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

[ApocG10]

i think people take his comments to serious. Charles is a great guy that helps a ton of charities and the like, and enjoys laughing and joking. As an athlete, part of joking is trash talking. He likes to trash talk. Most golfers dont understand this part of sport..

Aside from a DUI, which is deplorable, but not uncommon, charles has shown himself to be nothing but a class act with a great sense of humor, and his woman comment, was just that, a joke, not a statement.

I cant tell you how many times i've told the fiance that her feet were smaller so she could get closer to the stove.

[NorCalGolfer]

who was that catcher who constantly threw over the pitcher's head? I think they moved him to first base, then eventually to unemployment.

Mackey Sasser bro. Used to play for the Mets. Remember, he used to sit there and play with the ball for like 30 seconds, or tap the ball in his mitt...LOL

[capeeps]

Initially I was really looking forward to watching Chas improve his game. But the Glolf Channel repeated it so often and drew it out so long that I gave up on the series. The show could have dealt with Haney's lessons without all the cameo allstars and just have worked with Charles' swing in 4 or 5 episodes. capeeps

[grantc79]

I'm seriously beginning to support the idea that he should just take up the game left-handed. Surely that would be easier.

I met Byron Scott a few months ago at a New Orleans Hornets season ticket holder event.

We got to chatting about golf (Scott is actually a 5 handicap) and I asked him about Chuck and his exact words were "Haney can't help that man. Last time I talked to Chuck I told him to quit before he winds up killing himself." So I'm guessing no.

[HytrewQasdfg]

...who was that catcher who constantly threw over the pitcher's head?

Dale Murphy (old Braves fans will remember him) came up through the minor leagues as a catcher. Had the same problem. They ended up moving him to center field when he was in AAA prior to him going up to the majors.

Of course, he ended up being a two time MVP as a centerfielder, so I gues it worked out for him.

[HytrewQasdfg]

i think people take his comments to serious. Charles is a great guy that helps a ton of charities and the like, and enjoys laughing and joking. As an athlete, part of joking is trash talking. He likes to trash talk. Most golfers dont understand this part of sport..

Barkley strikes me as a guy's guy. The kind of person you'd enjoy having a beer or playing a round of golf with. Sure sometimes he isn't politically correct, but just comes from being a speak-first, think-later kind of guy (and deep down I don't think he gives a flying flip what others think of him.) Overall, he seems to me to be a guy you have to work hard NOT to like.

To this day I don't understand many Auburn grads disdain for him, but I'm sure they have their reasons. Nationally he must be popular or he wouldn't be able to keep his TV gig or have entire shows built around him (like the Haney project.)

[HytrewQasdfg]

I'm seriously beginning to support the idea that he should just take up the game left-handed. Surely that would be easier.

I would probably flip that. Think of them as a doctor and his patient. Does the patient fail because the doctor prescribed the wrong medicine?

Barkley worked hard and did everything Haney asked him to do. It was Haney's job to identify the problem and create a solution. Of course, Barkley's swing may be unfixable, but saying that is the same as giving up. I agree going left handed might give him a fresh start. Barkley seems like more of a hitter than swinger to me. Switching sides might make him concentrate more on dragging the club through the swing with his leading hand instead of trying to control it with his trailing hand. He may also want to try a "dead arms" down swing style (like gravity golf) where you don't try and power your swing with your arms at all. You just let your arms fall from the top and your only swing thought is (relax your arms.) Of course, these swings also have a reputation for being wildly erratic. Talk about Barkley hitting more bystanders. Haney probably should have recognized that standard instruction wasn't going to fix Barkley's swing and thought of some out-of-the-box solutions. Fixing Barkley will probably take a radical, blow up his swing and start over approach.

[iacas]

I would probably flip that.

Yes, you would, but your distaste for Hank Haney is widely documented in this thread. You think Hank sucks. We know.

It's simple: when he swings around Hank he hits the ball well. Thus, what Hank is doing works. When he gets away from Hank and dips - all on his own - he fails. You say Hank's prescribed the wrong medicine. I say that Charles did fine when he was taking the medicine, but got ill again when he'd disobey doctor's orders and stop taking the medicine. You say he should have a "blow up move" and I say that's exactly what Hank was doing in some of those drills. Heck, he even had Charles hitting the ball pretty well on the golf course using those drills. I'm not sure what more Hank can do. Charles plays well when he doesn't dip his head. How dense do you have to be to keep dipping your head like that? Apparently pretty dense, and apparently Charles is that dense. You never even see him doing any of the drills in practice swings when he's off on his own - he's not even taking Hank's "medicine."

[kfowler]

To this day I don't understand many Auburn grads disdain for him, but I'm sure they have their reasons. Nationally he must be popular or he wouldn't be able to keep his TV gig or have entire shows built around him (like the Haney project.)

As a life long Auburn fan, I would say most Auburn fans are fond of Barkley up until this year. He's kind of like the drunk uncle that everyone likes but sometimes embarrasses you.

For me as with many Auburn fans, he crossed the line when dropped the race card this year with the Chizik vs. Gill hire.

[HytrewQasdfg]

Yes, you would, but your distaste for Hank Haney is widely documented in this thread. You think Hank sucks. We know.

