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

[MS256]

At a "fun" level, you're right, but what you say applies to any sport.

Top level sprinters run 100m in a little less than 10 seconds. Many high school sprinters run in a little over 10 seconds. This is not much difference.

You might drive a ball 220 yards, a pro 280. Not a huge difference, but the net result is something like 25 strokes per round. A little over 1 per hole, if you are a 20 HI.

This is a difference between a million dollar game and a casual weekend round.

It doesn't seem like a lot, but it is very significant.

There's a fine line in all sports between the very best and those that are just pretty good. Often not even enough of a gap on each side of that line for an observer to see the difference.

That fine line might as well be a brick wall for many athletes because they will never get over it no matter how hard they try.

I've seen it too many times to count. A kid comfortably hits a 90 mph fastball with little movement and/or poor arm motion on change of speed pitches. He routinely goes between 2 for 4 and 3 for 4 with a homer. He goes up a level where the fastball is now 92 with some movement and/or better arm motion on change of speeds and he routinely goes between 0 for 4 or 1 for 4 with little power.

The fans in the stands at the lower level think he's a "can't miss prospect" because they can't see the difference.

It's like Mike Shannon used to say when John Tudor was pitching and throwing changeup after changeup and striking out Major League hitters.

"I know you guys watching from home think you could hit that pitch. You would be wrong."

[RFKFREAK]

There's a fine line in all sports between the very best and those that are just pretty good. Often not even enough of a gap on each side of that line for an observer to see the difference.

That fine line might as well be a brick wall for many athletes because they will never get over it no matter how hard they try.

I've seen it too many times to count. A kid comfortably hits a 90 mph fastball with little movement and/or poor arm motion on change of speed pitches. He routinely goes between 2 for 4 and 3 for 4 with a homer. He goes up a level where the fastball is now 92 with some movement and/or better arm motion on change of speeds and he routinely goes between 0 for 4 or 1 for 4 with little power.

The fans in the stands at the lower level think he's a "can't miss prospect" because they can't see the difference.

It's like Mike Shannon used to say when John Tudor was pitching and throwing changeup after changeup and striking out Major League hitters.

"I know you guys watching from home think you could hit that pitch. You would be wrong."

Whoa, blast from the past - go go gadget 80's baseball!

[Lihu]

I think the main thing Dan's supporters don't understand is that there are thousands of golfers who are all pro level competing for the same positions he is, and they all would have shot 18 to 20 strokes better per round than he did in those tournaments. Mid-60s is pretty common on normal courses. If he got to a 3 in a few months and spent 6000 hours getting to a +3, he might have a chance to be one of these thousands of golfers. Still no guarantee. Then again, if he got to a 3 in that short a time, he would disprove his own theory.

[pullfade]

Results from the Oregon Stroke Play:

http://www.ghintpp.com/OregonGA/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=351

Dan wouldn't dare enter this tournament, he could practice for 50,000 hours and he still wouldn't have a prayer of winning it, and it's a STATE AMATEUR TOURNAMENT.

[David in FL]

Results from the Oregon Stroke Play: [URL=http://www.ghintpp.com/OregonGA/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=351]http://www.ghintpp.com/OregonGA/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=351[/URL] Dan wouldn't dare enter this tournament, he could practice for 50,000 hours and he still wouldn't have a prayer of winning it, and it's a STATE AMATEUR TOURNAMENT.

He tried to qualify for the State Amateur back in June. Finished very near the bottom in his local qualifying round.

[pullfade]

Only reason he qualified is because of his vanity handicap.

[pullfade]

I should say, only reason he even got to play in a qualifying round was because of his vanity handicap.

[RandallT]

Looks like Dan played in his country club final major of the year:

Although there is no report on his blog since then about how he did in that tourney after the mental game prep, his GHIN lookup "Recent Scores" (not yet included in his current 4.1 handicap 8/1 revision) shows this.  I'm assuming this is from the Riverside tournament he mentions above:

Type	Date (M/YY)	Score	CR/Slope	Diff.
T	8/14	83	71.9/131	9.6

He's still unable to get below 80 in a tourney. He's got to be getting more and more frustrated. It shows in his blog topics. The only post since returning from Australia in early August is about the cost of golf in America (and the general decline of the sport). Not exactly relevant to the Dan Plan. http://thedanplan.com/the-cost-of-golf-in-america/

Still no details on how he is actually practicing, which as nevets points out, is a central focus of his effort. How is his "deliberate" practice different or better than what any of us do (or the 5 S's thread here on TST)?  Inquiring minds want to know.

[Grndslmhttr3]

I watched a video of him playing a practice round. It's hilarious how he tips his cap after putting out like he's on the PGA Tour.

[iacas]

I watched a video of him playing a practice round. It's hilarious how he tips his cap after putting out like he's on the PGA Tour.

Post the video here (not for the hat tipping).

[Grndslmhttr3]

Post the video here (not for the hat tipping).

[nevets88]

Originally Posted by Grndslmhttr3

Ah thanks. I've seen that, it's almost 2 years old - Jan 2013. Wish there was something more recent, like his tournament rounds. I dunno, his swing looks pretty much the same.

[David in FL]

Looks like a pretty pedestrian 7 or 8 hcp......

[golfbarefoot]

His quest really stokes the hacker fire here.. Lol

[Lihu]

His quest really stokes the hacker fire here.. Lol

Only because he took time off to play golf full time, and gets paid for it.

[golfbarefoot]

Only because he took time off to play golf full time, and gets paid for it.

Life's too short to hate.. Regardless..

[k14]

Man it cracks me up reading his blog. His latest one about ups and downs. He briefly skims over the round mentioning how every bad shot he hit (and it sounded like he hit a lot) bounced fortunately and he managed to shoot low 70's. The next day he goes out and the bounce of the ball goes against him and he shoots low 80's. Reading between the lines I think somehow he thinks the low 80's round is not fair. In reality the low 70's round was a complete fluke and the low 80's round is what he deserves. Somehow I think this will never dawn on him...

Still, great reading when I want a laugh.

[Lihu]

Life's too short to hate.. Regardless..

Yup, I agree that life's too short. So, I blog and complain about him here and forget about it until the thread reminder pops up.

Man it cracks me up reading his blog. His latest one about ups and downs. He briefly skims over the round mentioning how every bad shot he hit (and it sounded like he hit a lot) bounced fortunately and he managed to shoot low 70's. The next day he goes out and the bounce of the ball goes against him and he shoots low 80's. Reading between the lines I think somehow he thinks the low 80's round is not fair. In reality the low 70's round was a complete fluke and the low 80's round is what he deserves. Somehow I think this will never dawn on him...

Still, great reading when I want a laugh.

I think this is the general consensus.