A Year to be Professional Golfer?
In the past, I’ve wondered (outloud to some friends) how difficult it would be to become a professional golfer. Before I dive in, I’ll throw some assumptions (and my golf pedigree) out there.
money is available, but in limited quantities / access to a golf course and practice facility / access to exercise facility / golf equipment is current technology / weather would allow year-round golf / I’ve played golf since I was 5 / My handicap as of September 2008 is 1.4 / I played golf in high school, but not in college
Before I tick-off the professional golfers who are serving their time on the mini-tours and struggling to get by, I’m not saying I can or ever would be able to compete on the professional level. (As an aside, I know many struggling professional golfers who are great players; with the way I currently play, there is absolutely NO WAY I can compete with them, they are that much better). I’m just asking the question, how close could I come to that competition if I took a year off and completely focused on my game?
There’s been a few attempts from people to do similar things. ESPN featured Kathryn Bertine on a two-year quest to make the Olympics (spoiler: she failed).
This also brings up something I’ve been meaning to take a closer look at: deliberate practice and the 10,000 hour rule. While I won’t dive into what these both are right now, expect to read more about these ideas.
[Deliberate practice] is activity designed specifically to improve performance, often with a teacher’s help; it can be repeated a lot; feedback on results is continuously available; it’s highly demanding mentally, whether the activity is purely intellectual, such as chess or business-related activities, or heavily physical, such as sports; and it isn’t much fun.
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Gladwell repeatedly mentions the “10,000-Hour Rule”, claiming that the key to success in any field is simply a matter of practicing a specific task for a total of 10,000 hours.
I don’t know if this is possible, but it’s fun to think about. Like I said I know plenty of guys who are struggling on the mini-tours and can mop the floor with me on the course, so I’m highly hesitant to say it’s possible. Thoughts?
Tags: deliberate practice, golf, malcolm gladwell, my ideas, sports
