rolopolo

hang on a second ... i think my confusion comes from the way you structured your sentence. did you mean to say "you can hit a draw without rolling your hands over"?

not sure this is correct?

Oosty 6 footer to go 4 under :)

also just realised that they have shottracker for this. usga leaderboard > click player > shots & stats. for those who didnt know

awesome course i feel. really interesting to watch on telly

The whole point of the exercise is to prove/disprove that talent is overrated. Dan clearly is not one of those people who can just pick up a sport and play to a great level in a short time. That is the very reason why his project is so interesting.

Strange, the whole idea of writing a story or telling someone about your adventure is to provide entertainment and/or value. The very fact that you are writing about Dan on a golf forum tells me that he has contributed to entertaining you as you surely would not be spending time on this forum and replying if you did not enjoy it. So you are contributing to the succes of Dan's blog, yet you are at the same time complaining anout how stupid the whole idea is. I dont think Dan is living a life of luxury of his blog proceeds. And if it is so simple to only play golf for 5 years and not work and have the public support you, why arent more people doing it? Because their values dont allow it? Dan's work is very valuable for anyone involved in learning and development and those interested in this fascinating theory. I would welcome more experiments like this.

Oops sorry phone died in the middle of me writing that. Here is what i wanted to say: Dan is testing a theory on whether one can become an expert or master in a field through 10k hours of deliberate practice. To me someone with a 2 or 3 handicap is very close to an expert and I would say someone with a scratch handicap has mastered the game of golf. I would consider a golf pro with a scratch handicap enough of an expert to go to him for instruction. Sure he did mention qualifying for the tour in his first few posts, but he has also said that the goal is to see whether he can become a pro. Halfway though his 10k hours, Dan was at a 4 handicap. That to me is not far from expert level when talking about golf. We all know that learning and skill aquisition is not linear and ive no doubt that Dan can reach a scratch handicap by 10k hours. That to me would prove that the 10k hours transformed him from knowing nothing to being an expert. Too many people focus on the PGA tour bit if his mission. That really is not the point of the exercise. I can become a great, expert lawyer, or an expert illustrator or graphic designer, but still would not be one of the top 1000 lawyers im the world. Id still be an expert and master of the law though.

He's obviously going to fall short of his

yeh mate its very real lol. http://worldofgolf.co.za/facilities These are called Golf Villages, its a chain of driving ranges. This is probably the nicest one though. The course I was talking about is something different though, not to be confused with the driving range. We are getting more and more foreigners, especially asian girls coming to do high school here in SA so that they can practice here and play for cheap all year round. One of the perks of living in Africa I suppose :/

From these posts I think we are quite lucky here in S Africa to have nice practice facilities for very very cheap and that we can play and practice all year round. I go to one of these (pic) and it costs about $35 a month for membership for unlimited play and balls, you can spend 300 hours a month there and it would still only cost you the $35. I dont mind mats at all btw, it has many advantages. However I hope to get a membership at a course with a nice grass driving range soon. We have a course here called the Els Club which is fantastic (had a european tour event there couple years ago), with an insane grass driving range. As per latest enquiry it was about $2000 a year for the super duper all you can get membership which includes membership fees, unlimited golf, free carts as well as free range access. The range is so good that I am considering it as it is not always easy to find a good grass range.

so much criticism towards Dan and his lack of "dedication" and "hard work". what the man has accomplished is simply unbelievable and i think his experiment is already a big success.

For most people golf is a hobby with the sole aim of enjoyment or entertainment. For me that enjoyment comes about 80% from the challenge of getting better at something and actually hitting shots. However, a large part of the fun in doing the hobby which is golf for me, comes from browsimg golf stores and getting new equipment, new balls, new clothes, etc. So it is very possible that someone want to play blades as it is fun and interesting and even if knowingly it will contribute to one or two extra shots per round, the trade off is worth it. I bet them DryJoys are very comfy and keep your feet dry but they are ugly as old **** and id rather look cool than have dry feet. Part of yhe enjoyment for me is lookin good on the course

This is not true really. Even the smoothest most athletic golf swing puts tremendous strain on certain joints and muscles. There are thousands of outstanding golfers who have picked up serious injuries while having great, smooth swings.

Assalam alaikum brother and welcome I will try to share some thoughts from what i can see of your swing. Firstly, I think that you are swinging wayyyyyyy too hard. And you are swinging very hard with your arms. The reason you do this, is because your backswing is much bigger/longer than your body allows, and you are therefore losing all the tension in your torso, and also the power, which makes you have to swing harder with the arms. I would say take the club back no further than what keeping an absolute straight left arm will allow you to, feel the tension built up, and then release I would also like to share with you the one big and most important difference between beginners like yourself and better players. Me and many others have realised this at some point after we started playing golf, and often it is the WOW moment that instantly changes your game. Here it is: The golf swing is not natural at all, and never feels natural. The golf swing is a connected swing, where the arms are tight to the body and you are swinging from the hip. This is what STAYING CONNECTED is all about. Take a 3/4 backswing at most and ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS, from the take-away to completion, feel that the right elbow is tucked in closely to your side. This will allow you to bring the club in on plane. Here is Ben Hogan demonstrating it - this is what will take you to a single handicap in a year of practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v;=_AmPuzgBXEM So remember, NEVER take the club back so far as what you see on TV, you can only do that with extreme flexibility and physical conditioning. Just take it back to where you feel tension and the left arm is still arrow straight. Start the downswing with a little sideways movement of the hips towards the target. KEEP RIGHT ELBOW TIGHTLY TUCKED IN TO SIDE AT ALL TIMES

