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

[half_back_flank]

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.

Yang is another freak, self taught i'm pretty sure and turned pro three years after picking up a club. Even then it took him another 8 years to get on the US tour.

To play on the US Tour as a late bloomer (lets say 10 and over) you have to be a freak and have a natural talent for the game. This Dan bloke is 30 odd and after nearly two years of intense coaching is only playing off high single digits means that he isn't a freak and doesn't have a god given talent for the sport.

Will not even make it to the nationwide tour.

 

[Falchoon]

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.

Daly's hand/eye coordination is off the charts

 

[Hoffy95]

I shot 23 under in a round @ St Andrews on Tiger Woods Golf after only a few days of playing it.

Mind you what this guy is doing is probably slightly different.

 

[Squeak]

He's already 35-40 shots per round better than I am.

 

[JD11]

Yang is another freak, self taught i'm pretty sure and turned pro three years after picking up a club. Even then it took him another 8 years to get on the US tour.

To play on the US Tour as a late bloomer (lets say 10 and over) you have to be a freak and have a natural talent for the game. This Dan bloke is 30 odd and after nearly two years of intense coaching is only playing off high single digits means that he isn't a freak and doesn't have a god given talent for the sport.

Will not even make it to the nationwide tour.

I guess we'll have to wait and see.

 

[Rockford]

Best of luck to him. Even if he doesn't make the US PGA but goes on to play professionally then that'll be enough for me.

 

[d0gs]

Great marketing strategy for himself in the long run I think. All the best to him. Considering the amount of golfers trying to break into the tour and the variations in golf courses, it will be a mighty task.

 

[rideclutch]

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

I went to TAFE with a mate who grew up playing with Geoff Ogilvy. My mate plays off 2 and is a very good golfer, but he said Geoff had no problems beating him by 10-15 shots.

Pro's might only go around in 1 under or evens for a PGA event, but put them on the same course midweek with some mates, and they shoot 59's and 60's. Tournament conditions are very different. The Pebble Beach Pro-Am a couple of weeks ago showed even the best of the Amatuer celebs (scratch or low cappers) were finding it difficult simply to stay on the fairway, let alone hit greens in regulation. Some say the gap between the pro's and best amateurs is small, but I think it's deceptively large.

As for Dan, I like the way he's started with short game and moved outwards, as short game is usually what seperates winners from 2nd place, but the competition on both Euro and PGA tours is so strong now, I just don't see him making it. Happy to be wrong though.

 

[aussierulesrules]

Very interesting thread and experiment.
On top of the 10,000 hours theory, though, is that theory that many have, that in order to be exceptional at something, it helps enormously if you start it at a young age, like by the age of about 10-12. It of course also helps massively if you have a natural God-given talent for that pursuit as well. (like in Norman's case).
So Dan may potentially have only one of these 3 things going for him. If that's the case, it will make it expontentially more difficult for him to achieve his goal.
Here is a story on how Jason Day made it into professional golf. He is now one of the best in the world and started from a young age and also put in copious amounts of hours of practise: http://voices.yahoo.com/pga-golfer-jason-day-will-he-better-than-tiger-6594362.html?cat=9

This is taken from the article below, from the "Will of a champion" website:
"Jason Day: Talent only takes you so far in any sport. If you have talent; you have potential. But if you work hard, you can accomplish anything. There are certain things you have to have in order to be successful at your chosen sport. First, You have to be smart and listen to your coaches. Second, you have to be disciplined. At the ages of 12 and 13 years old, I did not know if I could play golf professionally. But my coach encouraged me to believe in myself and to work hard. So I listened to him and did exactly those two things. Every morning I awoke at 5:00am and practiced before school from 5:30 to 8:30. After school I would practice from about 3:30 to 6:30pm. I did this Every day! My coach told me my weakness was my short game, so I practiced my short game before and after school and it became one of my strengths.

http://willofachampion.com/2010/05/...hings-you-have-to-have-in-order-to-be-succes/

 

[scottwade]

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's just clicked over another thousand hours, so one third of the way through his project.

After 3,600 hours he's now got a handicap of 6.1.

Bump prompted by speaking to a former workmate who in retirement decided to get his golf handicap down. His handicap has improved quicker than Dan's and he's in his early sixties.

 

[happy_eagle]

6.1 Handicap and not even half way there

Still not a bad effort

 

[stmookeyj]

He'd be better off waiting till he was 50 to get on the Champions (seniors) Tour, sounds a little more realistic.

 

[J_Moore]

He's just clicked over another thousand hours, so one third of the way through his project.

After 3,600 hours he's now got a handicap of 6.1.

Bump prompted by speaking to a former workmate who in retirement decided to get his golf handicap down. His handicap has improved quicker than Dan's and he's in his early sixties.

He'd already been playing for years, though, presumably? Didn't this guy take up the sport never having played it before?

Still, I don't fancy Dan's chances of getting on the PGA tour. But he's coming off a base of zero.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

What is “natural talent” though, particularly with a sport like golf?

I can see it for very physical sports, some people are born with an athletic predisposition and they’re taller / stronger / faster etc from the start, before they start any focussed training.

