Ouch, Charles Barkley's new golf swing

[Awsi Dooger]

Nine months of working with acclaimed golf instructor Hank Haney for a series on Golf Channel, and this is the result. It was taped Thursday in Alabama.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUuhyzFSa7k&feature=channel_page

[Common Sense Party]

1. I thought it was going to hit the camera.

Nice shootin, there, Chuck.

[Awsi Dooger]

4. It was almost like he aimed toward the camera

Notice the direction of his practice swing, and where's he looking. Smack down the fairway. Then he approached the ball and I think he was so nervous he lost all sense of direction. His feet are wide right and he takes one insufficient glance upward before the swing, failing to recognize his alignment was screwed up.

Check out the guy in blue in the background, at the 23 to 25 second mark. He realizes Barkley is aiming at the crowd and signals toward them in warning.

[LSK]

2. please tell me that was staged???

And will be on TNT Sunday night!

:rofl:

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

3. Sir Charles was one of the great re-bounders and scorers

in NBA history, especially for a man of his (real world 6'4") height. Swinging a golf club, he looks like a man falling out of a tree.

Stick to commentating, Chuck. You will always be one of the great NBA personalities.

[underpants]

5. Chuck shouldn't be on a golf course

aside from the sweating through his shirt (can you tuck it in?) he is dangerous. I saw a lot of the shows and I have no idea how he could advance a golf ball at all let alone that it is a distance of more than 150 yards.


As much as I have played golf and been to PGA events I still am amazed at how people don't stick up a hand to stop a flying golf ball from either hitting them or people around them. Maybe I haven't been schooled enough to put the imporance of a single golf shot above the well being of the people around me (like the kid who was close to the flight of that ball)

Chuck needs to give it up just like Sam Snead did after he brained a guy at the Masters a few years ago.

[Awsi Dooger]

7. Agreed, at least not in events with spectators

I'm always baffled that the roping is set up with pros and top amateurs in mind. No one should be allowed forward of the tee at that tight a distance when trembling hackers are involved. I've been to pro-ams in Las Vegas and seen a few errant line drives into the crowd.

I watched every episode of the Haney Project. They were intriguing at first, then declined severely when no foundational progress was made. It was obvious last week they had all but given up and were merely going to trot out the characters from the previous episodes to wrap up the series, Charles' friends. Two shows remain.

This clip indicates zero improvement in the major areas they were working on -- poor positioning on the backswing causing Charles to cross the line, severely ducking the head on the downswing, and of course the resulting hitch.

[underpants]

8. Tiger did a commercial parodying this after his first Masters win

In the commercial they had cardboard cut outs lined up to create a chute for him to hit through. It was maybe three yards wide.

On 18 in his Masters win Tiger hit over to another fairway (the tournament was in the bag anyway) and everyone ran over and crowded around. I remember remarking to a buddy I was watching it with "Man they really need to back those people up" but it was Tiger so it was no problem.

[Awsi Dooger]

9. The last two years at Doral I've intentionally stood in front of drivers on a par 4

#16 on the Blue Monster. It's a sharp dogleg left that used to be a standard short par 4, wedges to the green. But in recent years the new technology has allowed some of the stronger players to attempt a a straight path, over the trees. It looks ridiculous, considering how high the trees are. But some of them pull it off. Tiger is the only player to hit the green, in 2005.

Anyway, the gallery ropes on the left side of the tee have not been properly adjusted. They still set them up like it's a traditional path down the fairway. But the players who take dead aim are literally wailing it smack over your head from no more than 15-20 yards away. Tiger and his caddy will tell the spectators to get down. I was on my knees while Tiger hit last year and this year on that hole. But other players with smaller galleries just flail it without motioning anyone to move.

It's an incredible whoosh. You can hear the ball soar past you. Invariably the gallery members who experience it start to laugh, like a shared experience that's very rare.

Next year they'll have to move those ropes and eliminate that rush, but I said that last year. :)

[Forkboy]

6. That's bad. I've only broken 100 once, but at least I looked good doing it.

:rofl:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. I love the video poster keep defending himself that he wasn't in the way.

Fucking hell, Barclay changed position and aimed right fucking at you, shitwipe. Move out of the fucking way.

You might have been in a roped off area, but that doesn't matter if a golfer IS AIMING STRAIGHT AT YOU.

:eyes:

[Awsi Dooger]

11. In particular, you don't want to be in the slice zone

Go to any driving range and hundreds of balls every day end up wide right of the strip. At my course wide right is the 6th fairway, and they literally have a ranger who goes over there and wedges them back to the driving range proper, several times per day.

That video poster had a great angle, but not when Charles Barkley is in the equation. It is funny that he feels compelled to defend himself so often in the comments. And it will only be more pronounced. Last night when I posted this thread the video had about 7000 views. Now approaching 50,000. It's going to be linked frequently and widespread. The more people see it, the more will condemn him for standing in the way.

[nickgutierrez]

12. It looked like the tee threw him a curveball.

Jeez, what a hitch. It's better than it used to be, but it's still awful.

[Awsi Dooger]

13. Yeah, that tee box probably doesn't aim straight down the fairway

That's not particularly uncommon. On my home course there are 3 or 4 prominent examples. When I play with my dad he inevitably follows the path of the tee box on the same holes every time. I have to stop him and point out where he is lined up.

In this case it looks like there is a lake to the left and the tee box aims right. Barkley is a low ball hitter. So he naturally steers away from the lake. But it ends up with shoulders closed, stance closed, and the typical horrid swing.

[DS1]

14. morons deserve the pain

[CrownPrinceBandar]

15. I feel Chuck's pain..........

I lost my perfectly passable golf swing a few years ago. I wasn't a huge hitter by any stretch, but I could usually keep it in the fairway. But now i can't swing a club for anything. No consistency, even my mishits. So, its off to the pro I go. I gotta tell ya tho, this video is not encouraging. LOL.