Games & Recreation The Dan Plan - Man quits his job to play pro golf, despite never playing golf before

[blues4flag]

That's a very good point. From experience, the best way of progressing is doing something until it just starts to become comfortable/make sense, before pushing it even further. The harder seems to reinforce the easier once you come back to it.

For example, if you're just starting to get a grasp of alegbra then try some calculus (which uses alegbra as a means to an end), the algebra will be much simpler when you come back to it.

If you spend all your time reinforcing things you're already comfortable with, you're probably not making the best use of your time.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

Very interesting.
I don't really subscribe to the 10,000 hours thing.

Practice doesn't make perfect.
Perfect practice makes perfect.

By that I mean there will be days where he is chalking up hours 'practising' where he simply can't be stuffed or he has other things on his mind or whatever. This practice achieves nothing.

(I always get practice/practise wrong... So hopefully I haven't here )

 

[volcboy]

Wish him all the best.

I'm sure I'd need more than 10,000 hours to be decent at maths or chemistry/physics.

As a chemistry/physics teacher, I'd disagree with this. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week for five years - that is a science degree with a Masters tacked on. Sure, you'd still have plenty to learn, but you'd be pretty good - decent at the very least - at one of the three (chemistry, physics or maths) at the end of it.

Would you be the best? Impossible to tell - given the same amount of practice, there are just a few people who have 'special' talents when it comes to certain activities, be it golf or scientific disciplines.

 

[J_Moore]

The big thing with the whole 10,000 hours practice thing is it refers to focused practice (generally under instruction". it doesn't simply refer to repetition. It relies on weaknesses being identified and worked through.

So caesar's literal tennis journeyman isn't likely to get anywhere if he doesn't get proper ongoing coaching, or have the requisite insight and knowledge to coach himself (and considering he sounds like an idiot, he probably doesn't). proper coaching is enormously important. Anyone who's known a kid that struggles at school, only for their parents to fork out cash for a private tutor will have seen the effects of this.

for something like physics, grim, yeah, you probably would develop a "technical mastery" of it after five years of full time study. It won't make you a Nobel laureate or anything, but you'd be across the field, no doubt.

 

[Lets Roar like '44]

He's pretty keen on the stats

 

[kBuck]

Hence my statement about it being fluid........you could spend 5 years working your arse off on it and by the time you got there the goal posts would probably have moved

I liked this comment

I believe maths is fairly straight forward and with enough practice (10000 hours) it can be mastered. Understanding the theory behind maths and physics can be extremely difficult but simply performing the equations not so much.

Maybe ill quit my job and become a sex master -__________-

 

[Gift]

Maybe ill quit my job and become a sex master -__________-

I wonder how many women you could get through in 10000 hours

 

[Illinois Nazi]

I wonder how many women you could get through in 10000 hours

120,000

 

[bombermick]

The fact he never played golf before could help, because he's never developed bad habits or techniques. But, as Caesar says, hard work is not enough. If you don't have a freakish amount of natural talent, you'll never get there - no matter how much you practice.

 

[happy_eagle]

If you don't have a freakish amount of natural talent, you'll never get there - no matter how much you practice.

I guess thats what he's trying to disprove

 

[Eth]

I think golf's one of those sports that doesn't require talent so much as hard work.

If he were to take up short-distance running, however...

 

[scottwade]

I think golf's one of those sports that doesn't require talent so much as hard work.

To automatically qualify for the 2012 US PGA Tour you needed to finish in the top 125 money earners in 2011.

The 126th player on the list won US $668, 768.
The rewards are great, but the competition intense.

Just how many professional golfers, college players, young budding golfers, all with natural talent, do people think Dan will have to compete (and beat) to get his card in 2016?

Dan started in April 2010.
His latest blog entry (29 Dec 2011) indicated he still hasn't broken 80 for a round of golf.

If he had underlying natural talent he surely would've done so by now, 1 & 1/2 plus years into his schedule.

I would also point out that by the time the 10,000 hours have been completed that Dan will be 36.
Jack Nicklaus has won more majors (18) than any other player.
Only 4 came after he passed 35.

Nice vanity project for Dan, but I'm still convinced a nonsense in terms of getting a Tour card by 2016.

 

[Eth]

You can see why he chose golf, though - youth isn't a necessity to succeed.

 

[Hard Ball Get]

If I was to be a tough father and push my son in one sport it would be golf.
Longevity
Not to strenuous on the body
Great money

 

[JuddsABlue]

After 2.5k hours practice Dans handicap is 8.7

Interesting to see how much lower he can get it with 7.5k practice hours to go

He seems a bit of a monster putter which is where hes spent majority of his training, so it appears its really paid off. Through reading snippets of his blog he seems to struggle off the tee a little, often sending balls wide and leaving himself with tough approach shots.

