalities amongst them.  He did.  The top 1/3 of that group all practiced more than 10k hours, and the others did not.  These weren't random people handed violins, they were all really good violinists to begin with.

**Don't want to open up the whole "talent" can of worms, but I simply mean that these kids were good enough at the violin to be accepted to an elite school to begin with.

[newtogolf]

I disagree with this part because, as I understand it, he chose something he'd never done before ... at all.  He didn't pick a task that he disliked, he picked one he knew NOTHING about.  So he wouldn't know if it was something he was going to enjoy or not.

I do agree, though, that maybe since he is such a little guy, maybe it would have been wiser for him to try a task that required less physical attributes.  Maybe bowling, or playing the piano, or cooking, or archery, etc, etc.

The other major flaw in his experiment is that he's ignoring that when the guy came up with the theory, he was working backwards from 'talented'** people.  Meaning, he took a bunch of people who were already all really, really good violinists who studied at an elite music school, separated them into 3 categories of success, then tried to determine any commonalities amongst them.  He did.  The top 1/3 of that group all practiced more than 10k hours, and the others did not.  These weren't random people handed violins, they were all really good violinists to begin with.

**Don't want to open up the whole "talent" can of worms, but I simply mean that these kids were good enough at the violin to be accepted to an elite school to begin with.

Exactly, you can't reverse engineer commonalities among already accomplished people and then claim that one commonality was the "secret" to their success.