But golf? I would think (and from my very limited experience) that it’s an extremely technical game. It’s not raw power that counts, but the technical aspects of your game and you mental ability to execute them well time and time again? Surely if this guy is training for the equivalent of 6 hours a day, 7 day a week, for 5 years, all under the eye of a full time professional coach ironing out and refining his every move, that would have to produce something... I guess we’ll find out if he sticks with it.

Not denying there’s some god-given stuff involved, hand-eye coordination etc, but I’d think it’s a pursuit where the technical refinement and practice play a huge part. And it’d only ever be the guys who show a bit when they first start. Interesting to see what that does when applied to somebody who didn’t show something first up, at the end you could theoretically see the exact gap that the “natural” talent really is.

It reminds me of a conversation I had with a few mate years ago. We’d all played junior footy together, and a couple of blokes we played for and against (names not important as it’ll just cloud the discussion) ended up getting drafted. Now it was kind of interesting at the time, because of who these blokes were – one was 6 ft 6 and a good athlete, the other with a pretty famous footy name and limited talents and athletic prowess. But if you looked at everybody in that junior footy comp, neither of them would have been in the top 20 across ten or so teams. Yet they got recruited straight to TAC level and ended up drafted. I have mates who at 17yo were superior footballers to them in every way, absolutely no doubt. A couple of them played TAC Cup and far outshone these blokes, but were never drafted. Went on to very solid local footy careers. Obviously the theory was “this bloke just has height”, and the other just a name, which I‘ve no doubt played a huge part in him getting given a chance. Everyone said these kids wouldn’t make it, because they couldn’t even perform that well at TAC Cup level, let alone the AFL. They’d both be back playing locals with us in few years.

Yet both went on to solid AFL careers. The difference was, having spoken to them, once they just got the chance, the full time training / practice / refinement / nutrition / support they get given in a professional environment has a massive, massive impact. The god given stuff ended up playing a small role. They could play to start with obviously, but once you get into that environment, the benefits are huge if you apply yourself and take advantage of it.

This bloke has put himself in that environment, the outcome will be very interesting, hope he sees it through.

 

[J_Moore]

Yet both went on to solid AFL careers. The difference was, having spoken to them, once they just got the chance, the full time training / practice / refinement / nutrition / support they get given in a professional environment has a massive, massive impact. The god given stuff ended up playing a small role. They could play to start with obviously, but once you get into that environment, the benefits are huge if you apply yourself and take advantage of it.

A bit of a variation on the old "professional athletes birthdays tend to cluster early in the year" effect.

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2008/04/the_boys_of_late_summer.html

 

[Caesar]

It's a combination of a bunch of stuff. Natural talent is one component. Small for technical sports, but still there. If you have good reactions or good hand/eye coordination or good physics judgement then it helps.

The main thing holding back Dan though would be starting late. It's just so much harder to learn things as an adult.

 

[manureid]

The tough part is now though...getting from 6 to scratch is a killer.

 

[JD11]

and then to plus 7 or 8.

 

[funk44]

The tough part is now though...getting from 6 to scratch is a killer.

True and he will need around a plus 3 handicap to have even a remote chance at Q School

 

[Tiff]

In what field though? The study of mathematics for mathematics sake would be as infinite as physics. In fact academia per se is an ongoing pursuit.

The golf thing has a finite result........get a PGA card. To retain it would require the same on going studies that physics and mathematics would require.

Okay then lets set a goal. A bachelors degree in Physics.

I have enough to get by, say, an Engineering degree, but Physics is way beyond me. So lets say you have an average ability, would 10,000 hours get me to a level to get a degree?

I don't think so. A level of intellect to work with Physics is one of those things you have or you don't.

By the same token, this guy is probably a naturally gifted sportsman. As a kid I could pick up anything and be good at it, but I have mates who just aren't naturally sporty, and no amount of training was ever going to be able to erase their gumby-ness.

 

[Dan]

Well he has a solid name which is a good start.

Wished I found this thread earlier, will watch Dan's progress with interest.

 

[Natho]

Interesting thread! Will keep a close eye on Dan!

 

[JuddsABlue]

just out of interest, does anyone know what his handicap is??

gotta admit his blog was a bit hard to follow when i read it the other night... was a bit pissed though.

bump

Dans current handicap after 4.6k hours is around the 2-3 mark

He recently was on SBS Insight, the topic being Born or Made, discussion if 'natural talent' is a real thing or if success is bread out of effort etc. Its up on the SBS website to be streamed online

So he appears to be going fairly well, and is now playing tournaments here and there attempting to make small qualifiers

 

[Sydney Bloods]

how the **** is this guy living? i'd be broke in 3 maybe 4 months if i stopped working.

 

[JuddsABlue]

how the **** is this guy living? i'd be broke in 3 maybe 4 months if i stopped working.

He relies somewhat on donations and also most/all of his gear is sponsored and given for free

I'm sure there will also be add revenue from his website, but I don't think he's flush with cash

I haven't followed closely enough to see how he's doing financially, but at the start of the journey money was a talking point and he was very conscious of how he was going to make it work without an income stream

With his story and popularity growing he may have secured a long term sponsor/investor but I haven't seen anything on that