Dan McLaughlin (born June 27, 1979) is an American commercial photographer who quit his day job to become a professional golfer through 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. Using this method, he created a plan known as "The Dan Plan". Prior to The Dan Plan, McLaughlin had never played a full 18 holes of golf and had no previous experience as a competitive athlete. Dan developed his skills by practicing golf for 30 or more hours each week and originally planned to hit the 10,000-hour goal by October 2016. Dan wished to make a successful appearance in the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to eventually obtain his PGA Tour card and win amateur events, aiming to reach a golf handicap of 2 or less. The best handicap he reached was 2.6 in January 2014, and in the end, in January 2015, was back up t