A resurging Tiger Woods: Swing coach Sean Foley’s hard work finally paying off
With the apparent aplomb and the visible signs of recovery in his otherwise dilapidated swing, it would be safe to say that the once glorious Tiger Woods will be rattling the fields all over the world starting next year. What once seemed as if the vows of
the former world number one will never come to an end, his recent performance at the closing of the year, sufficiently defines that he is somewhat back to his former zenith if not the whole part of it. But what has been the most decisive factor behind his
resurgence?
The secret lies with one man-the swing coach Sean Foley.
Foley took over the difficult task of reinventing Woods’ worn out swing after his former coach Hank Haney followed the trail of many of the sponsors and friends who decided to ditch the mighty Woods after his extramarital misadventure some two years back.
While Woods tried to recover from one blow to another, as he battled his way regarding his tainted public image and proceeding divorce from his Swedish wife Elin Nordegren, he realised that his personal vows have severely affected his overall grasp on the
sport and he hired Foley to help him find his way back to the glory. Foley jumped into the task, regardless of Woods’s spiralling reputation.
Woods remained behind the ranks for the whole first year under Foley’s patronage and was not able to win a single title in 2010. His last victory came at the Australian Open in 2009. While the duo kept toiling to bring back the once swashbuckling Woods,
media and golf critics made it their humble duty to take a blow on the struggling Woods and did not even spare the coach from all the melodrama. Foley faced scathing criticism from all walks of life, including the former coaches like Butch Harmon, veterans
like Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, his former coach Hank Haney, all criticised Foley for attempting to change Woods’ once-brilliant swing. Regardless of the criticism, Foley carried on.
So what is so good about Foley?
Top-ranked American Justin Rose’s rendezvous with the coach during the BMW Championship, amply defines the art Foley carries along with him.
"I had a little tune-up with Sean Foley on Tuesday, really cleaned up a couple things in my golf swing, and it was really nice to see the results straightaway," said Rose. "It was basically the line of the club at the top of the back swing; I just got a
little bit more on line instead of a little bit laid off.”
Rose played average golf at the start of the year and as the year grew into him, he felt a disastrous form vows which threatened his rankings on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). He followed Foley’s suggestions in later and spirit and the tweaks played
like the missing link as he steadily climbed to the top-ten on the OWGR.
“I'm sort of managing to do it with a nice, simple thought, and I think that's the key - if you can take simple thoughts from the range, that's how you're going to take them to the golf course." Rose added.
Apart from Rose’s stunning recovery, Foley has done some miraculous low-intensity swing surgeries for many of the struggling golfers on PGA Tour. He faced criticism from players and media-men and has finally delivered a thunderous blow to their rhetoric
when Woods won his first event for the last two years, the Chevron World Challenge on the PGA in December 2011. He won his final round in this year’s President’s Cup and performed amazingly well in the Australian Open. He has now climbed back in the top-25
on the OWGR after falling out of the top-50 for the first time in 15 years.
Foley has proven the critics all wrong.
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