What is the Dan Plan? Despite never playing golf, Dan McLaughlin tried to go pro in it. And to do so – he would try and incorporate some of the principles of Deliberate Practice. Most notably, he tried taking the (very flawed) concept of 10,000 hours and putting it to use.
While Dan’s practice routines are well-documented elsewhere, the primary idea was emphasizing daily practice above all else. Dan corresponded with many individuals in the golf world and the “practice world,” like Anders Ericsson. Dan tried to create a plan that would take him from a rank beginner in golf to a pro.
The short answer is no. Dan did not go pro. Eventually, he succumbed to a back injury. But even if he didn’t have the injury, the Dan Plan was most likely flawed from the beginning. Instead of defining success as “going pro,” Dan should have been more realistic on his goals. However, Dan did get to a 2 handicap – far better than most other golfers.
Hopefully, somebody fully documents what was learned from the Dan Plan experiment. In reading through his plan, I think there were some flaws from the very beginning. First of all, he should have had more rounds lined up and tournaments early on. His first round of golf didn’t come until 18 months into practice. That screams as “wrong” to me. Second, Dan should have used a blended approach in learning. This ties into the lack of rounds. If you don’t know what your weaknesses are, then you could be practicing sub optimally – which is what happened.
Napoleon once said “Space I Can recover. Time, never.” Time is the most valuable resource we all have – and this was mismanaged in Dan’s journey. For salespeople, most of your time needs to be spent out in the field. But there should be time set aside to grow and learn. Simply doing the same thing over and over can get you locked into a bad spot.
