This guy is attempting to do what most people dream of. Quit your job to try and become pro. Only problem is he's never played before, so he has a 6 year plan.

I give him about a .001% of success and even that may be generous. Will be fun to follow though.

http://www.businessinsider.com/dan-m...an-golf-2011-4

He's also blogging about it

http://thedanplan.com/

seems like if anyone can do it this guy could when you commit that much time to practicing... i'm not sure exactly what it means to be a 'pro', but assuming he could play the low level mini-tours then i guess he would be considered a 'pro.'

Please lock this thread before the ignorance drives me even more insane.

BO

I've read both "Outliers" and "Talent Is Overrated" so I'll be interested to follow his progress. That said I doubt very seriously he'll be too competitive at any level above the lowest professional ranks.

We should invite him to this forum for a solid dose of reality.

So his stated goal is to make it through Q-school. That has exactly a 0% chance of happening.

I could see getting good enough to come beat it around semi seriously on the Gateway Tour here in Florida, where anyone with $150 and a 50/50 shot of breaking 80 calls themselves a pro.

Imagine if you had the ability not to click on this thread.

I'd have more hair!

I know, I should just ignore it and/or let it go. But complete ignorance just gets under my skin. Hopefully one day I'll be able to just laugh and go on.

BO

Just read some of his blog. It sounds like he's a year into it.

His teacher started him out only putting for five months. Now it looks like he learning to hit a wedge and shot 91 from the ladies tees. His bag looks funny with just 3 clubs in it (2 wedges and a putter).

The only interesting part of this story would be how he is paying for lessons and other bills. Of course none of that is in the article. If I wanted to hear about someone quitting their job to play golf I would go to ANY golf course in the world and find a person person over the age of 60. There are millions of people that have done this and they are often called retired.

"McLaughlin said, "If I could become a professional golfer the world is literally open to any options for anybody...what I'm trying to do with this project is demonstrate how far you're able to go if you're willing to put in the time...I'm testing human potential."

Wow, that's deep. You can go far if you put in time and effort. Groundbreaking. Malcolm Gladwell may have posited that it takes 10,000 hours of work/practice to become great at something but that doesn't mean "if you do something for 10,000 hours you will be great at it".

Additionally, the term "great [golfer]" probably doesn't even get you to "professional golfer". There are probably thousands of great golfers who aren't pros.

BO you should ask dagolfdoc about how an overweight, nonathletic, middle aged man came to him and wanted to get really good at golf. He had never played more than a handful of rounds in his life. The guy worked incredibly hard and shot even par within 9 months. People can achieve great things if they work very hard at it.

As for the guy in OP, if that is as far as he has gotten in 1,400 hours then he is not working hard enough. If I am looking at the site correctly it would appear that he is just now beginning to hit full shots with his PW? And he spent the first 5 months on the putting green??? What he really needs is a new coach probably, because if you have that much time to devote to this game you should be making leaps and bounds not baby steps after 1 year of non-stop practicing.

i started a thread once asking what anyone who is somewhat athletic, dedicated and has access to top coaching can get to.

the answer from a few people who've worked with tons of golfers was 3 to 4 handicap (with 100% free time, dedication and tons of coaching).

i figure a 3 or 4 handicap wouldn't break 90 at the US open??

i live in a canadian province just over a milliion people. the newspaper went through all the local touring pro's (men and women). i don't think one even had status on the developmental canadian tour. and most of these guys had played NCAA golf. soooooooo many very good players these days. and not that many decent paying touring spots (500 at most?)

I read this in the Tampa paper 3 weeks ago. The guy is delusional and will get burnt out in no time.

I understand the skepticism and it is obviously warranted but wasn't every single actual professional golfer basically in the exact same situation as this guy is now (albeit younger)?

I'm just saying, how do we know this guy doesn't have hidden natural talent that has just never been unleashed?