TST Interviews The Dan Plan (Dan McLaughlin) - You Get to Ask the Questions

[Lihu]

How's he going to afford a mini tour 1200 buy in per tourney if he can't afford $100 local am event?

Money, Skill, Money, More Skill - There are lots of players who may need a few extra years to develop but couldn't because of financial restraints. So if you can't afford it now, how are you going to afford it later to get to that level. Only 2-3 chances; Top 2 at US AM, Make the cut at the Masters, get sponsors and sponsor invites to PGA tourneys. Or do the same at either the Mid-Am or US Open.

Wow, that's an expensive 4 rounds of golf! I'd rather be playing Pelican Hill or Bandon Dunes for that kind of money. . .

[GHIN0011458]

Wow, that's an expensive 4 rounds of golf! I'd rather be playing Pelican Hill or Bandon Dunes for that kind of money. . .

Not if you have the chance to win 30k.

[fr0sty]

Wow, that's an expensive 4 rounds of golf!

More correctly, that's an expensive 2 rounds of golf. I'm not sure how many cuts you can expect to make playing off of a 3 or so...

[DrvFrShow]

Dan doesn't have the resources he needs. He can practice all he wants, but if he doesn't have the resources it isn't going to happen. He needs Butch Harmon for a year. Get his swing in order and playing the game. But like you said if he can't afford $100 local am event how can he afford this? It is always a matter of resources. You can even have the talent, but without the resources you're done.

[Lihu]

Dan doesn't have the resources he needs. He can practice all he wants, but if he doesn't have the resources it isn't going to happen. He needs Butch Harmon for a year. Get his swing in order and playing the game. But like you said if he can't afford $100 local am event how can he afford this? It is always a matter of resources. You can even have the talent, but without the resources you're done.

Truthfully, if he first showed talent and declared that he plans to prove the 10,000 hour theory he would probably have serious monetary supporters. The problem is that he was just an average person who has just spent 4 years of his life full time to get to a 3 handicap***.

Here is a scenario that might have sparked more serious interest:

If he had just started golf, and played for something like 6 months and started shooting to a 3 handicap in that short a time, more people would have been interested. Then he would have needed to continue to scratch within a year spending 2000 hours of actual recorded deliberate practice in the process and winning local club championships. The second year he would need to be playing down to a +2 or +3 handicap, and winning local amateur Mid-Am tournaments. By winning the Mid-Am tournaments he could have sparked some interest from clubs that might sponsor him into mini tour events. By now, he should have been playing and winning some mini tour events for the last two years as @GHIN0011458 stated many pages back. This could possibly springboard him to Web.com qualifiers.

Also, just look at his photos of him "having fun". There's a picture of him with a club draped over his shoulder while he's looking up into trees. Looking at this image makes me think he might have spent a whole 500 hours of deliberate practice in 4 years, and the rest playing golf in a leisurely fashion.

It's not the fact that there is no money that is available to someone who wants to prove this theory, it's the lack of enough talent and seriousness.

***Which is not really that bad in itself. . .

[nevets88]

I agree with this Tweet, the blog and in general, the plan always seemed light on information with respect to swing specifics.

I think it's more than that.

[iacas]

I am converting the interview from what he said on to paper. Should take me a few more days then it will be in the Thrash Talk blog. Sorry it is taking so long. I have a regular job you know.

Erik J. Barzeski — ⛳ I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • Author, Lowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019  

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[mvmac]

We responded to that one…

Good response.

[Lihu]

Good response. [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/116409/] [/URL]

He apologized for over simplifying his synopsis, as he was not that far into the book yet. . . Starting to read some of the tweets.

[nevets88]

[natureboy]

Truthfully, if he first showed talent and declared that he plans to prove the 10,000 hour theory he would probably have serious monetary supporters. The problem is that he was just an average person who has just spent 4 years of his life full time to get to a 3 handicap***.

Here is a scenario that might have sparked more serious interest:

If he had just started golf, and played for something like 6 months and started shooting to a 3 handicap in that short a time, more people would have been interested. Then he would have needed to continue to scratch within a year spending 2000 hours of actual recorded deliberate practice in the process and winning local club championships. The second year he would need to be playing down to a +2 or +3 handicap, and winning local amateur Mid-Am tournaments. By winning the Mid-Am tournaments he could have sparked some interest from clubs that might sponsor him into mini tour events. By now, he should have been playing and winning some mini tour events for the last two years as @GHIN0011458 stated many pages back. This could possibly springboard him to Web.com qualifiers.

Also, just look at his photos of him "having fun". There's a picture of him with a club draped over his shoulder while he's looking up into trees. Looking at this image makes me think he might have spent a whole 500 hours of deliberate practice in 4 years, and the rest playing golf in a leisurely fashion.

It's not the fact that there is no money that is available to someone who wants to prove this theory, it's the lack of enough talent and seriousness.

***Which is not really that bad in itself. . .

While I agree he vastly underestimated the exponential climb, I think your scenario for success is unrealistic on the other end.

Greg Norman got to scratch between 18-24 months - in a highly sunny climate - and had Hall of Fame talent. He won 20 times with 2 majors). Larry Nelson broke 70 in 9 months - but not explicit that he was a consistent scratch by that point. He won 10 times with 3 majors.

