New Seasons of The Haney Project and Feherty Discussion Thread

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by GJBenn85

.... One thing I always wonder about is if guys like Haney are so good, why are they not on the PGA Tour winning more tournaments and majors than anyone else?  Surely they could make a lot more money between tournament winnings and endorsements.  .....

Why is it that so many people think the teachers these days have to be personally great at the golf swing to be able to teach it?    I've never heard any knock Harvey Pennick about this, yet he is widely believed to be a great teacher.

[GJBenn85]

Originally Posted by Clambake

Why is it that so many people think the teachers these days have to be personally great at the golf swing to be able to teach it?    I've never heard any knock Harvey Pennick about this, yet he is widely believed to be a great teacher.

Credibility.  In most other aspects of life, you have to be "good" at something before you can teach it and be viewed as credible and so I wonder why it is not any different in golf.  Naturally the question is are these golf instructors as good of golfers as you may think they should be to be teaching the world's best players, or do they just happen to know enough technical stuff to make a name for themselves?  It is a curiosity to me and something for which I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer.

[Roblar]

Really enjoyed the Bill Russell interview - my favorite of the Feherty shows so far.  I'll keep watching.

The Haney stuff... I've watched it.  I keep hoping for it to become good, interesting, or insightful.  ...I don't know why I keep going back for more...  My reaction to the handicaps (I'm a self-calculated 15 - no official cap) is simply, "I hope my swing doesn't look that bad!"

[soloredd]

Feherty has been excellent. The Sergio interview was very good, actually has made into a Sergio fan.

But the Bill Russell interview was superb. That moment when he was discussing the Presidential Medal of Freedom and how it was second to what his dad told him. Priceless and genuine. Love his laugh, too. I really admire his outlook on life.

[x129]

So you would take Herman Edwards to be your football coach over Bill Belichick? Wayne Gretzky over Scotty Bowman?  And I sure wouldn't want golf lessons from Butch Harmon. That guy couldn't keep his tour card. Maybe Utley would be ok as he as win but again he could only last like 3 years on tour. Pelz is obviously out.  Leadbetter is also.  Off the top of my head the only coach who was sucessfull on tour that I can think of is Stockton.

Being a great athlete gives you a step up in a lot of sports to be a coach which is why you see a lot of ex-players who love the game and want to stay connected take the job.  You don't need athletic talent to be a good coach. You need the ability to get those with athletic talent to execute.

Originally Posted by GJBenn85

Credibility.  In most other aspects of life, you have to be "good" at something before you can teach it and be viewed as credible and so I wonder why it is not any different in golf.  Naturally the question is are these golf instructors as good of golfers as you may think they should be to be teaching the world's best players, or do they just happen to know enough technical stuff to make a name for themselves?  It is a curiosity to me and something for which I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer.

[golfballs01]

I'm definitely with you on the Haney project. He is an over rated instructor with little to no impact to someone learning the game and wanting to acquire good info. The shame is, he probably gets paid well for a lesson due to his celebrity status. I am a Master Teaching Professional with the USGTF, WGTF, NRPGI, and hold a PGA Card. I've been teaching and playing golf since 1970 and it's people like Haney that confuse individuals which only makes it hard for us to teach. You have do de-program people's mind, then re-program it with simple and usable material in order to have a chance. It would be much better if he would approach things like the Golf Fix does and actually teach something. As you mentioned though, its all entertainment.

Chris Warner

Houiston Texas.

[golfballs01]

GJBenn85

That is a very good question. Sadly enough, to many instructors or so called instructors fit the second category you mentioned. They learn a lot of tech stuff and bluff the rest. There's such a big business in the GOLF INDUSTRY that you can become certified these days by answering some questions and sending in your $$$$$$$$$$$$$ That's what it's all about now. If someone wants to actually get quality instructions, they have to know what questions to ask and do a background investigation on the instructor. The first thing I do with any new student is ask if they've ever had previous formal instructions. As you can imagine, I get a variety of answers. If they answer yes, my second question is if there is anything that they took from the previous lessons that helped them. It's all in an effort to establish a good starting point as well as to fish out a particular answer. With the thousands of students that I have worked with, I have yet to have a student mention that the GRIP was their starting point or even heavily worked on. That tells me a lot about the level of competency that is out there. The grip should be the beginning point and made correct before any other part of the swing is even looked at. It is the ONLY connection to the club and if it isn't correct, nothing else in the swing will even matter. How that's overlooked, I'll never understand. Instructors should also be of a playing level that they can demonstrate anything that they teach. Seeing is believing in peoples minds and it's essential to reassure people by showing results based on explanation. Anyone can read a book or go to You Tube and get general info but the instructor taking your hard earned money is supposed to be an expert in his field thus taking it to another level. He should have a trained eye in detecting flaws and correct them in a logical manner.

My advice to anyone is to ask certain questions, ask for specific explanations on instruction and ask for the Pro to demonstrate. The use of a good camera is priceless too. With the digital age now, there's no reason that your swing can't be filmed, broken down, explained, and put back together. If they find this difficult, save your money and find someone else.

