It’s been a long time coming, but Charles Barkley’s golf swing is no longer the nightmare fuel that it once was.
A quick refresher: This is what Chuck’s swing looked like in 2010 (said nightmare fuel), 2020 (at least it was a smooth swing this time), and 2021 (we’re getting somewhere).
The year is 2021, and Charles Barkley ... can golf?! pic.twitter.com/VpwgE6PraJ
— Skratch (@Skratch) May 5, 2021
Fast forward a year, and Barkley is hitting beauties at TPC Sugarloaf, the site of this week’s PGA Tour Champions event – the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, with Northern Irishman Darren Clarke.
“Get that big, strong, ripped, muscular chest through the ball, Charles,” Clarke says while looking on. “You got this.”
Sure enough, Chuck’s swing looks smoother than a shot of his Redmond vodka.
“Great tips! You’ve done this before,” Barkley says in jest as the two fist bump.
If you want more wholesome Bark and Clarke content, look no further than this chummy picture of the two all smiles (and another clip of that swing in action).
While Clarke is a great cheerleader, swing instructor Stan Utley gets credit for teaching the former professional basketball player how to properly hit the ball. The two started working together in 2018, and four years in, the swing is finally looking up (and, thankfully, Chuck is not).
“I don’t know how he got there, but it was bad,” Utley told Golf.com in 2021. “I don’t want to know, either. It’s close to the worst swing I’ve worked with.”
While Chuck might not be a scratch player anytime soon, he’s definitely making progress and, hopefully, having fun along the way.
