Foley/Tiger Speculation Heating Up

The heat has been turned up again on speculation that Canadian Sean Foley is about to become the new swing coach for the troubled Tiger Woods.

My buddy Chris Stevenson is at Whistling Straits for this week’s PGA Championship and has the latest in his Sun Media column.

In the past few years, Foley has made quite a name for himself with a stable of PGA Tour players that includes Stephen Ames, but if he can turn around the No. 1 player in the world, at least for now, he will be a very popular fellow.

Whether Foley joins Tiger or not, the point to ponder is whether Woods needs a swing coach as much as he needs somebody to help him sort out his much-publicized off-course problems in his head.

The cerebral aspect of the game seems to be Woods’ biggest challenge more than the physical side, but one can certainly affect the other as Vancouver’s Jim Nelford pointed out last week in my Sun Media column, which begins below: Read more

Anatomy Of A Juicy Rumour

I was down at the Core Golf Junior Academy in Orlando a couple of weeks ago, wrapping up our year with the students.

On that Thursday, we headed up to the TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra to watch some great golf and visit with our PGA Tour coaches Sean Foley and Dr Craig Davies.

That day also happened to be the `eye of the storm,’ so to speak, in regards to the Hank Haney and Tiger Woods saga and the potential of a new coach coming in to help Tiger.

So, how did that Thursday during the Players Championship elevate into what appeared to be a media feeding frenzy, trying to guess what was going to happen and who might become Tiger’s coach?

There were two things, one being the consistent rumour from players to the media of Hank Haney being let go.

Given Tiger’s less-than-stellar play, his poor quality of shots and every armchair quarterback critiquing Hank’s job, it became a matter of `where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ and the rumors began.

Secondly, the coincidence of Sean Foley’s players happening to play a practice round with Tiger fueled the fire.

Sean’s students Sean O’Hair and Hunter Mahan did play a practice round with Tiger the day before.

This was not unusual as Tiger has become friends with O’Hair, is getting to know Hunter better and was paired with him for the first two rounds for the Players Championship, so it’s always nice to know your partner that week.

Sean followed them around as he does with all of his players and both O’Hair and Mahan put on a shotmakers’ clinic that was very impressive, according to Sean.

Also, over the last couple of years, Sean has gotten to know Tiger and had swing conversations with him.

That Thursday is when the smoke became a fire as O’Hair and Tiger were playing at the same time on opposite tees and happened to be at the back of the range warming up together with the media gathered around.

Sean was working with O’Hair and, as is Sean’s nature, he was also conversing with Tiger. From those situations; rumors of Hank’s departure, a practice round and a warm up session,  a feeding frenzy started, which Sean tried to put out the rest of that week and still is today.

The bottom line is there have been no direct discussions between Tiger and Sean Foley on Sean becoming Tiger’s new coach. None.

Have they talked swing theories? Yes.

However, Tiger talks swing theories with every coach out there, as do a lot of players, so there is no surprise there.

Would they be a good fit? Yes, but so would a lot of other coaches.

What really surprised me was the fact that no one from the media really thought this through.

You don’t hop from one coach to another overnight.

There has been a lot of history between Tiger and Hank that needs to be dealt with between them, both personally and business-wise.

Then a period of reflection is need on what went wrong and what needs to go right with Tiger’s game before deciding who can get the job done.

Tiger does not go into new relationships lightly, nor does he rush it and he won’t make a decision until he is confident it is the right one.

While there is no time frame on these things, one thing is for sure – they don’t happen overnight in the middle of a major golf tournament.

Anyone who understands golf and who is truly looking for a real story would know that.

Do You Have Confidence In The Media?

As many readers of this contribution realize, I was in Las Vegas last week when the Sean Foley to Team Tiger story broke and behind the smoke and mirrors, it appears to be nothing more than a tempest in a teapot right now, but we’ll see what happens.

At this point, there are denials from IMG, which represents Woods, and Foley himself, but that’s standard in these situations. Meanwhile, the big man himself was at Sawgrass over the weekend trying to get his career back on track before withdrawing with a neck injury at The Players Championship and hadn’t chimed in on the subject as of this writing. Read more

Patience Is Part Of Perfection: Foley

FORT WORTH, Tex. – One of the familiar faces joining us on this whirlwind tour of Nike Golf’s expanded research and development facilities here came from outside the media in the form of Sean Foley, coach to several tour players including Canadians Stephen Ames and, most recently, Lorie Kane.

After we watched the final moments of the New Orleans Saints punching their ticket to the Super Bowl, we got talking about the pursuit of perfection, which is the ultimate goal of any coach and player looking to take a game to the next level and beyond.