Anyone who is close to that schedule - adjusted for available playing time due to local climate - would bear close watching and sponsoring. 6 months to a 3 sounds like a an extreme outlier rate of improvement with potential to be a high achieving pro, let alone one who just squeaks in.

I think the first year of putting, chipping, and pitching practice by Dan counts as pretty deliberate. He should have been mixing it up though - 2 hours max on a particular skill.

[Lihu]

While I agree he vastly underestimated the exponential climb, I think your scenario for success is unrealistic on the other end.

Greg Norman got to scratch between 18-24 months - in a highly sunny climate - and had Hall of Fame talent. He won 20 times with 2 majors). Larry Nelson broke 70 in 9 months - but not explicit that he was a consistent scratch by that point. He won 10 times with 3 majors.

Anyone who is close to that schedule - adjusted for available playing time due to local climate - would bear close watching and sponsoring. 6 months to a 3 sounds like a an extreme outlier rate of improvement with potential to be a high achieving pro, let alone one who just squeaks in.

I think the first year of putting, chipping, and pitching practice by Dan counts as pretty deliberate. He should have been mixing it up though - 2 hours max on a particular skill.

Right, so he should have moved to Orlando.

How about if he did 6.5 hours long game, 2 hours chipping and pitching, 1.5 hours putting per day?

[Pretzel]

Right, so he should have moved to Orlando. How about if he did 6.5 hours long game, 2 hours chipping and pitching, 1.5 hours putting per day?

He would have been better off with a more solid start than he hour with the only putting plan. The only putting thing bugs me just in that it's something that would be absurd in every other discipline, yet he thought it was a good idea to follow. Want to learn to cook? Go beat eggs only for your first year. Want to play baseball? Do nothing but throw a ball for the first eight months. Aspiring tailback? Go run wind sprints every day for six months. Tennis? Work on nothing but a serve, day in and day out, for nine months. All of those examples are ridiculous, so why didn't Dan stop to think about the idea of only putting for that long? It's just as bad as the others I stayed, but why does it seem more "normal"?

[Shorty]

All of those examples are ridiculous, so why didn't Dan stop to think about the idea of only putting for that long? It's just as bad as the others I stayed, but why does it seem more "normal"?

Because the whole plan is not a plan.

It's not about putting or driving or GIRs or anything. It never was.

It's about building a brand and getting publicity.

The problem is that the guy is so dense that he hasn't yet worked out that he has failed and couldn't do anything but fail.

At some point, in any of his interviews and publicity stunts anyone who has half a brain will have to ask him to acknowledge that he set his sights at an insanely high level.

I'm actually impressed with what he has achieved - but he ain't gonna be no PGA Tour Pro. He may not be in the top 100,000 players within a day's drive of where he lives.

Like I said  - qualify for the last 16 of a club championship, or qualify for the US Amateur.  Too easy. Really?

David Feherty got it right and had the guts to say it.

A snowball's chance in hell. And that's being generous.

[nevets88]

Lowest Score Wins is in the latest post: http://thedanplan.com/fourth-tourney-season-about-to-begin/ [QUOTE]Speaking of that, I have been reading Lowest Score Wins lately and appreciate the knowledge in the book as well as how they break down the game into where you can gain the most strokes. They call it separation value (SV) and have the game broken down into 4 categories of where the most SV occurs. They use some of the data from Mark Brodie’s Every Shot Counts book and then apply ways in which to improve those areas. They break down these SVs in four categories. Catagory 4 is where you can gain the most strokes and catagory 1 is where the least amount, on average during a round, of strokes can be gained. So they suggest focussing mostly on the cat 4 and 3 and then getting down to the 2 and 1. There’s much more to this, but here are the catagories: Catagory 4: Driving; Approach shots; GamePlanning Catagory 3: Green Reading; Greenside shots (from about 20 yards and in) Catagory 2: 3-15 foot putts; 25+ foot putts; Greenside bunker shots; 20-60 yard shots; 220+ yard shots; Trouble shots Catagory 1: Under 3-foot putts; 15-25 foot putts; long bunker shots; fairway bunker shots They have it all mapped out as to why these things have different value both to a tour pro and to a 30 handicapper and it makes sense. For me, I yet again am seeing the importance of driving the ball from an instructional source. It’s definitely a weakness in my game and something I am constantly working on.[/QUOTE]

[Abu3baid]

Lowest Score Wins is in the latest post: http://thedanplan.com/fourth-tourney-season-about-to-begin/

Seems like he is open to new ideas and concepts.. Maybe people just haven't approached him correctly before? Seems like he will concentrate more on the SV4 going forward, good for him!

[Lihu]

Lowest Score Wins is in the latest post:

http://thedanplan.com/fourth-tourney-season-about-to-begin/

Seems like he is open to new ideas and concepts.. Maybe people just haven't approached him correctly before? Seems like he will concentrate more on the SV4 going forward, good for him!

Agreed, and I hope he has a good season ahead of him. . .

[fr0sty]

Agreed, and I hope he has a good season ahead of him. . .

Maybe the GameGolf people could hook him up with one of their systems. That could be interesting to watch.