With every statement above you embarrass the human race further. Please stop.

I swear Tuq is going to leave this thread open just to laugh at my rising blood pressure.

BO

Someone questioned where he is getting the money for this. It states in the linked article he is using the money he saved for grad school to pursue this goal.

10,000 of error-correcting practice is a cool theory but you can't believe this guy will reach his goal. It's still an interesting story because so many never-weres get mad that some brat thinks he can get better than they ever were.

He has a video on his website where he talked about the money issue. He said he has always been a saver and had been saving up to take a few years off and travel, but he decided that he would rather do this with his money instead.

Actually we don't. The exact nature of how much natural ability or 'talent' it takes to be good at something is still very much unknown. It's quite possible that Larry Nelson benefited from better instruction (and maybe a better understanding of the instruction he got) than the guys who can't break an egg. In fact haven't you many times seen players get a lesson and start hitting the ball terrific, and then two weeks later revert to their previous bad habits? I know I have. Why is that? It's certainly not a talent thing.

Anyways, I'm not in the camp that thinks sports ability is all about hard work and that talent is non-existent, but if it was shown that all you needed to become great at something was great instruction and hours of practice it certainly wouldn't surprise me, I know that much. Either way this seems like an interesting experiment to try and find out.

The guy said himself he probably isn't going to make it, but his idea and plan is cool and I think he has an awesome attitude. Too many people aren't willing to put in any work to get good at something. If he gets through the 10k hours and is only a 2 handicap it's still a pretty cool thing.

I think your underestimating how much time 10k hours is. I don't think he'll ever make it through Q school but I think it would be a huge disappointment if he only gets to a 2 handicap.

WHAT DON'T SOME OF YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND?????

99% of the population could practice their entire lives and would never get down to a 2 handicap.

I'm just going to shave my head instead of pulling it out reading some of this stuff.

BO

BO, what is your basis for this statement? Do you know a lot of people that have just decided to work extremely hard at the game of golf, sought out proper instruction, and dedicated themselves to following said instruction while practicing a lot in their free time however they still cannot achieve a 2 handicap?

Or are you just basing it on the majority of golfers who put in basically 0 meaningless practice and play a couple times a month with their buddies while having a few beers? You act like you have to be god's gift to the world to be a 2 handicap when that most certainly isn't the case.

You don't think you're exaggerating this at all do you?

Honestly, absolutely no less than 95%, and the 99% number may easily be closer.

I'll touch on Nxt's questions later.

BO

How about we think about the % of people who meet all of the following criteria

Mid 20's male in reasonably good shape at least not fat
Has the ability to not work for 6 years and financing saved up to practice golf during that time
Is a total blank slate WRT to golf, does not have any ingrained good or bad habits
Is willing to start off following a specific plan to develop his game and to be patient with whatever plan comes up not worried about short term results.

This disqualifies almost everyone but of those who are left i believe a lot more than 5% can get to 1.9 or better with 10,000 hours over 6 years. I would guess at least half could get to 0 handicap or better at their lowest. I believe the blogger would hit all of these points.

This is just wrong. I can think of 3 overweight guys I grew up with who are scratch (actually plus). Two played college - one was a starter at Clemson. The one thing they had in common was their dads had more money than anyone else.

There aren't a ton of scratch golfers in the world and it's not strictly because of athletic gifts.

Not many people in the world have the ability to play golf or practice golf enough to ever become scratch.

That this guy can devote 10,000 hours to golf already means he has a huge leg up on a giant %age of the world's population. He'll probably play more golf in the next 6 years than I will in my entire life.

He still is very unlikely to get to below a 2 because yeah you do have to be pretty gifted to be that good. But you can't just discard the guy because "there aren't a lot of scratch golfers in the world". Not many people are financially able to ever get to scratch. Didn't most of the top golfers start when they were single digit age? Tiger at like 2. Phil at 2 or whatever. I wonder how they paid their green fees. Most kids are playing soccer/basketball/baseball. Not golf.

There also aren't a lot of really great skiers. Shaun White might be winning olympic medals or whatever with his snowboarding nonsense but his competition is like 40 rich people.

omg people on the internet are stating opinion as fact, so surprised. Any percentage given for this guys success is obv speculation based on very little fact. This is a very uncommon situation with little basis for comparison.

I think its sad that some people have to be contrarians and say "oh there's no way" instead of being fascinated by an experiment that takes loads of dedication and courage to undertake.

I can't believe he spent 5 months only putting.

