Hank Haney Project: Michael Phelps Thread

[meenman]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Pretty fluff episode, lots of background on Phelps swimming and past encounters with Hank.  It appeared he had a lot of TM in his bag but I know he's now with Ping, wonder how TM and Ping feel about it.

If Phelps gives it an honest effort and Hank can't him to beat his lowest score then it's either a pretty discouraging statement to the rest of us non Olympic athletes or shows how bad an instructor Haney really is.

Taylormade is Haney's sponsor and they always seem to pawn off TM clubs since Haney switched over.

Overall wasnt very excited by the episode - possibly the most boring one I have encountered to this point.

[Golfingdad]

Originally Posted by Golfingdad

How far behind is the show?  Meaning, when do they tape it vs. when do they show it.  The reason I ask is because I saw Phelps on TV during the Phoenix Open pro-am and he didn't look too good.  I hope the show is filming now, as opposed to say back in the winter or something, because that would mean its already been spoiled, sort of.

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Pretty fluff episode, lots of background on Phelps swimming and past encounters with Hank.  It appeared he had a lot of TM in his bag but I know he's now with Ping, wonder how TM and Ping feel about it.

This is kinda what I was getting at with my first post.  If he's with Ping now, which they announced at Phoenix, I believe, and he's using TM stuff on the show, then that means the show was filmed prior to Phoenix, right?  So what's the point then?  I would think they would want to keep his progress under wraps until after the show is finished airing.  To "unveil" the new and improved Phelps swing on the finale of their show, rather than show us that he's still not great a month prior to show even beginning to air.

[David B]

Yes and yes! Ping irons have been the best irons for the past 40 years in my opinion!!

[dsc123]

He had one lesson, then the pro-am before the ryder cup.  Its possible that they are still filming.  I don't know how many lessons or how often they are.

[meenman]

Originally Posted by dsc123

He had one lesson, then the pro-am before the ryder cup.  Its possible that they are still filming.  I don't know how many lessons or how often they are.

Supposedly it is 6 lessons and they are spread out.(possibly some happening after first show has aired) I think it was during Ray Romano's series that there was a serious delay between some episodes due to Rays fathers health.

[Old1964]

Phelps is finishing up filming of the Golf Channel reality series "The Haney Project." Phelps and golf coach Hank Haney have spent the last few months trying to tune up the 27-year-old's game.

http://summergames.ap.org/reporternews/article/michael-phelps-has-his-eye-golf-not-gold

Hope it is entertaining Monday night. It's really cold up here in Michigan and could use a good laugh!

[iacas]

Okay, I'm going to go on a bit of a rant here. Before I begin, I want to make very clear that the things I'll talk about probably existed and were simply edited out. They aren't the sexy or interesting parts of the lesson, but I'm giving Hank Haney the benefit of the doubt that they did in fact occur.

My hope is that by sharing this someone who is taking part in poor lessons with an instructor will seek a better instructor, ask more from their current instructor, or change the way they practice themselves.

In the televised version of the first episode, Hank fails as an instructor in three ways.

1. Failure to Answer the "Why?" Question

I almost always answer the "why?" questions without asking. For example: "I'd like to strengthen your left-hand grip because it will stop you from feeling that you have to roll your hands so much late to get the face where you need it to be, which will improve not only your clubface control but how and when you unload your wrists in the downswing." Change recommended and WHY the change is recommended.

Hank had Michael working on hinging the club sooner in the takeaway (but left his grip alone), and stopping his backswing shorter. We never heard "why" those things were being worked on.

2. Failure to Prioritize

One of the things I think we do incredibly well is prioritize things for the students. 5SK has allowed us to do this at an even simpler level that students all like, but at the end of the day 5SK is simply how we've always taught: golfers need to fix the biggest priority thing at any given moment to improve the fastest. These fixes are as varied as the errors golfers make, of course, but there's always one and sometimes two top priorities.

Michael Phelps was having a horrible time with contact issues. He was hitting shots fat and thin. If he were a 5SK student, we'd have probably let Key #1 go as it seemed okay, Key #2 was maybe 50-70% in place (we didn't see any good slow motion swings from face-on), and Key #3 was virtually completely absent. Michael Phelps was a 1-key student who would have fit right in on the scale the other day.

