Haney Project: Romano

[MSDOGS1976]

I thought the show was OK. I like Romano anyway so I will watch.

[Nike Markiie]

i sincerely disagree. hank's wife is hot but not in elin's league. anyway, if she's hotter than elin, does that mean hank won't cheat on her?? how hot does a chick have to be to be "affair-proof"?

I dont think the girl has anything to do with....

[deadeye]

What do you think of Hank's idea to hold the club in the palm more? I'm sure it has been discussed at length, but i am a nubbie. Thought I might try it, i'll try anything. What is it suppose to help?

[westcyderydin]

from what i saw of how he said to grip it, is looks like a good grip. alot of ppl put the club way too much in their fingers and have a stupid strong grip. but if you have the club lined up not in the palm but just on the edge where your palm meets your fingers and your thumbs pointing to 11 ans 1 oclock as you are looking down, its much more of a neutal grip which i think is more comfortable and easier to hit with.

as far as the show, ray is so negative and doesnt think he really can get better so i think it will take a while for him to improve. i would be very annoyed if i were hank by how ray always trys to tell a joke when hank teaches him something. with ray and with alot of other celebrites mostly that ive seen on playing lessons from the pros, they do not take advice very well. theyre egos are just so incredibly fragile. if i had a pro golfer or a pro golf teacher trying to show me stuff i would totally listen.

[whetstone]

To the guys who are better teachers than Hank Haney:
Please come to my CC and fix my game. I could use the help, and I know you will be alot less expensive than Hank is.

[JetFan1983]

Entertaining season in my opinion. I don't really care for Hank's instruction or all the empty filler stuff like "previously on etc." crap, but for the mental stuff, course management stuff, and various Romano one liners it's a fun show. I just like watching a 17 handicap or whatever he is try to take his game to the next level. I have a feeling Romano fails but it will be fun to watch him try nonetheless.

[Par Fore]

Like others, I like Ray.....also, even watching the first one with Barkley, Hank seems to be pretty invested and wants to help these guys.......overall, it's better than watching some of the other crap on TV these days, so I like the show, both last season and this one.....

Only thing that baffles me, and maybe it's just the way they shoot it.......why don't they spend more time on the short game???? It would seem that if they really got these guys sharp on putting, chipping, sand play, reading greens, and so on, you could take a lot of pressure off of their long game.....if he plans to shoot 80, he's got to be able to get up and down consistently, two putt from distance, and make a few 15 footers.

[DarkPrince]

I enjoyed the first season, but as someone else mentioned, it got a little on the boring side by the end since the round mound of rebound wasn't exactly getting better :P I don't like most of Rays shows but this one is fun. I also at time get put off by Haney's teaching, but guess I also remember that a lot of this is pieced together through editing, so we are really only getting probably 10% of what actually went on, like Iacas said about haney "getting" it after "4'' swings I think due to editing it may have been many more, but either way I think this season is more promising than last hahaha.

[Awsi Dooger]

I detect plenty of tension between these two guys. Haney was a bit in awe of Barkley so there was always a giddy backdrop. With Romano that's completely gone and Haney feels freed to take cheap shot wisecracks. Romano senses the lack of respect and his facial expressions give away his feeling toward Haney. Several times he'll force a smile for the camera after attempted humor but when he walks away it's immediately a stern look, like he'd prefer to be anywhere else. I thought the, "...he says I'm not a celebrity," line, and the accompanying annoyed expression, were particularly relevant. Having the wife take lessons this early in the series was a sign all is not well and they're scrambling for filler. And Romano was correct that Haney's hold-and-pose angle was juvenile and screamed as self serving. He put more emphasis on that than the swing thoughts.

I definitely side with Romano. It was absolutely proper to ask a few relevant questions about his swing tendencies and concerns, regardless if Haney had addressed those areas. Read any related book and that's exactly what experts recommend from a student in a teaching environment, to aid both sides in the relationship. Haney responded like a stuffy jackass. He can't have any background in psychology to rip Romano as he did. A calm hand would simply blend a quick related thought into his intended approach.

It's a short sample but Haney is remarkably unimpressive working with amateurs. I did appreciate the strategic tip to putt instead of chip whenever possible. There's not nearly enough probability related focus among golf instructors, or differentiation among pros and amateurs in terms of shot selection. I watch guys in my circle stub chip shots to the fringe all week instead of accepting a bumpy mediocre putt to 5 or 6 feet.

Also, if equipment is such a vital concern then why has it been all but ignored in the two Haney programs? Fitting was several episodes into the Barkley version, and dismissed with barely a 90 second non-specific and non-helpful segment to end a program. It's been completely absent this time.

[Shanks A Million]

It's a short sample but Haney is remarkably unimpressive working with amateurs.

I felt the same way. Not everyone was born to teach, and some were, more specifically, not born to teach certain people. I could never teach amateur musicians, but could "coach" pros. Haney is probably better at helping pros. Same deal, he's not a "teacher" type, more of a coach.

[Ben]

Lame ass show. Ray Romano? Who cares...