Acutally, you have 100% misinterpreted my critisizm of Haney. Distaste? No. Sucks? No. The fact that you critisize/disagree with someone doesn't mean you have visceral feelings about them.

I felt before (and still do) that Haney was the wrong TYPE of teacher for Barkley. Haney is used to working with high-end golfers (for who the sport comes natrually) with an already advanced skill set that needs to be improved/tweaked. For those type of students, I'm sure Haney is an excellent teacher. Barkley's swing needed to be torn down and rebuild from the ground up (imho) if there was going to be any chance of eliminating the hitch that was so deeply ingrained in the current swing. Barkley seems to be very different than the students Haney normally works with, consequently I don't feel like he was the best match for Barkley.

[HytrewQasdfg]

For me as with many Auburn fans, he crossed the line when dropped the race card this year with the Chizik vs. Gill hire.

I have a number of relatives that are Auburn grads/fans. Even they were pretty appaled by the Chizik hire. Not for racial reasons, but they were like "Alabama hired Saban, so we went out and hired who?" Apparently Iowa State was going to fire him (he was what, 5-19 in two years?) Then Auburn hires him?

[iacas]

Acutally, you have 100% misinterpreted my critisizm of Haney. Distaste? No. Sucks? No. The fact that you critisize/disagree with someone doesn't mean you have visceral feelings about them.

I was exaggerating. I realize the tone may not have come through, but I obviously don't think you literally "hate" Hank Haney.

Haney is used to working with high-end golfers (for who the sport comes natrually) with an already advanced skill set that needs to be improved/tweaked.

Hank works with 20 handicappers who can afford his $500/hour fees (or whatever he charges), too. I don't think it's appropriate to label him as "just" a low single digit or better teacher.

Unless I'm mistake and you know who Hank coaches day in and day out, I think you're basically just guessing at who Hank tends to work with. I've read a number of things that indicate that he works with others (again, if they can afford him).

[pittpanther]

I have a number of relatives that are Auburn grads/fans. Even they were pretty appaled by the Chizik hire. Not for racial reasons, but they were like "Alabama hired Saban, so we went out and hired who?" Apparently Iowa State was going to fire him (he was what, 5-19 in two years?) Then Auburn hires him?

The SEC in general has a LOT of bad history to overcome, which means that any hiring decision they make is going to be suspect, and subjected to intense scrutiny.

That does NOT mean they have to go out and hire the first Black person that crosses their doorstep, but it DOES mean that if very qualified candidates such as Gill are NOT offered the job, they had better be damned well ready to explain why not. Especially when the person who GOT the job appears to not be as qualified.

[Comeback City]

Well the 2nd to last episode aired tonight and Charles definitely still has that hitch and the show's not making it seem like he's fixed...Seems like Haney and Charles are both resigned to the idea that the hitch is something that he's going to have moving forward with him.

Kind of dissapointed that there was no MJ or Tiger on the show though...I'm still holding out a little bit of hope that they show up on the season finale but its really not looking good. I do hope we see a second season or some sort of epilogue or something to that effect.

[Awsi Dooger]

I broke up tonight when Haney was trying to massage the situation, saying the hitch is higher than it used to be.

In fact, that should have been the title for tonight's episode, "Hitch it Higher."

Strange that Barkley seems to display his best on-course golf when pros are there, like the Anthony Kim episode and tonight with Kris Tschetter.

[iacas]

Strange that Barkley seems to display his best on-course golf when pros are there, like the Anthony Kim episode and tonight with Kris Tschetter.

Yeah, he parred with her. First drive was a little heely or whatever, but he hit two good shots after that, nearly hitch-free.

It's all in his head. Hank, the more I think about it, gave him exactly the tools he needs to do to remain hitch-free. Yet the dummy can't seem to do it around anyone who might rib him or under the least bit of pressure. Next week is just the completion of the same round of golf, so that'll be worthless.

[ZaPPPa]

I do hope we see a second season or some sort of epilogue or something to that effect.

How about "The Harmon Project" for season 2 and "The Leadbetter project" for season 3?

[HytrewQasdfg]

It's all in his head. Hank, the more I think about it, gave him exactly the tools he needs to do to remain hitch-free. Yet the dummy can't seem to do it around anyone who might rib him or under the least bit of pressure.

The fact that he used to be a pretty good golfer (with a solid swing) shows that he ALREADY had the tools. He just needed to get rid of the hitch.

I don't think Barkley is a dummy. I don't think his hitch has anything to do with his intelligence at all. Once you develop a nervous twitch of this type (hitch, yip, whatever you want to call it) it takes a tremendous amount of concentration to overcome it. I think I relate better to Barkley because I have something of a similar problem. Since birth I've had a condition call essential tremor (ET - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_tremor ), a nervous disorder. When I'm under stress (including times like making a speech and standing in front of a crowd hitting a golf ball) my level of nerves shoots trough the roof (if you've ever been in a near miss auto accident that left your nerves jangling, that's a close approximation.) This is often accompanied with involuntary movements which can be described as nervous twitches. The idea that you can think your way out of a nervous twitch is just unrealistic. That's like feeding someone a plate of beans, then expecting them to not pass gas by thinking. The physical reaction has already been set in motion.