{"id":312183,"date":"2011-03-15T21:29:18","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T21:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/15\/swing-coach-sean-foley-steps-into-tigers-lair-ap\/"},"modified":"2011-03-15T21:29:18","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T21:29:18","slug":"swing-coach-sean-foley-steps-into-tigers-lair-ap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/15\/swing-coach-sean-foley-steps-into-tigers-lair-ap\/","title":{"rendered":"Swing coach Sean Foley steps into Tiger’s lair (AP)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP)\u2014Sean Foley had a peaceful Tuesday morning on the
\nPGA Tour. No more than a half-dozen people paid attention as he walked a
\npractice round with a client who was coming off a strong finish that was sorely
\nneeded.<\/p>\n

That would be Stephen Ames<\/a>, who tied for third in Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that other client\u2014Tiger Woods<\/a>\u2014who brings Foley more scrutiny than
\never, and lately, more criticism.<\/p>\n

Woods was 100 miles away in a made-for-TV exhibition on his home golf
\ncourse, although that won\u2019t stop the growing debate about where he is in this
\n\u201cprocess\u201d of changing his swing, and whether he is heading down the right
\npath.<\/p>\n

Foley was expecting this when they first began working together last August
\nat the PGA Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started with Tiger, I didn\u2019t think it would be a month and then
\nhe\u2019d kill everyone,\u201d Foley said. \u201cRemember, I got him right after Akron, the
\nlow point of his professional career.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was last year at Firestone, where Woods had won seven times and had never
\nfinished worse than fifth, that he had the worst 72-hole score of his career
\n(298) and tied for 78th against an 80-man field.<\/p>\n

A few months later, Foley said he stopped reading golf stories and turned
\nthe volume down when watching golf on TV.<\/p>\n

He says the criticism doesn\u2019t bother him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019m a Canadian who at 19 was a white kid at an all-black
\nuniversity,\u201d said Foley, who played college golf at Tennessee State. \u201cThis
\ncouldn\u2019t even be called criticism what I\u2019m going through now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Woods, criticism comes with the territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some reason,\u201d Woods said last week with a grin, \u201cI tend to get a
\nlittle bit more scrutinized than most players do, analyzed to the nth degree
\nabout what goes on within one round of golf. That\u2019s something new to him. He has
\nnot quite faced that. But he said the one positive thing is I\u2019m always on TV, so
\nhe gets to look at a lot of golf swings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hank Haney caught it just as bad, if not worse, when he was revamping Woods\u2019
\nswing through 2004. One player jokingly said he was thinking about suing Haney
\nfor loss of wages if Woods didn\u2019t regain his form.<\/p>\n

Woods eventually picked up Haney\u2019s instruction and went on to win six majors
\nand more than 40 percent of his tournaments, astounding numbers that no one else
\nin this generation has come close to matching\u2014except for Woods earlier in his
\ncareer.<\/p>\n

Foley says he has an \u201calligator\u2019s hide\u201d when it comes to taking criticism.
\nTrouble is, he also has an alligator\u2019s mouth when it comes to talking, and he
\nreplaced a swing coach who has rice paper for skin and prefers to do his talking
\nin 140 characters or fewer.<\/p>\n

Haney took Twitter to an extreme last week during the Cadillac Championship.<\/p>\n

It started last September when Foley said in an interview with
\nfoxsports.com, \u201cLet\u2019s be honest about this, it\u2019s not like he was flushing it
\nwith Hank.\u201d Then came an interview with golf.com in which Foley said nothing
\nabout Woods\u2019 previous swing made any sense to him.<\/p>\n

Haney fired off more tweets than Vijay Singh<\/a> hits balls on the practice
\nrange, using Woods\u2019 results as affirmation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was more of a reaction to what I had said that I never fully
\nunderstood what they were working on,\u201d Foley said. \u201cHe\u2019s got every right to
\ncomment back. But to the extreme and the amount \u2026 I was like, \u2018Do you have
\nanything else to do?\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cTiger and Hank won a lot of majors, a lot of tournaments, and you can\u2019t
\ntake that away from the guy. And he helped Tiger,\u201d Foley said. \u201cHe\u2019s allowed
\nto say what he wants. If I offended him, I didn\u2019t mean to. But Tiger helped
\nbuild Hank\u2019s career, not the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this must be somewhat amusing to Butch Harmon, who is not immune to
\ncriticism. Harmon recalls hearing the skeptics after Woods won the Masters by a
\nrecord 12 shots and decided to overhaul his swing.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone said we were crazy, that I was going to ruin him,\u201d Harmon said
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n

It worked out OK.<\/p>\n

Even now, as it was when Woods was with Haney, there are a number of experts
\nwho think Woods ought to just go back to Harmon and repeat what he was doing in
\n2000 when won 10 times around the world, including three straight majors. Harmon
\nsays it\u2019s not that simple. The equipment is different, Woods\u2019 physique has
\nchanged and \u201che\u2019s had three surgeries since I had him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon came from a no-nonsense family of golf teachers\u2014father Claude, a
\nformer Masters champion, along with brothers Billy, Craig and Dick, who died
\nfive years ago. He also had the experience of taking Greg Norman<\/a> to No. 1 before
\nworking with Woods.<\/p>\n

His only advice is to Foley as a coach, not what Foley is coaching.<\/p>\n

Harmon says Foley has it the toughest because he took the job when Woods was
\nat his worst\u2014not only with his golf game, but trying to patch together a
\npersonal life torn apart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had it the easiest,\u201d Harmon said. \u201cI had him when he was a teenager.
\nHe was young. He did everything I asked him to do. He wasn\u2019t married. He didn\u2019t
\nhave those outside problems. Sean is young (36). He\u2019s got a big ego. He\u2019s been
\nthrown into a difficult situation. He probably got Tiger at the worst time. When
\nTiger left me and went to Hank, he was still a good player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harmon said he has talked to Foley about not letting the media beat him up,
\nto accept praise and criticism in equal measure, and to expect the latter far
\nmore often.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s never been in the hot seat,\u201d Harmon said. \u201cAnd this is a hot
\nseat.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Continue reading here:
\nSwing coach Sean Foley steps into Tiger’s lair (AP)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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