the dan plan: how good can a guy get?

[birly-shirly]

Jim

With all due respect - as I understand it, psychologists have been looking for the "it" for years. Basketball's easy - "it" is about 7 feet tall - but in most fields, it's much harder to identify anything, other than large amounts of quality practice, that accurately predicts success. [And at that point, I should probably apologise in advance who thinks I'm saying that you just need to be freaky tall to be an NBA star.]

For every Prince Fielder story, everyone must have several stories of the standout kid from their school who mystified everyone by never making the step up. At the same time, there are a wealth of stories like Hogan's, and to a much lesser extent, Poulter's, of guys who never really stood out for years - where was their "it" throughout their early years? And, in all seriousness, who really guessed when he first came out on tour that Tiger's "it" would turn out to be half so big?

I take your point about people thinking that golf is the easy option.

 

[BrendanC]

I watched a great interview with Padraig Harrington last night - one of the great talkers and thinkers of the modern pros.

His decision to turn pro was strongly influenced by seeing players he knew he could beat as an amateur make it in the professional ranks.

Where will Dan get that kind of reinforcement?

(Also: Brian, you have a marketing degree right? Dan is getting "too much" exposure because he is furiously working every channel he can!)

 

[spktho]

Here's a story i heard:

Prince Fielder would accompany his dad to the Tiger's field back in the day when he was a kid and the Tigers would let him take batting practice with his dad and the team all the time. As a 12 or 13 year old kid (i forget if they said 12-13) he was hitting balls into the upper deck :O! The real professionals just have something most of us don't, otherwise i would have hoped someone would have saw it when we were a kid and put us on that particular path.

Just my view.

Sorry Jim, have to call BS on the Fielder story. He may have hit a home run in Tigers Stadium when he was 12, which is still an outstanding achievement, but no way hit it in the upper deck. He had 10 home runs as a senior in high school, over about 25-30 games which isn't really anything spectacular either. The home run record at the high school I coach at is 16, with major league field dimensions, and he is a pitcher in single A now.

 

[birly-shirly]

[...]
Where will Dan get that kind of reinforcement?

I think that's the big "flaw" in the Dan Plan. Basically, he's cramming his 10K hours as fast as he can. (So would I, if I'd given up the day job!) That's all well and good in terms of skills development - but I suspect that he'll struggle to get the high-level competitive experience that most pros accumulate on their way to the tour.

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Sorry Jim, have to call BS on the Fielder story. He may have hit a home run in Tigers Stadium when he was 12, which is still an outstanding achievement, but no way hit it in the upper deck. He had 10 home runs as a senior in high school, over about 25-30 games which isn't really anything spectacular either. The home run record at the high school I coach at is 16, with major league field dimensions, and he is a pitcher in single A now.

I heard the story from the Tiger's beat writer when my local station was talking to him after he was traded; it's possible he embelished a bit but he was hitting home runs so still quite a feat. Also, as we all know (who've played baseball) in game home run and batting practice are 2 different things.

In fact, it's very close to the being on the range versus being on the course. Another fun story, you ever see Ichiro Suzuki take batting practice? That guy could light it up over the right field fence, he'd pull a bunch of balls in BP just for fun he just didn't do that in games as he was a true "hitter."

 

[Jim Kobylinski]

Jim

With all due respect - as I understand it, psychologists have been looking for the "it" for years. Basketball's easy - "it" is about 7 feet tall - but in most fields, it's much harder to identify anything, other than large amounts of quality practice, that accurately predicts success. [And at that point, I should probably apologise in advance who thinks I'm saying that you just need to be freaky tall to be an NBA star.]

For every Prince Fielder story, everyone must have several stories of the standout kid from their school who mystified everyone by never making the step up. At the same time, there are a wealth of stories like Hogan's, and to a much lesser extent, Poulter's, of guys who never really stood out for years - where was their "it" throughout their early years? And, in all seriousness, who really guessed when he first came out on tour that Tiger's "it" would turn out to be half so big?

I take your point about people thinking that golf is the easy option.

You missed my point, i'm not talking about "success" i'm talking simply MAKING IT to the show. Your point is true, there are tons of talented people who have "it" and DON'T make it. I'll bet on talent 99% of the time, they won't all make it but the odds are with them versus the odds of the guys who are the "grinders."

 

[Virtuoso]

Let's say the gap between a new player and 6 is like, uh the size of Florida. The gap between a 6 and a tour player is the entire continental United States.

Amen brother.....I might even go so far to include Hawaii.

 

[Virtuoso]

No offense, but this gets WAY more pub than it should.

3000 hours from beginner to a 6? No problem.

I once had a guy come to me after one round of golf and ask if I wanted to help him win a bet.

He bet he could break 80 on one of my home courses—City Park West, white tees 6750—in three months.

AND....he had to do it on the "bet" round.

He was about 30 years old, and was former tennis pro (just a teacher, not a big time player).

He shot 76 and won the bet.

And I didn't even get my name in the local paper.

Holy cow, you should have been put on the cover of USAtoday.

 

[Virtuoso]

I think that's the big "flaw" in the Dan Plan. Basically, he's cramming his 10K hours as fast as he can. (So would I, if I'd given up the day job!) That's all well and good in terms of skills development - but I suspect that he'll struggle to get the high-level competitive experience that most pros accumulate on their way to the tour.

I haven't checked out the blog yet--will be sure too soon. Is he competing in am tournys as he goes?

 

[birly-shirly]

You missed my point, i'm not talking about "success" i'm talking simply MAKING IT to the show. Your point is true, there are tons of talented people who have "it" and DON'T make it. I'll bet on talent 99% of the time, they won't all make it but the odds are with them versus the odds of the guys who are the "grinders."

I don't know that I did miss your point Jim. The examples I gave - do you really think that you'd have seen Hogan and thought that he had "it", when he was practicing all hours of the day but still missing cuts? Or Poulter - working in a shop having turned pro off a handicap of 4? Those are guys who, on a "talent" view of the world, would be shown the door on most people's first sift.

 

[DCgolf]

Again Bobby Jones: "put a plank on the ground; One foot wide, 20 feet long. Walk across it. Thats golf with your buddies. Take the same 1 foot wide plank and raise it ten feet in the air. That's tournament golf. And take the same 1 foot wide plank and raise it 30 feet in the air. That's MAJOR championship golf".

Handicap is a poor system for the state of someone's game. There should be two handicap systems. Your club handicap and your tournament cap. State golf assoc, USGA events etc. Kevin Shields could give a 6 4/5 a side. He is breaking 70 on 75 rated courses. And he's not throwing out half his rounds!

 

[geoplaten]

I don't know that I did miss your point Jim. The examples I gave - do you really think that you'd have seen Hogan and thought that he had "it", when he was practicing all hours of the day but still missing cuts? Or Poulter - working in a shop having turned pro off a handicap of 4? Those are guys who, on a "talent" view of the world, would be shown the door on most people's first sift.

Most people misunderstand what true talent is; they usually think it's simply someone who hits the ball far.

It's different for everyone - some people have tremendous imagination, some people have the gift of persistence, some the ability to rise to the occasion, some people have unreal hand-eye coordination, etc.

The Tour is all of the above, weeded down to the best among those. There's tons of guys who put in more than 10,000 hours who never even sniff it.

 

[dbl]

His plan blew up. The final step was going to Q School.

Actually I looked up and couldn't find how an am with no money list or pro experience would get to the web.com tour, but details will come out eventually...