Another thing that’s helped me a ton is that trying harder never works. If you get down a couple shots, and start to try really hard, for me it always got worse. But one thing that helped was to increase my focus, but relax my body … I think that’s the best way to describe it. Just consciously focus on your next shot, and at the same time relax your muscles. Nothing good happens from tensing up.

And yeah, a good routine helps, but it seems like that’s already been covered in detail.

Actually, the Dan plan is not over because as this blog becomes more popular (according to Alexa this site is currently ranked #376,340 in the world which means that this website gets between 1,000 and 2,000 visitors PER DAY).

Dan’s path should be to leverage the popularity of the blog, get a powerful agent to set up radio/television interviews, and get sponsor exemptions. Americans love feel good stories and surely with the proper planning will be able to find companies looking to help their image by inviting Dan to play an actual PGA tour event.

1. Do something completely unrelated and stress-less prior to tournaments. Read a book, watch some tv -
2. Get a pre-shot routine setup. Practice it until it’s 2nd nature. Mine is diff for tee, iron and putts, but essentially settling.
3. Stay out of the huddle. 70% of the issues in tournaments come from ‘acceptance’ issues in inter-personal situations. Don’t chat. Don’t be available to chat, and don’t listen to other people’s commentary if you can help it.
4. Find some catch phrases for when you chunk it. I like ‘ut oh’ -simple, to the point.
5. Always have a fallback ree shot that you can put into play with a high degree of confidence.
6. Practice the stack and tilt for safe iron play and deadly accuracy in a pinch.
7. Clear your mind whenever possible .
8. Manage the course

Another key is focusing your practice on the shots/conditions you’ll face in your tournament. Different courses offer different demands whether it’s off the tee (distance vs. accuracy, draws vs. fades), into the greens (big vs. small targets, firm vs. soft surfaces, uneven lies), around the greens (firm/soft targets, thick rough, closely mown areas, bunkers) and on the greens (big undulations? Fast vs. slow.) Not to mention weather (wind, hot/cold, dry/humid/rain). Having some insight into how best to play the course beforehand will help you focus your practice and build confidence heading into your tournament.

Taking this more “focused approach” to practicing can be helpful in your general practice as well. Standing near the practice green and raking ball after ball to practice pitch shots (or doing the same on the driving range) is fine for working on technique, but simulating shots you may get on the course will help refine your playing skills and develop confidence in your repertoire of shots. The goal should be to never face a shot on the course that you’ve never practiced or at least tried. Most golfers develop this kind of “experience” over many, many years. Since you’re squeezing all this practice into a relatively short timespan, it will become more and more important to practice shots from all types of lies and conditions. Maybe dividing practice time into “technique time” and “practical time” will help give you a goal/process for taking your natural game to the course and into tournament play.

There will no doubt be a tipping point where you’ll feel more comfortable in tournament play. It could be the next one or another 10 more, ya never know. It just takes determination and resiliency. You’ve obviously got that in spades. Keep up the good work, you’re already better than 90% of the golfers that play this game.

I am beginning to agree with your pointing out the new complication of time needed to spend on the new Web.com tour after the new rule of replacing q-school, which will result in more time spend going through the Web.com tour as compared to going through about four times less q-school rounds.

This new added complication conforms to the usual observation that plans get a lot more complicated and difficult, when plans are actually placed into implementation in real life. Since after WW2 and beginning with the Cold War, a whole new “project management science” has been developed to improve the art of planning, and the management of implementing plans in engineering projects. One of these very effective planning and project management tools is call the PERT Chart, which was developed to shorten the implementation of the Polaris submarine missile project. PERT Charting has since been used to great benefit in managing the implementation of plans in many projects. Before PERT Charting, developers tended to plan incompletely initially, and they tended to waste time working on none critical tasks, resulting in projects taking ten or more times longer to complete, if ever.

As you pointed out, things are more time consuming after new rules are being put in place for getting tour cards. This may mean that the planned 10 thousand hours have to be used in a more efficient manner to get more out of each hour of practice.

Modern slow motion video camera sequences shown on some of the web pages on this website improve instruction, but some of the old fashion instruction methods are still very effective. For example, “playing lessons” have been around for ages, and they are still very effective. Having a golf-technique knowledgeable caddy can be equivalent to having full time “playing lessons.” Having a pro instructor observing and giving lessons during an actual round provides a lot more than lessons just on the driving range. For example, there is almost a whole science in just teeing up the ball in actual play like different heights for different clubs on the tee, like the position between the tee markers to tee the ball, like Nicklaus teeing the ball in line with some mark a few feet in front of the ball on the teeing area. Setup and ball placement is another “science” with all kinds of variations demanded by troubled lies and rough, which are not encountered on the driving range, and can be more easily taught and checked with instructor (or knowledgeable caddy) on hand during actual rounds.

Another project management function is to establish objectives and goals, so that focus can be placing on the critical tasks to reach the objectives and goals in the most efficient manner, and in the shortest time. As you said that one of these goals to focus on is to getting down to a very low handicap like scratch.

I think your hard line on the cals has helped me consider the 10k hrs from a different perspective…………there are some fair points u are making

for me….. if Dan achieves scratch golf, he is in the top 0.25% of amatuer golfers…….that is a great achievement………a very good achievement

Could dan achieve getting to scratch in 6years of part time “deep golf practice” while working a job and supporting his family fulltime……….probably………but Dan has gone for the level jumps of level jumps and is having a go at achieving a US Tour Card within 6years and good luck to him !

…… would the beatles have become the beatles if they played it safe?…….not a chance !

Dan is going for broke………the higher the risk the higher the reward and equally the higher the fall

good luck to Dan because most wouldnt have the balls

for me I stick to the mantra “there is no success in business that compares to failure in the home”………but that is my mantra cause I like to play it a little safer

the dan plan has a massive amount of energy being focussed into a small area of ones life………

A large survey conducted in 2005 states that only 5% of ones happiness generally comes from “work”……….47% from partner/relationships/friends……..but that is only an average and everyone is different

……………..

dont forget Greg Norman was off scratch after 2yrs only of playing golf……… but more importantly he made the US PGA Tour by 1980 and he was born in 1955…….and started golf at 15………

Norman won his first Australian Tour event in 1976………..ie just on 6yrs of starting golf

Norman won his first European Event in 1977 ……….ie just on 7 years after starting golf

records are made to be broken !