Charles Barkley, Tiger Woods' Golf Coach to Star in New Series

Charles Barkley, the outspoken NBA Hall-of-Famer, commentator, and famously TERRible golfer, will star in a new reality show on The Golf Channel with Tiger Woods' coach, Hank Haney. The new reality show, The Haney Project, which premieres tonight at 8 p.m. CT, will put Haney up to the task of fixing Barkley's hilariously ugly golf swing.

Sir Charles, who at one point was a 10-handicap golfer, has not broken 100 in several years. He most recently finished last at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship in July. Barkley said the idea for the show came after he was bombarded with an unusually large number of "golf tips" from anonymous passer-by's after the Celebrity Championship. "It's kind of funny, but it's kind of like, 'Wow, I must really suck,'" Barkley said after the tournament.

There are seven episodes scheduled for The Haney Project, five of which have already been shot. The premiere begins just two months after Barkley's most recent run-in with the law. On New Years Eve, Barkley was arrested for a DUI in Scottsdale, Arizona, after registering a .149 BAC. The details of the arrest created quite a stir in the blogosphere for weeks to come.

According to the police report, Barkley was in a hurry to receive oral sex from a female friend when he ran a stop sign. He said the woman had performed the sex act for him a week earlier and "it was the best one he had ever had."

Sir Charles can be criticized for many things. Lack of honesty, however, is not one of those. It is reasonable to assume that production of The Haney Project had already begun when the New Years incident occurred, but I am curious as to whether or not it would have even mattered. No matter what controversy Sir Charles surrounds himself with, people continue to be drawn to his affable personality (Take a look at Frank Caliendo's Barkley impression, which is almost spot-on).

Personally, I will be tuning into The Haney Project for no other reason than to watch Barkley act like a complete clown. In a marketing and sponsorship environment that often has little tolerance for legal mishaps (See Michael Phelps and Kellog's), Barkley's seemingly unfazed celebrity can be attributed to the public's attraction to honest and compelling sports personalities. People are generally willing to forgive mistakes made by celebrities if they are honest, apologetic, and able to acknowledge their faults.

Whether or not Haney can actually fix Barkley's awful swing remains to be seen. Five bucks says Barkley improves his game by three strokes or less. Any takers?