I was inspired by the Dan’s Plan Golf blog to track my progress as a golfer with a similar goal as Dan, which is to qualify for a PGA tour card. Before I joined the Canyon Gate Country Club last month, I had minimal experience:
– speed golf at a public course. What this really means is that my wife and I went to a public course and hit the ball across holes to get it in the hole regardless of how many strokes and as fast as I could
– played mini golf 3x
– had 2 mini lessons as a 17 year old with my 17 year old golf instructor buddy in high school on a golf course
Overall, I had probably 10 hours of golf so really nothing much.
Now, I’m 35 years old (born October 25, 1979) and interested in getting into a sport that doesn’t require a lot of strenuous pressure on my knees and the rest of my body and so I found golf because I wanted something athletic and outdoors to do.
While talking to my friend, Bill, I was referred to ClubCorp and near my house in Vegas is Canyon Gate Country Club. So I joined and now have had some more basic experience, including:
– Playing 9 holes of golf with friends and family:
1) Bear’s Best with 3 co-workers
2) Solo at CGCC
3) w/ Sharp Family and wife at CGCC
4) My Parents at CGCC
5) w/ RSD Max at CGCC
6) w/ Hearthstone Fireside Gathering Organizer Phil at CGCC
7) w/ Hunter at CGCC
8) w/ VIP staff at CGCC
Each of the above was 3 hours except for my solo at CGCC.
I also had time on the driving range 3x and putting greens for 1-2 hour sessions.
To get started, last month, I also organized a private 1 day training with my wife and assistant and the Butch Harmon Golf School and had the Instructor Nick teach us for a full day.
That is 40 hours.
Thus, I start my blog with about 50 hours of golf experience. According to Dan’s Plan, the goal is to get to a mastery level after 10,000 hours. I decided that in order to do this, I would have to budget time for my life to have daily practice. This would be balanced by daily activities in my life including;
– Family (spending quality time and date days with my wife)
– Friends (social time)
– Business (running my entrepreneurial ventures)
– Video Games (hearthstone and other favorites)
– Golf (aiming at regular practice at the club focusing on time on courses)
– Sleep (8 hours ideally)
– Studies (LSAT and then law school or other business studies)
Thus, I would like to spend 1-3 hours+ every day other than vacation rest days (which would be 1-7 days a month for business and pleasure trips). A goal of 20 hours+ per week would be reasonable for golf time. If 20 hours per week was a goal, then that would be 20 X 52 = 1,040 hours annually and it would take less than a decade to get pro-level mastery based on 10,000 hours. That means that I have 9,950 hours to go to get to that mastery level if 10,000 hours is required.
On the other hand, while having a beer at the CGCC yesterday with my friend Hunter, he said he had scores to qualify for the PGA in the past and he thinks that I could go from complete newbie to PGA skillset (not winning the PGA tournaments, but being able to qualify for PGA tournament) by playing 18 holes every day for 2.5 years. That would be an amazing achievement as well.
I’m going to track my progress and see what I can do to improve my game. While doing this, I’ll take advantage of keeping myself healthy, focused, gaining a routine, and having a fun activity to do while doing business on the greens and socializing with friends and family.
I love the beautiful outdoors and the fun of doing an ambitious activity. I’ve purchased 4 sets of golf clubs on amazon and all the equipment needed to play, including balls, gloves, and clothing with spikeless Nike golf shoes.
Defying the odds would be amazing as well because most PGA pros have played since they were young (teens) and I have not heard of anyone accomplishing the goal of joining the PGA that started playing golf at 36 years old. After searching the internet and talking to golf instructors, they didn’t ever hear of anyone doing it either.
Well, yesterday, I registered for the USGA and just started recording my score and I got my first golf score yesterday at the first 9 holes of the CGCC: 69. This is what would be a great score for a pro at 18 holes instead of 9 holes so I have a long road to go to being a pro at golf; however, this blog marks the start.
Today, I went to the driving range for a half hour with friends to practice my skills with the driver and 8 iron at CGCC, where I also had lunch with my friends. My stroke is improving and I’m not focusing a bit more on accuracy. 9,950 remain. Random stat: this week is the first week that I practiced using all the various clubs in my golf bag, including a 3 hybrid, 3 wood, 6 iron, 7 iron, 8 iron, 9 iron, pitching wedge, driver, and putter.
Leave a Reply