10 Ugliest Pro Swings
By John Garrity
I thought that beauty was in the eye of the beholder — until I saw former NBA star Charles Barkley swing a golf club. Now I accept that some things are inherently, indisputably, comically, irredeemably ugly. When Sir Charles, left, surrounds a golf ball with his knee-flexing, false-starting, head-bobbing, foot-shuffling, shoulder-diving parody of a grand mal seizure, the golf gods cover their eyes and the swing gurus catch the first plane out of town.
So when I was asked to compile a list of the ugliest swings in professional golf, past and present, I rated the golfers on a scale of 1 to 5 "Barkleys." A swing that scores zero on the Barkley scale is a museum-ready pass at the ball combining perfect posture, swing plane and tempo — e.g., Tiger Woods, circa 2001. A five on the Barkley scale is ... well, a Barkley.
These are not "bad" swings, I hasten to add. They are the less-than-lovely swings of great players who just happen to take the clubhead through some rough neighborhoods on its way to the perfect impact position.