Ray Romano loves new golf gig, 'The Haney Project'

Ray Romano has come a long way from the days when he hopped the fence at Flushing Meadows Park to play pitch-and-putt with his teenage pals.

But for all of his fame and fortune - and even a pretty decent golf game for a middle-aged guy from Queens - Romano couldn't help but feel a bit awed before his first lesson with Hank Haney. Perhaps you've heard of Haney. He is on a break from his regular gig coaching Tiger Woods.

"Yeah, I was intimidated, like I always am around people that are that good at anything,'' Romano said Thursday, recalling their initial encounter for the Golf Channel series "The Haney Project,'' whose second season premieres Monday.

"What made me finally pull the trigger was: How many opportunities am I going to get to hang with this guy for three or four months? Just have fun and do it," Romano said. "His reputation is of being this focused drill sergeant, and he kind of is. But we hit it off.''

Haney isn't complaining. He is just pleased Romano is not Charles Barkley, whose irredeemable swing was last season's focus. Romano, 52, isn't bad. He is a 15 handicap whose goal is to break 80 for the first time. How is it going so far?

"Better,'' he said. "But when you start something new, you get worse before you get better . . . My swing looks better and my knowledge of the swing looks better.''

In reel life, Romano has the luxury of writing strokes off his game. His character in the TNT series "Men of a Certain Age,'' whose first season ended Monday, is a scratch golfer and former mini-tour pro who hopes to join the senior tour. "With the help of CGI and special effects, I can act like I'm a scratch golfer,'' he said. "It's fun to pretend. The problem is I want to look like it.''

Haney was on the set for one episode. "I told him, 'Forget where the ball goes; we'll CGI that; just make sure the swing looks like I at one time was on the mini-tour,' '' Romano said.

Romano grew up a Yankees and Jets fan and still roots for New York-area teams. So do his children, especially his twin 17-year-old sons, even though they were raised mostly in California.

"My soul and my roots are still New York,'' Romano said. "But my kids are super Jets fans, even more so than me. They're hard-core. It's a problem. When the Jets lose, they won't do their homework.''

Romano paid his dues, including a stint as a futon delivery man in the 1980s. His celebrity clients included Mets pitcher Ron Darling, whose apartment Romano visited hours before Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.

"We wished him luck,'' Romano said. "And I remember he gave a $15 tip - very generous.''

It was not until the late '90s that Romano hit it big with "Everybody Loves Raymond,'' a show about a Newsday sports columnist who works mostly in his suburban basement.

Umm . . . sounds familiar. Except for the fact he rarely was shown working. "It wasn't really about the job,'' he said, "it was about the family.''

But there were times when sports did come up, such as when "Tommy Lasorda was mixing sauce in my kitchen; it was surreal . . . and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was in my living room for some reason.''

Why set the show in Lynbrook?

"We wanted it to be Queens and the network thought: No, too ethnic,'' Romano said. "I was like, 'You see who I am? You hear me talk?' But they were worried about Middle America.

"So we compromised. I said, 'We're keeping it in New York. We'll give you Long Island.' ''