One year!

Wow.  Not sure where to start with this one.  It’s true, it’s been a full year since I left my career in pursuit of golfing perfection.

The transition from gainfully employed photographer to declining bank accounted golfer-in-training was easy at first, hard at times and then comfortably understood as who I now am.  Initially, everything was new and exciting and I thought that I would quickly run up the skill ladder and be playing golf after about 6-12 months, but as I progressed (slower than I had imagined) I realized the difficulty of the task ahead of me and the scope of 10,000 hours truly began to dawn.  I got overwhelmed on a few occasions last summer and in all honesty was not sure how I would be able to financially and mentally continue for the entirety of the project, but I never lost sight of my goal and eventually gained enough momentum that it became second nature to go out and train every day.

A lot of people have said that I have their dream lifestyle, to be able to play golf every day of the week, and I admit that I feel extremely lucky to be on this journey, but because it is the type of lifestyle that is depicted in day-dream scenes in movies, I’ve also gotten some flack when I post about the difficult times.  After all, how hard could it be to golf every day?  If you play for fun alone, there is nothing more relaxing than a nice Saturday afternoon on the course, it is pure leisure and enjoyment.  But, it can be grueling, frustrating, disheartening, infuriating, confusing and humbling to try and constantly improve your skill set, regardless of what the field is.  I’m not complaining, by any means, just saying that there is a big difference between playing for fun and betting the farm on your own self-improvement.  If nothing else, on a risk-reward basis, I’ve set myself up for an extreme finale, so when the ball is not flying up to my expectations, there is nobody to blame but myself.  The first major lesson learned from The Dan Plan:  tough times are just that, times.  They will pass and a better shot, hour, back nine, day, week or month is on the horizon.

For the past year, when I tell strangers what I am doing, the first question they ask is:  “Did you win something?” or “Who put this together and how did they pick you?”  They are generally a bit skeptical when I reply that the project was my idea and it was what I wanted to do with my life.  Or, perhaps not skeptical, but the legitimacy seems to have been deflated since it is not a huge research project or something put on by a major sporting goods corporation.  But, as time passes and people see that I am out every day, or on FB/Twitter talking about training every day, the legitimacy gains momentum.  Not all things must come from corporate wealth or lottery winnings, this one springs very simply from a bit of hard work and hopefully in year two of The Dan Plan people will start taking the project a bit more serious.

The second question, or perhaps statement is:  “six years, that’s a long time!”  I agree, but time has a way of escaping us and it’s better to look as what you can do that day instead of projecting years into the future.  And, six years could be spent in much worse places, for example, check out how Ingrid Betancourt spent 2,321 days.

Golfing transformed from something I wanted to do to who I was, from dream to actuality.  Reading over some forums that discussed The Dan Plan, one common negative comment was that how could someone just decide to dedicate themselves to golf if that was not their underlying passion.  Or, how can someone maintain serious focus if they do not have a love for the sport to begin with.  I understand the concern, it would be hard to force someone to train for 10,000 hours, but I’m not being forced.  Far from it, I picked golf for a number of reasons, one of the most important being that it was what I thought would mix best with my personality.  It was a bit of a crap shoot at first, but after four months of putting, I was strangely and completely taken by the game.  Now, almost every day I walk away from the practice green thinking, “that must have been the best day yet.”  How could you love something that you’ve never tried before?  When I first went out to the putting green April 15, 2010, it was a blind date.  We had out scuffles over the year, but are proud to announce that we are finally engaged.  Made for each other, this game and I.

Financially, there are still questions about whether I will be able to afford to continue for the next five years, but that is not something that I am worried about because there is enough savings to last for the time being and those issues can be addressed in the future if need be.  I run the type of mindset that if you truly believe it, something will make it happen.  This goes for my training as well as my finances.  I’ve saved up and am good with money, but also have faith to blindly follow my dreams wherever they shall take me.

I had a lot of hopes for where I would be by this point.  To say the least, I had imagined that I would be playing golf, from the tees, with all the clubs, fully entrenched in fine tuning my game and well on my way towards entering regional competitions.  But, there needs to be more process along the way than I had originally planned and taking time to do it right is the only way to move forward.

After practicing only putting for the first 5 months and then slowly moving away from the putting green with wedges, I learned that you could practice from 50 yards and in for 5 years and still not master the short game.  That said, I think I made some great progress over the past 12 months and feel like with that foundation and the next 5 years of work ahead of me, there is no real reason why one could not make it.  I’m still now, more than ever, convinced that if you put your mind to it and work hard you can achieve anything.  Time will tell the truth, but for now I will enter the next year with more enthusiasm and determination than I dreamed I could have back on April 15, 2010.

Here’s to a new year and another chapter of adventures.  Thank you everyone for the past 365 days of support; knowing people out there are paying attention has me smiling all day.  Thank you!