Charles Barkley Gives Up Golf Right-Handed, Signs With Miami Heat

by Ryan Ballengee on Jul 20, 2010 9:57 AM EDT in Humor

Charles Barkley's golf swing is terrible. In between a season on television and continued work with the Chuckwagon, Hank Haney hasn't been able to help him. The hitch in Barkley's swing is almost worse than before they started.

So that led to this brilliant idea: having Barkley learn golf from scratch by playing left-handed. This pic from the American Century Championship by site friend Karen Palacios Jansen.

It's not a bad idea. I wanted to teach myself to play lefty once. I even carried a left-handed 9 iron for some tournaments I played in high school. (Used it once.) But, pair the picture with what he said about LeBron James:

"He'll never be Jordan," Barkley said. "There would have been something honorable about staying in Cleveland and trying to win it as 'The Man.' LeBron, if he would've [stayed] in Cleveland, and if he could've got a championship there, it would have been over the top for his legacy, just one in Cleveland. No matter how many he wins in Miami, it clearly is Dwyane Wade's team."

Replace Jordan with Tiger, Cleveland with "right-handed", and Miami with "lefty".

Tweet Comment 15 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

one thing you have GOT to get right...

…Barkley’s swing isn’t terrible – it’s “turr-ble” :-D

Personally, I’m going to assume that Barkley discovered Waggle Room and read my comments on the bad advice he was getting from Haney (that his problems were all physical) – and I said that he should try playing left handed.

I didn’t know LeBron was trying to be Jordan – and if that bunch stays together in Miami, he’ll never have more rings than anyone in history because Wade is already up one on him. Did you see Jordan’s comments ? He said he could never imagine himself calling Bird and Magic to go play on the same team because he was more interested in beating those guys to test himself. I like that.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 20, 2010 11:04 AM EDT reply actions

Who could possibly beat Cleveland next year?

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

aside from…ohh…everybody ? :-)

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 20, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions

Including the Washington Generals.

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions

Barkley Just Needs To Give It Up

Really, Barkley has enjoyed the counsel of some of the best teaching pros and touring pros alive. Yet he still cannot swing a club to and fro on a teebox?

There comes a point in life where you have to admit you just aren’t very good at something and give it up. Barkley passed that point with his golf clubs about five years ago.

by Charles Boyer on Jul 20, 2010 2:05 PM EDT reply actions

Agreed. He's a headcase in this sport, for some reason.

How could he possibly enjoy playing as he does?

He should go back to polo. Just get a bigger horse.

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 2:08 PM EDT up reply actions

Barkley used to be a single digit handicapper until he started playing in these celebrity tour events. He says it got into his head and his swing slowly broke down into the mess we have all seen over the last few years.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 20, 2010 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow, I find that hard to believe, Court. A single handicap? Not buying it.

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

A shingle handicap, maybe, cuz he kept hitting houses.

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 2:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Actually, Court’s right.

Now his single handicap is arriving at the golf course.

by Charles Boyer on Jul 20, 2010 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions

Then I'm guessing Charles was given every putt within 5 feet.

by TXQ on Jul 20, 2010 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions

the guy was a world class athlete – you can tell that his inability to make a decent golf swing just tears him up on the inside. That’s what bothered me about the very first episode of The Haney Project. Over breakfast, Barkley told Haney his story and Haney laughed at him. You could see that it really hurt Barkley’s feelings to be laughed at like that.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 20, 2010 2:35 PM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, that was pretty cold by Haney to do that.

I’ll give Barkley this – he always tries his best.

by Charles Boyer on Jul 20, 2010 2:47 PM EDT up reply actions

It's mental...

There is nothing that Hank could have done to fix CB. It was such a mental block that he put on himself with the full swing. He’d have a better chance just hitting 3/4 swing shots all over the course—he’s got a nice short game and putting stroke.

by 2ndSwingGolf on Jul 20, 2010 11:06 PM EDT reply actions

Then the show was bogus from the start, and Haney is either a media whore or not so good a golf coach for people with real swing problems. Just about every episode, someone would say that it’s between the ears, including a few PGA Tour guys.

"this ball will fit in that fairway"

by courtgolf on Jul 21, 2010 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions