The Haney Project: Can Haney Fix Barkley’s Swing?

[Awsi Dooger]

Incredibly lame episode tonight. Looks like they have given up and are wandering toward the finish with little more than bringing back friends who played a role in the early episodes.

I can't remember a show that plummeted so dramatically from a promising beginning. It's almost like they changed producers. Tonight there was zero instruction from Haney, other than, "Remember Rule Number One."

I got one thing right. Before the program I posted -- here or somewhere -- that failure to lose weight would regulate any potential for Barkley to improve. He's mentioned frustration at inability to keep his weight down many times in recent years during the TNT basketball coverage. This project wasn't going to magically change that. Barkley was a slob tonight.

[iacas]

Incredibly lame episode tonight. Looks like they have given up and are wandering toward the finish with little more than bringing back friends who played a role in the early episodes.

Agreed. And I'm a Steelers fan and I still didn't care about seeing Jerome Bettis. Yawn. Snooze. Zzzzzzzz. FAIL.

I think perhaps since Charles got arrested for his DUI, the schedule was pushed back so much that Hank had already started working with Tiger again, and thus couldn't devote as much time to this show. I wonder.

[mdvaldosta]

I thought this guy was a world class athlete. I mean, either you can follow instruction and at least have some sort of motor skills necessary to swing the club like a normal human being - or you can't. It's definately in his head, and no swing coach is gonna fix that.

[HytrewQasdfg]

that failure to lose weight would regulate any potential for Barkley to improve.

I'm not sure, but I sort of doubt his weight has anything to do with the hitch in his swing.

He should be able to develop a smooth, consistent swing regardless of his weight/physical shape. Now whether it will be a great swing is a different story.

[ZaPPPa]

I thought this guy was a world class athlete. I mean, either you can follow instruction and at least have some sort of motor skills necessary to swing the club like a normal human being - or you can't. It's definately in his head, and no swing coach is gonna fix that.

Same here. I cannot believe CB doesn't feel his head dip two feet.. I mean c'mon man! The training apparently went on for nine months and I saw ZERO progress in the little match he played. He is still dipping and worst of all: he doesn't stop when he does that. I just don't get it.

I wonder why Haney doesn't have him do little math equations during his backswing.. anything to keep him from thinking about the swing. Someone who has hit 1000+ balls a day for the last couple of weeks should not need swing thoughts any more. Probably the reason he started swinging smooth during practice was either A) he was too tired to think or B) he was too busy thinking about how to kill Haney. I really thought CB would improve to at least a decent swing, but I highly doubt he'll go through a miraculous change between now and the final episode. That is, unless the producers scripted and edited it that way.

[HytrewQasdfg]

He is still dipping and worst of all: he doesn't stop when he does that. I just don't get it.

That's the one thing I don't understand. Why isn't he being taught to just stop when he does the hitch. At least that would break the habit.

There are worse things than stopping in the middle of your swing (like continuing to swing with a hitch.)

[iacas]

I'm not as good at Tiger at stopping my swing so late, but when I feel something funny (I have one or two bad habits) in my swing I can stop it. And he has several seconds where he could stop - I'm with the both of you in not understanding why he keeps going once he does hitch.

[TheMentalCoach]

It's been really interesting watching the progress of this show. Back near the beginning of these posts I said that I believed CB had a problem with the mental game and analytical coaching would not solve it.

I think everyone agrees that CB has the ability to have a smooth swing (he's done it before) and I've seen him do a lot of them during the practice. But under pressure, it's another story.

The suggestion to "do math equations" while swinging, well, I like it. It's a distraction and if the mental block isn't too big, it could well work. But if CB has a mega mental block (which I believe to be the case), then he needs to dissolve that block to have that smooth swing at, say, the Tahoe tournament coming up in July.

[Awsi Dooger]

I'm not sure, but I sort of doubt his weight has anything to do with the hitch in his swing.

The question at the time was whether Barkley could return to his old form, 12 handicap or whatever it was. Even without the hitch he would not manage that level, not at the horrible condition he is in, and no doubt will remain.

Fitness is always underrated in golf, at any level. There's a current clip of Leadbetter, giving general advice on improvement, and he stresses getting in better shape. Golfers have been trained to deny it for decades and that comfy beer guzzling mindset is slow to change. Anyway, what baffles me most about this show is apparently the complete lack of any device to keep a player's head up. This can't be the first pupil with a severe flaw in that area. I was convinced we'd eventually see a see-through chin rest or something of that nature, even if Haney had to improvise with material from Home Depot.

[Andrew Rice]

If anyone here has had any form of the yips (and I mean real yips, not just missing a few three footers!) then you will know that you cannot wait to get the swing/stroke over with. Stopping when you feel a hitch/twitch would only extend the agony! Charles Barkley will never be able to play golf like he used to without brain surgery. Having had the yips (and once you've had them you always have them) I know that whenever he gets in a pressure situation his mind will turn to 'not hitching' and that is the kiss of death. If he is distracted for a shot or two he can make it look good, but a person can only be distracted for so long.
As I said when the show first started HH has no chance and 'it is in his head'!