Quote: I agree completely with tourspoon 95% of golfers should never attempt to make any full swing and should never bring the club near to parallel. Going to any range you will see hackers hitting monster hooks and slices , with massive backswings and follow throughs. The minute amount of extra power that can be harnessed by such an exaggerated swing can only be taken advantage of by the most talented players with great natural hand eye coordination Why on earth would you try and hit a shot far if you cant hit it straight? Forget about hitting a 5 iron 190 yards. Your goal should be to try and hit your 5 iron straight and down the middle, 140 yards, 10 out of 10 times. Only after you can do that should you try to hit it 160 yards, etc.... Happy New Year fellas

Is Tiger a better golfer than Jack was? Without a doubt, of course he is. But then, many of today's youngsters might be better than Jack. Golfers 30 years from now will be much better than Tiger - the speed at which athletes becomes better is phenomenal People are getting bigger, training is better, we know more about the golf swing and biomechanics, athletes are more professional and start preparing and training at a much younger age. Therefore, today's athletes will always be better than yesteryear's But we are not debating who was the BEST . This will never be debatable across generations/eras . So, we are stuck with the GREATEST - And that can only be Jack. Because being great requires more than being the best or being good. Being great means displaying longevity, respect from your peers, etc.... Tiger is a class A c*nt. He is arrogant, a liar, a nasty piece of work all around. You can tell me that I am unfair, but I have seen enough - He still displays no humility or respect when dealing with the media, etc... Jack is the GOAT . End of discussion. To become the GOAT, tiger has to win 5 more majors. 4 wont do.

will be just about impossible for tiger to become #1 this year. he would have to win about 6 regular pga tourneys at least one would think can see luke finishing top 4 just about every time he plays westy's short game will keep him from staying at no1 for any good amount of time ever kaymer a good chance, swing changes starting to pay off i think

^ in that order

my top 5 to win the money list would be: luke scott westwood rory tiger

I like your blog tourspoon i always read it the golf club market is primarily one for cosmetic appeal, and secondly functionality. it is in a sorry state. callaway, titleist, ping, whatever - they are not in the business of supplying the golfer with the best tools to play the game. this is not my opinion, this is a fact, and you will find this in any strategic report for the big oems. anyways, it is pretty obvious how they go about things. unfortunately, the cosmetic appeal theyre after will only appeal to people with zero taste, and those who like tacky nonsense i cannot, and will not, play an iron with any piece of foil insert, wings, stupid gimmicks, non functional shapes and features, or anything that does not impact on its performance. unfortunately most people are not that smart (my iq is 149), and marketers of not only golf equipment but also other goods need to account for the 90% of stupid people out there

ffs nearly pissed myself reading the last one though

heya domenic , i did not read the whole thread but i would say you have a much better chance you might think there is absolutely no need to be a +3 player by the age of 16, or even a scratch player by the age of 17 - this is a myth some of the best players on the major world tours picked up the game at an older age, and many guys like ian poulter for example became scratch players for the first time after they left school, and then started dedicating themselves to practicing more. also remember that, the golf landscape on the pro tours will look very different 10-15 years from now, when you will be at your peak as a golfer. forget about the top 200 - by the time you are 30, the top 1000 players in the world will all be making great money on tours. we all know how strong the euro tour is. then there is the asian tour, it is a great tour with great purses that are becoming bigger and bigger. there are also tours like the sunshine tour, australasian tour, japanese tour, these are all options, and they will all be much richer in the future, and you could certainly make good money playing on them wile you get better. luke donald is a great example for me, he was always a good player, but never great. he hits a lot of hacker shots now and then, a few weeks ago in dubai he missed fairways 30 yards with his irons, however, he has dedicated himself to becoming the greatest short game player ever, and he is just on another planet in that sense at the moment. you need to have a strenght in one area and be decent in the rest. 'practice will never make up for natural talent' they say, maybe true in a sense, but if you practice hard enough, and if you love practicing, then there is no reason why you cant do it. i will give you practice tip that has turned my game and the way i look at the game around completely - give yourself 3 months - put away all your clubs for those 3 months and only take out your 3 iron. take it to the range everyday and hit 200 balls with it. play with it, have fun with it, hit balls with closed legs, from the back of your stance, front of your stance, hit stingers, punch shots, pitch with it, try to hit the 100 yard flag with it, hit it very close to your body, and very far. it will change your game completely.

this thread is a good laugh

i find the last post a bit offensive but i have forgiven you already