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Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

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Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#61

Post by triviatise »

mattikl wrote: post #25
kenjackson wrote: post #6

Here's his blog with some updated info: http://dannychampion.com/blog.php His improvement seems to be fairly rapid. I guess if this is your sole pursuit, not that surprising. But nevertheless makes I'm rooting for him. I think it would be testament to the theory.

Being a golf pro requires a lot from the mental side as well. First you need the skills, which you can only acquire through countless ours of practice. But there are so many people with those skills that it's really about who performs best under pressure. So if he fails, it says nothing about the theory. Should he succeed, that's a whole another story and would be pretty exciting.

Part of practicing is practicing under pressure. The mental side can be trained as well, however the opportunities to train it may be more difficult

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#62

Post by dpifke »

num1 wrote: post #44

Something I recently realized is that if this theory is true I have a big problem on my hands. See I love flying, and it is one of my life's goals to fly in professional competitions. However flight time in airplanes routinely cost $100 or even $300 an hour. My goal might end up costing me a few million dollars.

At the the skydiving drop zone I used to help run, almost all of our jump pilots were hired with 500-1000 hours. They were all building time to "move up" to bigger aircraft, better paying jobs, etc. Most easily were able to accumulate 500+ hours in a summer. (We flew under Part 91, which does not have a duty time limitation, so they could fly literally from sunup to sundown on a busy day.)

So really all you have to afford out of your own pocket is enough time to get your commercial certificate and be employable for flight instruction, skydiving, crop dusting, banner towing, or any of the other "entry level" pilot jobs out there.

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#63

Post by hugoestr »

cygwin98 wrote: post #21
alecco wrote: post #14

I'm not fond of all these attention grabbing hotshots. Gladwell's theory is completely bogus. A guy in UK tried to do that for Marathon and aimed to become an olympian. He did a lot of media and called his upcoming documentary "The Road to Beijing". He didn't make it, and wasn't even close (from what I remember it was 2:40 or 2:45). Then he went to Ethiopia and picked a protege. His protege was fast but didn't win a…

I think there is a limit that motivation and hard work can only push that far. Beyond that, it's basically gift or talent rules the game. That may sound bitter when you realize it, but it's a fact of truth. That's especially the case in Math and competitive sports.

I think it is the other way around. Talent can take you only so far. After that you got to put in a lot of hard work. Ask teachers around, and most of them can tell you of many bright kids with big potential who never did anything with it.

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#64

Post by bricestacey »

jasonwilk wrote: post #28

I have been playing golf since I was 6 years old (I am now 25, running a YC company and whiteyboard). I've played competitively, going all over the country and even got a full scholarship to a NCAA Division 1 university for the sport. I can honestly say that this guy does not stand a chance, and here is why. 1. Golf, especially when it comes to playing professionally, is more of a mental sport than physical (both str…

It seems likely you're biased due to your experiences being isolated at a young age. Yes, this person has no chance of ever succeeding at any of your golfing accomplishments because he can't get any younger to even try them! Yet in a turn of events, he is probably more likely than you to ever make it to the pro tour (however unlikely).

If you actually read the article, he doesn't so much care about making it pro. "He grants that there's a "99 percent chance I'm not going to become a PGA golfer ... Basically, 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."

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#65

Post by scott_s »

hugh3 wrote: post #55
scott_s wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The world record is 2:03. The guy you mentioned may not have been close to the world record, but a 2:40 marathon is 26 back-to-back 6 minute, 10 second miles. That's pretty damned good. Looking at the 2010 results from the NY and Boston Marathons, that's a few minutes shy of the 100th best person. Considering that those are elite races with entrants from around the world, I think his time is pretty damned good in an…

Certainly he's very good, but there's still a huge gulf between him and the best marathon runners. And that's why this ten thousand hours thing is pretty random, yet pretty unfalsifiable. In any specialised activity, the first hundred hours of dedicated practice is good enough to make you better than most people. Keep practicing and you'll be better than 80% of the world. Keep it up for a bunch more time and you'll b…

but whether you're in the top 5% or the top 0.001% depends on which activity you've chosen (plus your natural talent in that field).

I would be fine with that result. My objection is when people say "I'm just not good at X," when what they really mean is "I'm not as good at X as I think I should be, that frustrates me, and I lack the motivation to continue trying." If we can demonstrate that with enough practice, anyone can get good at anything (with a large delta of good), then I think that's meaningful.

If that statement is self-evident to you, I've talked to people who don't consider it so. For example, I've talked to other CS majors who think that most people just don't have the right "mind" for programming, and I've taught programming to people who said similar things.

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#66

Post by [deleted] »

jasonwilk wrote: post #28

I have been playing golf since I was 6 years old (I am now 25, running a YC company and whiteyboard). I've played competitively, going all over the country and even got a full scholarship to a NCAA Division 1 university for the sport. I can honestly say that this guy does not stand a chance, and here is why. 1. Golf, especially when it comes to playing professionally, is more of a mental sport than physical (both str…

[deleted]

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#67

Post by waterside81 »

This is right out of the book "Talent is overrated"[0]. Given enough time and the proper amount of coaching & practice, a person can become a star. The key isn't to just play golf, but rather to get proper feedback from a trained professional who knows how to practice.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Overrated-Separates-World-Class...

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#68

Post by num1 »

dpifke wrote: post #62
num1 wrote: post #44

Something I recently realized is that if this theory is true I have a big problem on my hands. See I love flying, and it is one of my life's goals to fly in professional competitions. However flight time in airplanes routinely cost $100 or even $300 an hour. My goal might end up costing me a few million dollars.

At the the skydiving drop zone I used to help run, almost all of our jump pilots were hired with 500-1000 hours. They were all building time to "move up" to bigger aircraft, better paying jobs, etc. Most easily were able to accumulate 500+ hours in a summer. (We flew under Part 91, which does not have a duty time limitation, so they could fly literally from sunup to sundown on a busy day.) So really all you have to a…

You are absolutely correct there, once somebody has their commercial license it becomes easier and cheaper to build hours. I guess it comes down to how effective the practice is, as acrobatic maneuvers are frowned upon in most commercial settings. :P

Certainly getting your license doesn't mean you have mastered controlling the airplane, but I'd imagine that after a thousand hours of doing basic maneuvers and tightening your tolerances there's not much more you can do without buckling down and getting time in an acrobatic.

Re: Can a complete novice become a golf pro with 10,000 hours of practice?

#70

Post by ignifero »

flatline wrote: post #50
ignifero wrote: post #38

I 'll probably be buried for this, but how is this "hacker news"? I thought HN was moderated

Not so much moderated - some links are occasionally killed, usually as spam. How is setting out on a new venture to both succeed technically and profesionally - and test a hypothesis that has been bandied about HN quite a bit - not hacking related?

Just out of curiosity, would you find it equally interesting if it was about, say, soccer, or about memorizing the Bible?
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