[uttexas]

Feherty has been excellent. The Sergio interview was very good, actually has made into a Sergio fan.  But the Bill Russell interview was superb. That moment when he was discussing the Presidential Medal of Freedom and how it was second to what his dad told him. Priceless and genuine. Love his laugh, too. I really admire his outlook on life.

Feherty has something very special. I can't recall Mr. Bill Russell has ever sharing so much verbally in front of a television camera. After the Sergio interview, I find myself hoping he plays well...never thought I'd be a Sergio fan. By many business definitions, Haney has earned success as a golf instructor. However, with all the swing aids and tell all book, there's a cheesy money grab vibe.

[golfballs01]

Feherty

I like watching Feherty as well. He keeps the atmosphere very light and diplomatically says what he wants. He has a way of getting people to relax and really express themselves. His humor is a lot of the show and he's a great entertainer. He also covers good material that is interesting to hear and he's able to expose the side of famous individuals that we never would be privileged to see. Bill Russell is an icon that is so humble and laid back. It's nice to see someone like that doing well and living a happy life.

Chris

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Goodfella

I thought the same thing. One of them has a 13 or 16 handicap and I thought to myself theres no way after watching them hit a few. Im a 16, by no means good but better than what they were doing. As far as David Faherty, thats one of my new favorite shows, he does a great job with every interview.

I believe it was Sugar Ray Leonard that claimed to have a 15 handicap. That guy looks like someone that has never swung a club in his life.

Feherty is awesome, loved the Russell interview. I've never watched one of his interviews and left thinking it was bad.

[DarkPrince]

Originally Posted by uttexas

Haney has earned success as a golf instructor. However, with all the swing aids and tell all book, there's a cheesy money grab vibe.

The golf products thing is a little different. He's just lends his name to them. These are the same things golfsmith and golf galaxy have carried for YEARS but they just paid him to allow them to use his name on it. I sell the same things marketed under a company called JEF at work, same packaging, same style, same product....only the colors change and the name on it lol.  Every few years they change the name of the person affiliated with it to get sales up again.  Only the planefinder I think is his own. He also used to do the Medicus commercials with Mark Omeara (sp?).  I haven't figured out if I'll get the book or not, I think it could be interesting but it also screams of feeding off of the whole situation for money. Watching his shows I do have to agree with everyone that he doesn't seem to do a very good job of teaching these people, but I will say with the Ray Romano year, it did seam more like Ray didn't want to listen more than Hank couldn't teach.

And Feherty...I love the guy, his interviews are great. The only 2 I just couldn't get in to are Johnny Miller and Greg Norman just due to their ego's, and I didn't care for the Romo one because I don't watch or care about football, but to each his own. I do wish they'd do a little less of him just messing around and doing stupid stuff and more with the interviews but I know they have to put more funny into it to keep it light.

[Bull worker]

I did get one thing from Haney that, for whatever reason, never crossed my mind.  As he's sending his students ontheir way he suggested they swing the club 100 times a day, one shoulder over the other.  I have started doing that as we still have snow.  And to be honest, the first evening was a bit of a struggle.  But, I got another 100 in this evening.

[deronsizemore]

Originally Posted by x129

...Leadbetter is also...

I honestly think that he would have to pay me (a lot) before I'd consider taking a lesson from him. I don't care what his "ranking" is in Golf Digest.

[Bullitt5339]

The interview with Sergio really changed my mind about him, to be honest.  I was never much of a fan, but he was asked some really personal questions and even honestly talked about a few of the things that I didn't care for him because of.

I find myself hoping he does well again now, and it's all because of the interview.

[tefunk]

Recently on the Haney Project, Mr. Haney has been using an iPad to record peoples swings.  Then he's able to draw lines and show how someone is off plane, etc.

I'm curious, does anyone know if this is a standard program he uses?  Does he have a special program?  Do iPads come with an appropriate camera to capture a swing, or does one need to buy a suped up iPad?

I'd like to be able to record our (family) swings and see what we're doing.  Any help or thoughs would be much appreciated!

[DarkPrince]

Originally Posted by Bullitt5339

The interview with Sergio really changed my mind about him, to be honest.  I was never much of a fan, but he was asked some really personal questions and even honestly talked about a few of the things that I didn't care for him because of.

I find myself hoping he does well again now, and it's all because of the interview.

I was so used to seeing him as just a whiny little punk but yeah, the interview changed my opinion of im. I know its possibly just due to how it was cut/edited but he really did seem genuine.

[iacas]

Originally Posted by tefunk

I'm curious, does anyone know if this is a standard program he uses?  Does he have a special program?  Do iPads come with an appropriate camera to capture a swing, or does one need to buy a suped up iPad?

There are several apps out there that let you draw lines, etc.

Unfortunately, the iPad camera is 30 frames per second. It doesn't need to be faster - it just has to take still images and reasonable HD video.

I recommend a camera that can do 120 to 240 to 300 frames per second (and then I recommend using some of the software available for desktop computers).

Here's a good article: http://thesandtrap.com/b/playing_tips/filming_your_swing .

[parsnates]

I love Feherty, but am really disappointed with how GC chops up the show.. They tease certain segments of the interview repeatedly making the show itself seem repetitive. It feels like they stretch a little content a long way. Many of the gags are silly and pointless and just take away from airing more of the interview subject. Just turn on the camera and let it roll.