Playing golf with The Dan Plan in Australia: video

Dan has a plan to practice his golf game for 10,000 hours.

Dan McLaughlin of The Dan Plan fame is in Australia and I played a round of golf at Bonnie Doon Golf Club with him on Monday, giving me the time to quiz him on his remarkable ambition to practise his golf game for 10,000 hours.

We’ve featured The Dan Plan here at Aussie Golfer several times before, but in a nutshell Dan is testing the 10,000 hours theory which was most notably publicised by Malcolm Gladwell in his book best-selling book, Outliers and Geoff Colvin’s Talent is Overrated.

Dan had never played a full 18 holes of golf when he embarked on his mission in April 2010. He hopes that by applying 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, Dan will excel in the field, perhaps one day teeing it up in a professional tour event.

Dan is over halfway there. He’s completed over 5000 hours of practice, plays off a handicap of 4 and is now in Australia to feature on a number of TV shows. Dan will appear on SBS’ Insight program next Tuesday where they will probe the “Born or Made?” theory. Dan sounds like a perfect guest.

We had a great day out and he was a fascinating playing partner. Completely unassuming and very much just living life as a golfer without ever looking too far ahead.

I’ll add more on this in the coming weeks and in a piece for an upcoming issue of Inside Golf Magazine.

In the meantime, follow Dan on Twitter @thedanplan, Facebook or on his website; thedanplan.com