quick update to share that you are not alone

After 20 yrs of not playing golf I started playing golf again this year in March…… As at last week my handicap is now 10 after 9months of playing golf again.

My aim was to get to single figures ie a handicap of 9 or less within 9months…….it is looking like i wont achieve this goal…….i only have a few days to get to 9 handicap and I have a comp game tomorrow which I will need to shoot 5 over or less – no pressure

Tonight after reading some of your blogs I went back thru my little 2012 golf diary and I have ranged between 6 to 15hrs per week of golf and or practice.

The period I improved most was when I competed against 3 other guys approx twice per week over a month…….i was shooting scores of 5,6 and 8 over but none in competition games so those scores didnt count to my handicap (i live in Australia so only comp games count to handicap).

The journey to trying to achieve my goal of single figures in 9months has been so much fun……..I could have gone more hardcore in my efforts and maybe dropped a few more stokes via 10plus hrs pw of chipping and putting practice. only getting to a handicap of 10 instead of 9 or less is cool…….i must admit i choked a little the last few rounds when I knew I was close and time was running out !

So reflecting on the last 9months i am undecided where to next………do i want to keep improving, striving for a new goal, maybe get down to scratch :)………….but my concern is that is will start to become a job and I would have or I may go stale as it becomes an obsession and go stale……..

random fact – in 2005 there was a study completed in the OK on 35,000 people…..the study was to assess where “peoples subjective happiness comes from” and only 5% of peoples happiness in this study comes from work !

so the last thing I wanted to do was make something of joy fade into “work”

I think ?

Your comments are ironic being attached to a blog post about emphasizing the positive. You are trying to goad Dan into saying he’s failed before he has even hit the half-way point in the plan. Don’t you realize that the Dan Plan is not about success or failure? Don’t you read Dan’s posts and understand he’s talking about the process, the dedication, the fun of life. Who cares if he makes it to the PGA or not? That just is not the point.
You remind me of those ‘little league parents’ out there who think the only worthy thing of having their kids in sports is to win. I’m sorry for the unfortunate upbringing you must have had.

It would basically require that Dan shoot ~78 twice or something that averages that over 36 holes. Let’s set our sights on something reasonable in the short term. Here we are talking about the web.com and the PGA Tour and we are almost 40% of the way through this thing and Dan hasn’t even taken the players ability test.

Heck, it’s not even that clear. Dan could decide today to declare himself a professional golfer and bam!, he’s a pro. (There isn’t any more to it than that). OR Dan could take a PAT (which a lot of professionals working at courses do) and then consider himself a pro.

Of course, if Dan is saying that he will have a tour card at the end of 10,000 hours then I agree he’s already behind the 8 ball.

What Dan is doing is amazing and there are many amazing things about it. One of the amazing things is that Dan set out to spend 10,000 hours to see how far he can get as a golfer. We all have a front row seat to this and by all accounts, Dan is going to stick it out and we are all going to get an answer to the 10,000 hour question. That is really cool. We are not going to have to rely on what Dan thinks will happen, or, what I think will happen, or, what YOU think will happen. Or, at least we will have one data point, if not an answer.

Dan is going to complete the experiment. We all get to observe and record the results. That is one of the reasons we, and, K. Anders Ericsson are so interested. I view Dan’s experience so far as a validation of the 10,000 hour concept. Maybe it will take 12,000 hours. Maybe Dan’s condensed schedule will facilitate a breakthrough and it will only take 7,000 hours. maybe Dan will never get there and, as some suspect, maybe at some point “talent” whatever that is, will be a limiting factor.

Adam