The Hank Haney Project w/ Charles Barkley

[KSB2424 3,148]

My new favorite show by far. It's on the Golf Channel. I know we all are aware of this, but Barkley is one cool brother. I would love to hang out with the guy. Maybe I could be his Designated Driver or something. Anyway, the show is great. Haney trying to fix his swing and all that goes into it is fairly interesting. Anybody else watching it?

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

I have been watching it. They hyped it in Golf Digest last month and I would not miss that train wreck of a swing.

[edjr 6,579]

For Chuck to fix his golf swing, he needs a shrink, not a golf instructor.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

For Chuck to fix his golf swing, he needs a shrink, not a golf instructor.

Which is what Haney is doing. He is working on him getting his head fixed and also getting in better shape.

[edjr 6,579]

Which is what Haney is doing. He is working on him getting his head fixed and also getting in better shape.

 

You can swing just fine. What does being fat have to do with it?

[KSB2424 3,148]

You can swing just fine. What does being fat have to do with it?

Have you seen the show?

[edjr 6,579]

Have you seen the show?

 

no, but being fat isn't why Chuck swings like a tied up kid with downs

[KSB2424 3,148]

no, but being fat isn't why Chuck swings like a tied up kid with downs

I realize it's not the only factor, but Charles is really serious about it. He want's to fix that gawd awful hitch in his swing, but also wants to be more flexible (hence the weight). He is tackling his game from all sides. It is a fun show, you should check it out. They air the re-runs all the time. I think only three episodes have aired so far so it would be easy to catch up.

[dain11279 968]

I've caught parts of it. It's amazing how much he's improved already. I'm not sure of the timetable of how long it's taken for Chuck to get better but that Haney's workin wonders so far.

[GettnHuge 2]

good stuff

[edjr 6,579]

I realize it's not the only factor, but Charles is really serious about it. He want's to fix that gawd awful hitch in his swing, but also wants to be more flexible (hence the weight). He is tackling his game from all sides. It is a fun show, you should check it out. They air the re-runs all the time. I think only three episodes have aired so far so it would be easy to catch up.

 

I love golf and I love chuck and he has the best golf swing ever.

[Patriotsfatboy1 1,432]

You can swing just fine. What does being fat have to do with it?

 

First off, I am not fat. I am just big boned. It is also important to note that Barkley is MUCH bigger-boned than I am.

 

From that Golf Digest article that I mentioned:

http://www.golfdigest.com/instruction/2009...y?currentPage=1

"Charles has been to a bunch of teachers, and they have all focused on the hitch," says Haney. "He's never gotten any better, because everybody sees the hitch and immediately thinks, Fix the hitch, fix the hitch. But the hitch is coming from something else."

 

That something else is physics. Barkley takes the club back on an extreme upright plane -- so much that the shaft is on the same line as his spine at the top of his backswing. Looking down-range from behind, Barkley's club points at 1 o'clock. It should be pointing at 10:30. "From there, he's coming down at such a severe angle that if he doesn't do something, he's going to bury the club into the ground behind the ball," says Haney. "He stops because he's attempting to make a correction. Honestly, the fact that he can hit the ball at all from that position shows what a great athlete he is."

 

....

 

But Barkley's self-taught swing started to deteriorate as he lost flexibility from the series of back and leg injuries that would eventually force him to retire from the NBA in 2000. A mild version of the hitch showed up in 1995, but Barkley was confident he could play his way out of it, as he would a shooting slump on the court. "And that was my biggest mistake," Barkley says. "One of the worst sayings is that practice makes perfect. That doesn't work if you're practicing the wrong stuff. I'd go out there and hit balls for six or eight hours, but I was doing all the wrong stuff."

 

By the time Barkley and Haney hooked up, in early November of last year, what had started as a compensation for a steep backswing plane had morphed into full-blown full-swing yips. "The way I describe it, it's like driving your car to work on a certain route, day after day for years, and there's a stop sign you always stop for," says Haney, who documented his own case of severe driver yips in the August 2004 issue of Golf Digest. "It's awfully hard to all of a sudden drive that same route, but do it without stopping at that intersection."

 

....

 

Barkley is rebuilding his body at the same time he rehabs his swing, losing 30 pounds by the halfway point of the program and increasing his flexibility with a stretching regimen designed by a specialist who works with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals. "The first time we worked together, Hank was trying to get me behind the ball, and I just couldn't do it," says Barkley. "First of all, I was fat. But my hamstrings were hurting. My groins were hurting. And when I turned, I thought my back was going to explode. Now I can do what he asks me to do without any pain."

[kilroy69 1,235]

I have never seen any swing as bad as chucks.