However, good intentions can go awry and that stress for success can be a press when patience is what’s required for that next step.

“I’ve actually worked on the same thing with Stephen for two years, exactly the same thing. When he gets it, he really flushes it and he hits it more than good enough to play at a very high level that week,” said Foley.

“It’s not about trying to get it perfect and perfect and perfect, just trying to get them where they understand it and they’re comfortable with it,” he added, saying that there are times when it’s best for a coach to lighten up on the teaching and put the emphasis on preparation. Read more

Sean Foley To Headline Ontario PGA Conference

Canadian Sean Foley, who coaches several players on the PGA Tour including Stephen Ames, will headline the 2010 Ontario PGA Professional Development Conference, which will focus on teaching, coaching and getting the best out of elite level athletes.

The 2010 conference will provide participants with a spectrum of theory and practical techniques and include fitness, nutrition, sport psychology, technical elements, parental education principles, long-term athlete development, NCCP and golf coach development modelw.

Foley will be join be joined by Dr. Craig Davies a fitness and nutrition expert who works with a number of PGA Tour players including 2009 PGA Championship winner Y.E. Yang.

Foley and Davies will headline the first day of the conference, Feb. 16-17 at the University of Toronto.

On the second day of the conference, Stan Butler, the Ontario Hockey League’s longest-serving coach and the 1999 world junior silver medal winning coach, will be the keynote speaker.

Butler will share his insights on coaching elite level athletes and will draw on some comparisons between hockey players and golfers.

In addition to Butler, the second day of the conference will feature a number of breakout sessions hosted by a number of elite level coaches.

Those coaches include Henry Brunton, the current Royal Canadian Golf Association’s men’s national team coach and Pierre Lafontaine, Swimming Canada’s chief executive officer and national coach.

On Monday evening, the conference will conduct the first annual Ontario PGA hockey game. Teams will be divided into east and west and battle it out for the coveted PGA Hockey Club Vintage Jersey.

The 2010 Ontario PGA Professional Development and Networking Conference is open to anyone who wishes to attend.

The conference will take place at the University of Toronto at the Varsity Blues athletic centre. For more information and to register to the conference, see the website ontariopga.com/Membership/Education.aspx .

First Professional Win for Shepley Could Have Future Benefits

The mind of this old fellow is clear enough to remember a day, if memory serves, about 11 years ago when I was supposed to meet eight-time LPGA Tour winner Sandra Post on a business matter that really had nothing to do with the youngster hitting balls straight and true on a winter’s day inside a dome in Toronto.

Jessica Shepley, the 2009 Canadian PGA Women’s champion for just a few hours as this is being written, would have been about 15 then, but through Post’s adjectives, was hardly a stranger, even though this was the first time I had seen Shepley, who demonstrated that her coach’s superlatives were not exaggerations.

A little bit of that little girl was present yesterday, even if it was a woman accepting the trophy and the $11,500 cheque that should help with monetary issues in a year that hasn’t worked out as anticipated after Shepley had five top-10 finishes to finish seventh on the Duramed Futures Tour money list last year.

That position earned her conditional status on the LPGA Tour which, as it turns out, meant a whole lot of nothing with more veteran players looking to play more in a Solheim Cup year and tournaments falling off the schedule in what has been a rough stretch for the tour. Read more

Ontario PGA Honours its Best for 2008

The Ontario PGA announced its 2008 award winners at the Ontario PGA Merchandise Show in Toronto as the association’s Club Professional, Teacher, Teacher for Juniors, Merchandiser and Assistant Professional of the Year were named.

Club Professional of the Year Bill Wogden has been the head professional at the Barrie Country Club for the last 17 seasons. Prior to Barrie, Wogden served as the first head professional at Royal Woodbine and, before that, apprenticed under the late Ben Kern at The National Golf Club of Canada in Woodbridge for 10 years.

Club Professional of the Year nominees are judged on acriteria including Canadian PGA involvement, business operations, teaching and coaching, playing ability and playing accomplishments, merchandising and entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

“It’s a great honour and wonderful feeling to be chosen for this award by my peers,” said Wogden, who lists Kern as his main guiding influence in the golf industry. “I really learned a lot from Ben from my time at The National and I’ve tried to take those experiences and apply them to Barrie Country Club.”

Tim Moore, the head professional at Thornhill Golf and Country Club, was named Ontario PGA Merchandiser of the Year. Part of Moore’s merchandising philosophy consists of providing each member and guest with an individualized and personal golfing experience and carrying a wide assortment of products to meet the individual needs of the club’s diverse membership.

Merchandiser of the Year nominees are judged on criteria such as merchandising philosophy, pro shop layout, display techniques, support staff and overall promotion. This is the first win for Moore, who was also nominated in 2007.