[iacas]

If anyone here has had any form of the yips (and I mean real yips, not just missing a few three footers!) then you will know that you cannot wait to get the swing/stroke over with.

That's the thing, too, though: Hank Haney was famous for having - and overcoming - the yips with the driver.

I think if he were to focus on his swing thought (whatever Hank has him doing) he'd be fine, or at least much improved, but he's thinking about the golf ball or his target or something else that leaves plenty of room for the steep, shaft-straight-vertical position.

[HytrewQasdfg]

The question at the time was whether Barkley could return to his old form, 12 handicap or whatever it was. Even without the hitch he would not manage that level, not at the horrible condition he is in, and no doubt will remain.

My bad.

My understanding of the show was to fix Barkley's swing. To eliminate hitch and get him back to a smooth, solid swing. Getting him back 100% to his old form (health, full swing, short swing, chipping, putting, etc...) would seem to be too big a task. If that was the goal then I think Haney was set up to fail.

[JetFan1983]

I think it may have been Anthony Anderson (from the Departed) who said this, but I'm not sure if it was him, but he had the idea that Charles would be better off throwing away his clubs, buying all lefty clubs and learning to play left handed. I thought that was a great idea and something he should at least try if he hasn't already. It's been like what, over 30 weeks with Hank Haney, and he still has the hitch? It would be funny if when the show ended, he still has that ugly hitch in his swing, and in the last five minutes of the show, he grabs a lefty club.

Then we could have season 2 of the Hank Haney Project!

[HytrewQasdfg]

I think it may have been Anthony Anderson (from the Departed) who said this, but I'm not sure if it was him, but he had the idea that Charles would be better off throwing away his clubs, buying all lefty clubs and learning to play left handed. I thought that was a great idea and something he should at least try if he hasn't already. It's been like what, over 30 weeks with Hank Haney, and he still has the hitch? It would be funny if when the show ended, he still has that ugly hitch in his swing, and in the last five minutes of the show, he grabs a lefty club.

If Charles still has the hitch at the end of the show, how will this affect Haney's reputation?

Will people say Barkley was unfixable, will they say Haney failed, or will they say Haney did as much as was possible? As far as switching sides goes, wasn't Hogan left handed? I seem to recall that Mickelson is right handed. (of cousre I could be wrong on both.) Isn't there a school of thought that says you should play opposite (right handers play left, left handers play right) because there are some advantages?

[TheMentalCoach]

If anyone here has had any form of the yips (and I mean real yips, not just missing a few three footers!) ...Having had the yips (and once you've had them you always have them) I know that whenever he gets in a pressure situation his mind will turn to 'not hitching' and that is the kiss of death...As I said when the show first started HH has no chance and 'it

The yips are a conditioned response that sets up a self-fulfilling prophecy of a sequence of events. What has to happen to get rid of them is to first get rid of the belief that started them in the first place and second to break the chain of thought that keeps them going. It's one of the most challenging things I do, that's for sure.

I applaud Haney for sticking it out, I imagine it's terribly frustrating. In Barkley's situation I imagine it's like trying to change a spark plug with a croquet mallet.

[Uthinkso]

I've seen the show a few times, and I just can't understand what is going on there. Its like two swings in one. He starts down and stops, then regroups and finishes the swing. Its just terrible.

[Stillhacken]

Charles was on PTI the other day and they asked him about his swing and he didnt talk like it was fixed.
I would think the filming is all done for the show..??

[Awsi Dooger]

My bad.

Let me backtrack before it looks like disagreement when there isn't much. I wasn't referring to the concept of the show. My early response, months ago, was Barkley couldn't rescue his old game, partially because he wouldn't be able to get in shape, regardless of his resolution-type commitment to do so.

I certainly expected more on an improvement than we've seen. Foundational improvement, not occasional and seemingly arbitrary. The articles before the show touted creative techniques, like swinging left arm only, but we've barely witnessed any of that. The early video was great, specifically Charles' amazed reaction. Once ducking the head was isolated, I anticipated focus in that area. Something more sophisticated than holding his head. I was skeptical when it was such a mechanical fix, up and around and flatter. That seemed preliminary, like a primer coat. I think Barkley would have been better served with a more conventional backswing. Don't ask me how that was possible. Haney obviously started this project when Tiger was shelved. That's when the early episodes were filmed. My understanding is the recent ones, and notably Monday's awful episode with Haney barely making an appearance, were filmed fairly recently. That would be after Tiger returned to tour so obviously it makes sense Barkley is no longer a priority. But this has been too much of a downshift.