That's what I was thinking before the series started. But its actually alright. I guess there is a little more interest to me since its in my part of the world and I've played those courses. El Cab is awesome! Its a legit golf course. Holds US Am qualifying.

[Shanks A Million]

That's what I was thinking before the series started. But its actually alright. I guess there is a little more interest to me since its in my part of the world and I've played those courses. El Cab is awesome! Its a legit golf course. Holds US Am qualifying.

Funny, I felt the same about "Big Break - Disney Golf." I know the courses, awsome to see them in play. For what it's worth, I've tried driving some of the places the Finau brothers did... Hahaha! I tried to drive over the trees on Palm 17, and like, 13 and 12. Took a mighty swipe, and almost cleared the trees at 17, missed going over by like 6 feet.

[iacas]

I detect plenty of tension between these two guys.

Maybe...

And Romano was correct that Haney's hold-and-pose angle was juvenile and screamed as self serving. He put more emphasis on that than the swing thoughts.

Nah, c'mon, it's television. That was ten seconds and they only showed it because it was somewhat funny. During the time lapse they showed two or three hours of practice, but how much of that did we see? The same ten seconds.

And the "hold and pose" is something you see from every instructor. It demonstrates to the student that they finished in balance.

It was absolutely proper to ask a few relevant questions about his swing tendencies and concerns, regardless if Haney had addressed those areas.

Nah, I disagree there as well. Ray's job at this point is to listen to Hank, not to try to "collaboratively" work on the cure. None of his comments, frankly, made sense or tied into what Hank was saying. If Ray had said "it feels to me like you want me to do this... is that the right feeling?" that'd be great. But he was asking about entirely different things.

I may not agree with what Hank is teaching the guy, BUT if Ray were so smart he wouldn't be a bogey golfer.

A calm hand would simply blend a quick related thought into his intended approach.

They weren't related thoughts. They were off-topic... It's like working on the takeaway and the student asking how much their knees should be bent in the follow-through or something.

It's a short sample but Haney is remarkably unimpressive working with amateurs.

That I will agree with, but also that it's a very small sample. But he stunk it up with Barkley too.

Most amateurs, in my experience, can - with the proper instruction - begin to change their swing within 5-10 swings, and depending on the thing they're changing, their ball flight patterns shortly after that. Ray took two+ hours and Hank barely got the inch he was begging for.

[Cussin hacker]

Hank to me has worked with pro's so long that he dosen't have the mindset to work with hackers. His ego it sees is a little big also. I sure wouldn't want him teaching me. I liked the guy till his show revealed how he really is.

[chilly]

I like the show, sadly because my swing faults are much the same as Romano's. Can't help it, I'm self taught and never knew how bad it was until I got in front of the camera late last fall. Come way inside, tilt the shoulders instead of rotating around my spine, come way across the line at the top. So, I've honestly picked up a few things, not so much by listening, but just by watching the evolution of his swing a bit.

That said, it's kind of annoying to hear Romano whine about the process...but I guess like his comedy, he really is a bit neurotic and that's just the way he's wired. If I were a coach, I'd get annoyed when people had the dismissive or negative attitude as I was trying to teach them. It's hard to know exactly what Haney is teaching him, but it does seem as though he's not communicating the whole approach to Romano, and I will say that Haney comes off with a bit of ego that I wouldn't be able to deal with. I went to one lesson last year and my instructor's ego made him take offense when I asked a question, him interpreting it as me "questioning" his knowledge.

[mtsalmela80]

As a true hacker, if I had a instructor that pointed out multiple things that I did wrong, despite nailing a long one right down the middle, I would get discouraged fast.

It seems like he is trying to teach Ray very very specific things about his own version of the perfect swing that would be very tough for any amateur to grasp.

[Shanks A Million]

As a true hacker, if I had a instructor that pointed out multiple things that I did wrong, despite nailing a long one right down the middle, I would get discouraged fast.

I suppose the analogy is that even terrible musicians have hit songs, it doesn't make them great musicians. Think about it, have you ever heard Cyndi trLauper y to sing a normal song? She's hideously off pitch. But somewhere along the line, she managed to sing "Time After Time" just right, despite her inadequate capabilities. It's the exception, not the rule.

Romano may be able to pure a few down the middle, but you saw the round, look how many he duffed or stubbed. We all need to work on our swing, lest we'd all be +8 handicaps. If my swing were anywhere near perfect, do you think I'd be hitting 700 balls a week? Heck no, and it's not, so I do. It's how I get away with having a bad swing, constant practice, and working at fixing the swing.

[Chief Broom]

After watching the first three episodes I'm growing tired of the whole concept. This isn't a show about how an average hacker can be taught to play better golf, but rather about personalities and the way they clash/interect during the course of golf lessons. Maybe this clash of personalities will evolve as Ray's game progresses (or declines), but ultimately it's just rehashing the same dynamic. I'd be a lot more interested in the show being much more technical regarding Ray's actual game and the way a top tier pro like Haney goes about fixing/changing it for the better. Imagine the resources available to the GC and how state of the art they could get in addressing the problems of a typical hacker. But rather than produce a show about the golf swing that might actually be interesting and enlightening they give us this tired old reality show pabulum.