He should def be able to shave off a few shots over the next 1k hours working on his drive alone

 

[Caesar]

For those who are really into golf, how much difference is there between a scratch golfer and a tour pro?

 

[half_back_flank]

Greg Norman started when he was 15 and the first round he played he was reaching par 5's in two. Two years later he was off scratch.

This bloke has absolutely no chance whatsoever, to start that late you need to have god given talent and if you can't break 80 with the coaching this bloke has received after 2,500 hours you ain't got it.

 

[JD11]

Greg Norman started when he was 15 and the first round he played he was reaching par 5's in two. Two years later he was off scratch.

This bloke has absolutely no chance whatsoever, to start that late you need to have god given talent and if you can't break 80 with the coaching this bloke has received after 2,500 hours you ain't got it.

I don't understand, Norman took 2 years to get to scratch, yet this guy can't possibly make it with 10,000 hours practice?

If his mind is right he has more than enough practice to do it.

Golf doesn't really require any great physical prowess, look at guys like Senden and Daly, hardly elite atheletes. It's very much a mental game.

 

[JuddsABlue]

I don't understand, Norman took 2 years to get to scratch, yet this guy can't possibly make it with 10,000 hours practice?

If his mind is right he has more than enough practice to do it.

Golf doesn't really require any great physical prowess, look at guys like Senden and Daly, hardly elite atheletes. It's very much a mental game.

This is the biggest debate over this whole project, and luckily in a few years we should have an answer

Most golfers say its absolutely impossible, but can often be percieved as tainted because of this outsider attempting to do what they do but better. Many said he would never break a 10 handicap

They are also the experienced ones so theyre opinion has to be taken seriously, but a lot of it sounds like its coming from people that dedicated a lot to golf but never made it, so the idea that someone willing to work harder than them can make it with next to no talent worrys them

A normal person just thinks why cant it be possible, surely anything is possible with enough time

Like I said though, we'll know soon enough

 

[Tex_21]

Has anyone thought about the fact that it is a totally moot point?

He is currently being funded to produce a documentary/webisodes/whatever on his progress as a golfer. That is, he is being paid to play golf, in the form of practising. By definition this makes him a professional golfer.

He's achieved his own goal the moment he set out on this.

Now, the 'secondary' goal as such, of getting a tour card, is another matter entirely.

 

[half_back_flank]

I don't understand, Norman took 2 years to get to scratch, yet this guy can't possibly make it with 10,000 hours practice?

If his mind is right he has more than enough practice to do it.

Golf doesn't really require any great physical prowess, look at guys like Senden and Daly, hardly elite atheletes. It's very much a mental game.

Norman took basically the same amount of time (give or take a month), with much less coaching to reach scratch while this bloke has reached a handicap of 9 with a team of coaches.

There are special circumstances, yet the vast majority of golfers find the gap between a 27 to say 6 handicap much easier to bridge than 5 to scratch so he still has a very long way to go before he gets down close to scratch, before even thinking about getting anywhere near the nation wide tour, let alone the US tour.

Good on him for having a go but he has next to no chance at getting a card on either the US or Euro tours.

 

[The Passenger]

yes the final 6 or 7 of his handicap will be probably two or three times harder then going from 28 to where he is now.

good on him, and it'll be amazing if he makes it. but long odds.

 

[Crimson Azure]

For those who are really into golf, how much difference is there between a scratch golfer and a tour pro?

Hack golfer checking in.

A fair bit I'd say. Many scratch golfers play off scratch at their home course only, take them anywhere else & they might play off anywhere between 5-10.

Doesn't sound like much as many pros will hit rounds of +5 or more at times but the difference is they might play a course once a year & can still play four rounds on par. You would struggle to find a scratch golfer who plays of scratch wherever he goes.

Most club 'pros' play of scratch or one at their clubs & I would consider exceptional golfers but they aren't good enough to make a living as a professional tour golfer. That says a lot to me.

 

[JD11]

Norman took basically the same amount of time (give or take a month), with much less coaching to reach scratch while this bloke has reached a handicap of 9 with a team of coaches.

There are special circumstances, yet the vast majority of golfers find the gap between a 27 to say 6 handicap much easier to bridge than 5 to scratch so he still has a very long way to go before he gets down close to scratch, before even thinking about getting anywhere near the nation wide tour, let alone the US tour.

Good on him for having a go but he has next to no chance at getting a card on either the US or Euro tours.

Fair enough, but there's no way he'll reach world number one as Norman did.

I'd be very surprised if he wasn't very close to, or doesn't have a us tour card by 2017.

YE Yang took up the game at 19.

 

[The Passenger]

A fair bit I'd say. Many scratch golfers play off scratch at their home course only, take them anywhere else & they might play off anywhere between 5-10.

that is a very very good point.

every course plays very differently and takes adjustment.