By Ryan
So it’s been a while since we’ve seen Sir Charles swing the golf bats on The Haney Project. The last episode, “Lights, Camera … Hesitation?” aired nearly a month ago. So the show gives us a little recap of what we’ve seen so far, and it’s a video montage interspersed with words pulled from those motivational posters: OPTIMISM… HOPEFUL … FRUSTRATION… RECOMMITTED…
It’s been 30 weeks since Charles began working with Hank, and after the debacle that we saw in the last episode, Charles is going to go back to work and fully commit himself to fixing his game. But he’s going to play a round in Atlanta just for fun with Ahmad Rashad, Jerome Bettis and Charles’ buddy Chico Robinson, a security official at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters. Hank Haney is nowhere to be found, so Charles is on his own. “I’m going to kick [Hank’s] ass when the show is over,” Dammit Charles says. “I’m so tired of getting yelled at.”
Charles really doesn’t show any real improvement in his swing during the round, but at least he’s having fun. And the round gives us some of the best quotes in the series:
“You don’t want to look at that swing for 18 holes. I don’t want to catch it, whatever it is.” — Ahmad Rashad
“If I wasn’t rich and good looking, I’d kill myself. But I’ve good too much to live for.” — Charles
“I didn’t go through life saying, ‘Hey, we’ve just got to beat the Clippers.'” — Charles
“If I played like that, I’d quit. I think if anybody played like that, they’d quit. [Charles] won’t quit. That’s the cool thing. That’s what golf’s all about. That’s what life’s all about. You never quit.” — Rashad
Charles is struggling with the hitch again, but it still amazes me how well he plays around the green. Ahmad thinks maybe Charles needs something to play for to help improve his swing, so he decides to set up a match-play competition with him and Charles vs. Chico and The Bus. (BTW, Chico and The Bus would make a great TV series on its own.) It doesn’t seem to help much. Charles is still hitching. But he hit a few good shots, and he’s hanging his hat on those. It’s those one or two great shots that keep us coming back.
Charles is ready to meet with Hank again, this time at Celebrity Golf Club in Atlanta. Dr. J shows up, this time with former NBA star Andrew Toney. Hank and Charles work together, repeating a lot of the stuff they’ve done before, and their time together in this episode is so short, it’s tough to tell if any progress is made. One thing Hank notices — after 30 weeks — is that Charles doesn’t take any practice swings before he hits the ball. Hank says that Tiger Woods sometimes takes as many as eight practice swings, depending on the situation. Not that it’s going to make that much of a difference for Charles. I always take a bunch of practice swings, and I’m still lousy.
Photo: Credit: GOLF CHANNEL