“To win this award after coming up short in 2007 feels fantastic,” said Moore. “I am very lucky to have great people working for me and I couldn’t have won without them.”

Dan Poort of the Hamilton Golf and Country Club is the recipient of the Assistant of the Year Award.

Nominees are judged on criteria such as staff management, teaching, member interaction and playing ability. Poort has spent the last seven seasons at Hamilton and this season was his first as the No. 1 associate and that brought new and interesting challenges

“I am truly honoured to win this award,” said Poort. “I owe a lot to my family and close mentors who have guided me throughout my career.”

Sean Foley of Piper’s Heath is this year’s recipient of the Ontario PGA Teacher of the Year. Foley made a name for himself in 2008, adding a number of high profile PGA Tour players to his growing roster of students.

Teacher of the Year nominees are judged on criteria such as innovative teaching techniques to instructional articles, videos or promotions.

This is the first nomination and first win for Foley, who has become a renowned teacher over the last several years. Foley currently works out of Piper’s Heath in Milton during the summer and runs the Core Junior Golf Academy in Orlando during the winter.

“It’s an honour to win this award,” said Foley. “I love doing what I’m doing and everyday I get to see people smile and play the game they love whether they shoot 68 or 110,”

Mike Kelly, director of player development for the Golf Association of Ontario, is this year’s recipient of the Teacher of the Year for Juniors. Kelly has been a Canadian PGA Class A Member since 2006 and worked in various capacities within the ClubLink Corporation before joining the GAO.

Nominees in the Teacher of the Year for Juniors category are judged on contributions to the development of junior golf to leadership, inspiration and promotion of the game.

Kelly is responsible for growing the game in Ontario and has spearheaded the Callaway Golf in Schools program that included 15,000 students this year.

“We’ve worked extremely hard to bring golf to the children over the last few years,” said Kelly. “This award feels fantastic to win knowing that my peers in the industry nominated me.”

All Ontario PGA award winners will now be put forward as national nominees.

Foley Deepens His PGA Tour Presence

Sean Foley, director of instruction at the Core Golf Junior Academy in Orlando, has agreed to coach PGA Tour players Hunter Mahan and Parker McLachlin.

Foley also coaches Sean O’Hair and Canadian Stephen Ames, Nationwide Tour player Greg Owen and LPGA Tour player Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ont.

“I am delighted to enter into coaching relationships with Hunter and Parker, both of whom are great young players with plenty of talent, smarts and heart and they are terrific people too,” said Foley.

Nike Canada Adds New Website Features

Nike Golf Canada is taking steps to make its website, www.nikegolf.ca, more interactive, offering the opportunity to ask Nike Golf players questions during featured tournaments, watch video interviews from selected events or browse through still images of the players.

Nike launched the new feature with “Go Inside the Ropes at The Tour Championship,” to complement other content such as Stephen Ames’ blog.

Clubhouse Members on www.nikegolf.ca can interact with Nike players the week of a tournament, watch video interviews about their rounds and the tournament and hear about Nike Golf products.

The “Interview the Pros” section allows fans to send questions to Nike players throughout the season and check back to see if their questions were selected and answered on a video interview.

Fans can also tap into an archive of Inside the Ropes segments from the RBC Canadian Open, Deutsche Bank Championship, BMW Championshio and the Barclays Championship.

“Our goal is to make nikegolf.ca a destination for golf fans searching for unique and exclusive tour content from some of the best athletes in the game at some of the biggest events on the schedule,” said Tyler Keenan, brand communications manager for Nike Golf Canada.  “Our members not only have the chance to view timely event interviews and still images, but also the chance to interact with our players by submitting their own questions, something that is truly unique in the industry.  The Inside the Ropes content will continue to be updated after the Tour Championship and into next season, where the focus will be on new product stories and exclusive interviews at events such as the Masters, The Players Championship and the U.S. Open.”

In July, the website launched WeatherEye Golf, a custom widget that provides current and local weather for up to 17,000 golf courses as part of a partnership between Nike Golf Canada and the Weather Network.

Fans can also get tips from Ames and his coach Sean Foley on the site.

Foley to Coach Sean O’Hair

Canadian Sean Foley, director of instruction for the Core Golf Junior Academy (formerly the Junior Golf Academy of Canada) in Orlando, will coach PGA Tour player Sean O’Hair. 

“I believe that Sean O’Hair is one of the rising stars of the PGA Tour,” said Foley, who also coaches Stephen Ames and Nationwide Tour player Greg Owen. “Sean has an immense amount of talent, an incredible work ethic and he’s an outstanding person.  I’m elated to be working with Sean to help him reach his goals.”