Hank had Michael working on hinging the club sooner in the takeaway (but left his grip alone), and stopping his backswing shorter. We never heard why those things were the priority. All we heard was that Michael was swinging "too steep" and that's why he was hitting the ball fat. Ignoring that a "steep" swing alone is not going to cause a fat shot (you can have a low point behind the golf ball regardless of the steepness of your swing), I don't know that Haney prioritized properly. And even if Haney had prioritized properly, I don't know that he told the student what he'd prioritized and again why he chose to prioritize that.

(Aside: my personal feelings are that by changing the backswing and the hands moving away from the start you'd naturally begin to change the end point of the swing.)

3. Work on Small Motions and at Slower Speeds

Swimming is, once you have the technique down, largely about conditioning. Building up your fast and slow twitch muscles to work efficiently. There's some technique work I'm sure, but it pales in comparison (IMO) to the technique required in golf. One stroke is one stroke - golf requires many strokes from varying lies, etc. (as the show pointed out).

I am a big believer in working on things slowly . Golf again is a complex motion that occurs very quickly. Yet we didn't see Phelps making any real slow motion swings, or swings where he'd chip the ball 50 yards with a 7-iron, or shorter swings at full speed. We saw the same with Rush Limbaugh with the board behind the ball that he kept hitting. No "why?" (because you flip and this will help train you to stop lining the shaft up prematurely), and no swinging at "the edge of his ability."

---

Again, I hope these things are being done and are simply being edited out.

[Chas]

I would get so mad having to hit just a tee for an hour!  I would say "F%^& this" and walk away.  LOL

That's what happened to me in my first TWO lessons ever, here in San Diego. I hated it and found another instructor, eventually.

[johnny_14424]

IMO, I think haney's advice gets way too technical.

[mapa94]

I'm also disappointed in Haney's teaching methods.  I understand that this is basically a "reality" show with tidbits of golf instruction thown in, but watching Phelps swing at full speed to the point of exhaustion probably doesn't help him, and I certainly don't get anything out of it.

Like Erik said, hopefully there is a lot more "teaching" going on but the producers prefer to show us swimming footage and talk show clips.

Phelps should easily reach his goal of beating his best score of 91 very quickly if Haney is worth a damn as an instructor.  So far, it seems to me that Rush is the only one who showed any progress under Haney's tutoring.  I don't know if anyone could help Barkley and Romano seemed frustrated with Haney.

If someone with the athletic ability and drive of Phelps can't get better, the show should be cancelled.

[Mr. Desmond]

I like Hank's Instruction -

"Hit it!

"Good job. That'll be $500."

Hank is all about speed. Too bad he can't teach it.

[Elrey Desol]

i liked Hank's advice in tonight's episode (2?) in having Michael shorten his swing. he's got a real languid tempo and shortening the backswing and follow through, along with a quicker tempo should improve contact. kinda cool to be a world-class athlete and globe trot course to course, but six rounds in six days has to be rough.

[nevets88]

When he was at the pro am getting all those quick tips I thought God his head is gonna explode like Haney or he said. And then Trevino, who I admire as a player but it looked like he was dropping an earful on Phelps. And as a beginner playing all those tough courses. Was that Carnoustie? Medinah?

[meenman]

The one thing that is going to drive me nuts is the commercials every 5 minutes - I may only notice because I DVR it.

[newtogolf]

This season isn't like the past seasons of the Haney Project, seems more like a documentary of Michael Phelps becoming a golfer rather than a show about Haney instructing Phelps how to golf.

Too much time is wasted on Phelps golfing on his own and of him swimming, not enough on golf instruction.  Haney states Phelps is a 36+ handicap golfer yet Phelps is looking to beat his "best score" of 91, seems someone isn't doing their math properly or has unrealistic expectations.

It's also obvious production doesn't care about the timeline as they constantly show Phelps being endorsed by Ping but he's gaming the TM clubs.

[LBlack14]

Haney makes me wanna YACK.

[tuffluck]

honestly i was surprised by the show.  phelps and i score about the same and i am a significantly better ball striker than him.  (there is something wrong with my game that oddly doesn't have to do with hitting the ball).  me thinks lessons would do me almost no good, even though hank is local, haha.

[Mr. Desmond]

Do many have the odd feeling that Hank knows all the issues, but has no idea how to fix them?