I like his attitude though and I'm rooting for him. I just hope he doesn't actually expect to get rich off the pro tour or something.

BO sounds like he didn't make it and is bitter.

My basis for my statements is that I know golf and golfers. I'll spare everybody the boring and probably egotistical details, just trust me. For the record, you're not going to find a pro that disagrees with me.

Here's an analogy from other sports. Anybody can play in at least the NBA developmental league if they practice for 10k hours. Believe it?

Anybody can play in the Arena Football League if they practice for at least 10k hours. Believe it?

Anybody can play in AAA baseball if they practice for at least 10k hours. Believe it?

Etc. etc. etc.

Golf is a sport just like any other. It takes physical and mental skills that at times defy reality. I don't care how hard most work at it, they will never close to professional material. Conversely, a select few can work a fraction of the hours and be better than most could ever be with a lifetime of practice.

BO

Those aren't good analogies. The reason why should be apparent to you.

BO, I don't think anyone thinks he is going to make the PGA tour, but there is a world of difference between saying that and saying he can't make a 2 handicap.

I got down to a 2 without really any true practice whatsoever (again, with the chipping yips!). I played a lot though.

At least one (person) is.

And of course there is a world of difference, but the fact remains that the odds are minute that some random Joe can attain a 2 handicap after 10k hours of practice.

I just have to laugh when nimrods state golf is easy if you practice enough.

BO

I don't know jbov's posting history but would guess that he's being completely facetious with those 2 posts.

Golf is not a sport just like any other. Neither is basketball. Each sport has its own blend of requirements for excellence. If you assigned a % importance to "physical" and "skill" elements you might say running the 100m is 95% physical and 5% skill (sprinting mechanically correctly is a skill), basketball might be 50% physical and 50% skill and then golf maybe in the region of 80% skill 20% physical.

Those numbers can obviously be debated but the point is the higher the skill % in a sport the more simply logging hours of good practice will vault you up the ranks of that sport.

Related question: how many people here know someone who grew up on a golf course, father was a pro, kid played golf from an early age through his teens yet in the end the kid could never get lower than a 10-15 handicap?

nitbo, why is it that people who practice a lot often quite often get a lot better?

I think the reason most people don't get better at golf is because they don't practice properly. They go to the range and do nothing but hit drivers. They don't take lessons. They don't work on their short game.

Please allow me to be the first golf professional to disagree.

For starters, I think this guy's chances of making the PGA Tour are so small that I couldn't find a way to measure them. I believe everyone on here realizes that, and understands his goals are probably unrealistic. I would agree that to make it on the PGA Tour it takes more than hard work - those that make it & win have both a unique ability & have put in thousands of hours honing their skills. That being said, I think throwing out ridiculous percentages with no fact other than "trust me, I know golf," and absurd analogies (c'mon - comparing football to golf is not comparing apples to apples), in addition to resorting to childish name calling is just plain foolish.

Bo, I know you're supposedly a good player, very knowledgeable about golf, and the first on here to tell most people their goals are unrealistic, but seriously, this quote might be the most ridiculous I've seen on the forum:
I've seen blind people break 80, players missing arms/legs break 80, and I believe the world is full of people who challenge limits and conventional thinking, and those that tell them it cannot be achieved. Apparently you feel that the creator blessed you with a superior ability that 99% of the world didn't get and with no amount of training, resources, or work that they could ever achieve. I'm sorry, but I do not agree with that line of thinking.

Certainly, having good to great athletic ability is a huge advantage - look at the number of pure athletes who are on the PGA Tour now compared to 20 years ago, and that athletic ability will allow someone to advance faster than someone with less athletic ability, but saying someone needs to be born with that talent to break 80 just isn't fact. To play on the PGA Tour someone must be a superior athlete - both mentally & physically, but to break 80 or even to get to a low single digit - is a completely different story.

I 100% agree that putting 10,000 hours in a different sport wouldn't get you to the professional level (I don't think Heath Slocum, 5'7, 135 would be "taking his talents to Miami" to suit up w/Lebron if he'd spent his time playing basketball instead of golf), but I think if a player committed themselves to proper practice, fitness, lessons in mechanics & mental, they could reach their potential in the game, and I think with those factors & 10K hours of practice a player could break 80 easily & play to a low, single digit handicap - maybe not at Bethpage Black from the tips in US Open condition, but from their home course on a set of tees appropriate to their skill level.

Didn't Ben Hogan turn the club hack into the club champ in a year?