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

[Big C]

Dan's last 5 full rounds, including his 3 day tournament blow-up: 88, 87, 88, 86, 80.

I get that the nature of golf improvement is "two steps forward, one step back," but he's probably the only 2-handicapper I've seen that can't break 80 for 5 consecutive rounds.

[Lihu]

Dan's last 5 full rounds, including his 3 day tournament blow-up: 88, 87, 88, 86, 80.

I get that the nature of golf improvement is "two steps forward, one step back," but he's probably the only 2-handicapper I've seen that can't break 80 for 5 consecutive rounds.

His average is 86 which puts him at about a 14 handicap, and with course differentials added in he might be a 12-13.

I'm still impressed that @Shorty could determine this much earlier on.

Well, maybe he'll shoot sub-76 for another 5 rounds in a row.

[flopster]

Are you gonna listen to him if he tells you to only putt for the first two months, starting with 1 footers?

LOL I would probably do it for about 2 or 3 minutes and realize this is ludicrous, I do see where your going though with the lack of what methods did what and how well and for how long in his site. He has his 10,000 hour countdown stopwatch but he only puts down vague info and nothing with any real benefit to anyone.

[Lihu]

LOL I would probably do it for about 2 or 3 minutes and realize this is ludicrous, I do see where your going though with the lack of what methods did what and how well and for how long in his site. He has his 10,000 hour countdown stopwatch but he only puts down vague info and nothing with any real benefit to anyone.

Did he really put in any significant effort putting from 1 foot?

[nevets88]

Did he really put in any significant effort putting from 1 foot?

OK, 1 foot, not correct, I was being dramatic, but it went from short to long. To me from boring to even more boring to kill myself boring.

"Week one was a success.  Along with the other stuff, I got to be out on the greens for about 13 hours"

http://thedanplan.com/one-week-down-207-to-go/

" CS had me first putt from about 18″ away, placing the balls in a circle around the hole."

http://thedanplan.com/lesson-one-completed/

"I putted better than I ever have before, actually broke the 90% barrier in my three foot game (where I putt 100 balls from six different areas around the hole, all three feet away)."

http://thedanplan.com/new_putter/

[Lihu]

OK, 1 foot, not correct, I was being dramatic, but it went from short to long. To me from boring to even more boring to kill myself boring.

"Week one was a success.  Along with the other stuff, I got to be out on the greens for about 13 hours"

http://thedanplan.com/one-week-down-207-to-go/

"CS had me first putt from about 18″ away, placing the balls in a circle around the hole."

http://thedanplan.com/lesson-one-completed/

"I putted better than I ever have before, actually broke the 90% barrier in my three foot game (where I putt 100 balls from six different areas around the hole, all three feet away)."

http://thedanplan.com/new_putter/

This. . .sounds. . .so. . .exciting.

[Pretzel]

This. . .sounds. . .so. . .exciting. :-X

It's like reading a thriller novel.

[Gunther]

No fun fer sure but how any hours you think Phil has put in putting from 3' and in? Hundreds? Not consecutive, of course but I sure could use a few hours doing it.

[flopster]

The way I see it is he should have spent no more than an hour a week from even 18" at the start, there were lots more important things to learn.

[nevets88]

No fun fer sure but how any hours you think Phil has put in putting from 3' and in? Hundreds? Not consecutive, of course but I sure could use a few hours doing it.

Yeah but he was practicing other things in addition, not exclusively.

[Lihu]

The way I see it is he should have spent no more than an hour a week from even 18" at the start, there were lots more important things to learn.

Clearly. . .

[MS256]

No fun fer sure but how any hours you think Phil has put in putting from 3' and in? Hundreds? Not consecutive, of course but I sure could use a few hours doing it.

Question is does all that practice on short putts really make him (or anybody else) that much better at short putts?

I don't know the answer to that but I think any overall score improvement would be minimal for anybody that's already a decent putter.

I can't remember any rounds where after the round I thought, man if I could have just made those 3 foot putts I would have had a great day. Can't say the same for ball striking.

From what I see poor distance control on longer lag putts costs way more strokes than missing 3 footers.

[iacas]

I don't know the answer to that but I think any overall score improvement would be minimal for anybody that's already a decent putter.

One-foot putts have next to zero SV. :)

[Ernest Jones]

One-foot putts have next to zero SV. :)

Separation Value? Hey @iacas I'm gonna go out on a limb and a take a guess, separation value is the difference between a pro's make % and that of an amateur? Wild stab in the dark but it keeps me busy while waiting for the book. :-)

[iacas]

Separation Value? Hey @iacas I'm gonna go out on a limb and a take a guess, separation value is the difference between a pro's make % and that of an amateur? Wild stab in the dark but it keeps me busy while waiting for the book.

Not really. SV=SCOR.

Now hush. :)

[acerimusdux]

Quote:

Yeah but he was practicing other things in addition, not exclusively.

For the first 5 months, putting was the only golf he did. I'm just browsing his blog now, it was 8/29/2010 when he finally had a lesson with a pitching wedge, starting with learning a grip. In October he added a sand wedge, but apparenlty was only chipping and pitching with these clubs, not working on a full swing. In December he plays a nine hole par 3 course (what I would call a "pitch and putt" course), and says that he had never hit a ball over 50 yards before. And apparently he had a coach actually advising him to proceed in this way.

[Abu3baid]

Quote: [QUOTE name="nevets88" url="/t/45853/the-dan-plan-10-000-hours-to-become-a-pro-golfer/1206#post_1004809"] Yeah but he was practicing other things in addition, not exclusively.[/QUOTE] For the first 5 months, putting was the only golf he did. I'm just browsing his blog now, it was 8/29/2010 when he finally had a lesson with a pitching wedge, starting with learning a grip. In October he added a sand wedge, but apparenlty was only chipping and pitching with these clubs, not working on a full swing. In December he plays a nine hole par 3 course (what I would call a "pitch and putt" course), and says that he had never hit a ball over 50 yards before. And apparently he had a coach actually advising him to proceed in this way.

Sounds like a lot of wasted energy from the start... Yuck

[acerimusdux]

Sounds like a lot of wasted energy from the start... Yuck

Yup, looks like he did start working seriously on the swing in July 2011, and got a clubfitting and clubs, and then started playing full rounds by August. It really sounded though as if he didn't want to pay for anything, clubs, greens fees, etc. I really think he was just waiting to get the blog popular enough that he could get sponsors for things.