Sean Foley Golfer Stats

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Here are some interesting stats gathered from PGATour.com regarding Sean Foley's top students. The moral of the story appears to be - it's not easy to make great golfers better! It'll be interesting to see how Tiger's statistics change over the next few years.

(Please note, this information has been compiled by a golf professional other than myself)

 
                               
PARKER MCLACHLIN                            
In 2008 McLachlin won on tour and did not work with Foley, 2009-2010 with Foley              
                               
      2008 Tour Rank   2009 Tour Rank   2010 Tour Rank          
Driving Distance   286yds 105th   279yds 157th   269yds 191st          
Driving Accuracy   58% 157th   54% 173rd   54% 180th          
Greens in Regulation   62.50% 159th   58% 182nd   53% 194th          
Total Driving   176th 176th   184th 184th   193rd 193rd          
Ball Striking   178th 178th   183rd 183rd   193rd 193rd          
Proximity to Hole   36ft  154th   39ft 182nd   41ft 194th          
                               
                               
HUNTER MAHAN                             
Mahan did not work with Foley in 2008 during the PGA Tour season; started in the 2009 season      
                               
      2008 Tour Rank   2009 Tour Rank   2010 Tour Rank        
Driving Distance   290yds 75th   297yds 28th   291yds 56th          
Driving Accuracy   66% 62nd   65% 74th   68% 34th          
Greens in Regulation   69% 7th   68% 19th   68% 33rd          
Total Driving    23rd 23rd   7th 7th   2nd 2nd          
Ball Striking   8th 8th   4th 4th   11th 11th          
Proximity to Hole   34ft  48th   34ft 55th   36ft 142nd          
                               
                               
SEAN O'HAIR                             
Sean began working with Foley at the Canadian Open in 2008.                  
                 
                               
      2007 Tour Rank   2008 Tour Rank   2009 Tour Rank   2010 Tour Rank    
Driving Distance   296yds 34th   291yds 69th   293yds 46th   288yds 84th    
Driving Accuracy   64% 79th   60% 138th   61% 123rd   64% 74th    
Greens in Regulation   67% 23rd   64.40% 113th   67% 27th   67% 59th    
Total Driving   8th 8th   112th 112th   66th 66th   51st 51st    
Ball Striking   9th 9th   111th 111th   42nd 42nd   48th 48th    
Proximity to Hole   35ft 68th   34ft 48th   34ft 55th   35ft 109th    
                               
                               
JUSTIN ROSE                             
Justin began working with Foley mid 2009                        
He currently ranks 6th in total putting 2010; 2009 ranked 143rd and 2008 ranked 186th. He works with Dave Stockton on putting,  
                               
      2007 Tour Rank   2008 Tour Rank   2009 Tour Rank   2010 Tour Rank    
Driving Distance   288yds 96th   286yds 103rd   288yds 90th   286yds 104th    
Driving Accuracy   63.90% 95th   64% 90th   64.8 79th   66% 57th    
Greens in Regulation   65.70% 58th   61% 170th   66% 83rd   66% 88th    
Total Driving   89th 89th   197th 197th   66th 66th   58th 58th    
Ball Striking    63rd 63rd   197th 197th   71st 71st   70th 70th    
Proximity to Hole   34ft 33rd   34ft 60th   35ft 92nd   33ft 26th    
                               
                               
STEPHEN AMES                             
Began with Foley in November 2006                        
                               
      2003 Tour Rank   2006 Tour Rank   2007 Tour Rank   2008 Tour Rank    
Driving Distance   285yds 99th   289yds 88th   282yds 154th   283yds 133rd    
Driving Accuracy   66% 109th   62% 101st   67% 47th   62.70% 103rd    
Greens in Regulation   68% 34th   66% 58th   64% 86th   65% 96th    
Total Driving   125th 125th   87th 87th   107th 107th   160th 160th    
Ball Striking   82nd 82nd   68th 68th   94th 94th   134th 134th    
Proximity to Hole   33ft 21st   34ft 44th   34ft 49th   32ft 6th    
                               
                               
      2009 Tour Rank   2010 Tour Rank                
      287yds 94th   282yds 138th                
      65% 73rd   66% 57th                
      67% 30th   67% 66th                
      62nd 62nd   107th 107th                
      40th 40th   84th 84th                
      35ft 77th   35ft 100th                
                               

To read more on Sean Foley and Tiger Woods click HERE

Tiger Woods and Sean Foley

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Here is an excellent article that I came across that explains a little more about Sean Foley and his relationship with Tiger Woods and Stack and Tilt's Bennett and Plummer:

(Robert Lusetich/Fox Sports)

Sean Foley has "no interest" in getting Tiger Woods to swing as he did in 2000, when the world No. 1 had arguably the greatest year in the history of golf.

"That was how he learned to swing, and he had great success with it but it was penal on the body and dependent on timing," said Foley, who's working with Woods this week at the Deutsche Bank tournament outside of Boston. "It was pretty looking, but it just wasn't the most efficient way to swing."

Woods won four straight majors from the middle of 2000 to April, 2001, but it came at a cost.

The way he snapped his left leg on the downswing, Foley and Woods agree, caused serious damage to the knee, which had to be reconstructed in 2008.

"This is nothing against Butch (Harmon, who was Woods' coach at the time) but trying to go back to that would be a huge mistake," Foley said. "Plus, he can't rotate like he did when he was an elastic kid. He's nearly 35, he doesn't have that body anymore."

Instead, Foley has Woods more centerd over the ball throughout his swing, putting less stress on his body and, judging by the jump in fairways and greens hit last week at The Barclays, leading to improved ball-striking.

Woods has stopped shy of anointing Foley as his new coach, but on Thursday he again spoke glowingly of how much better he was playing since starting to work with the 35-year-old Canadian three weeks ago.

"I'm hitting the ball much better, hence I have more confidence," Woods said. "I'm driving the ball much straighter, hitting the ball a little bit farther, especially with my irons, and those are all positive signs.

"It's just a matter of, as I said, making it a little bit more natural, and that's just reps."

Although Woods has been careful not to criticize the unorthodox teaching methods of his previous coach, Hank Haney -- he made a point last week to note that they won six majors together -- Foley isn't as diplomatic.

"Let's be honest about this, it's not like he was flushing it with Hank," Foley said. "I think he hasn't been happy with how he's hit it for a very long time."

Indeed, Foley has spent much of their time on the range together ridding Woods of what he calls "counter-intuitive moves introduced in order to offset something else that didn't need to be there."

What Foley, who is enjoying the challenge of taking on golf's most recognizable name, has in common with Haney is that they both quickly became aware that Woods is a lightning rod.

Foley's teaching philosophy wasn't of particular interest to anyone outside the small world of golf swing nerds until he started working with Woods.

Now, he's at the center of a whisper campaign that accuses him of stealing his ideas from two colleagues, Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett.

Plummer and Bennett developed a system of hitting a golf ball called Stack and Tilt, which calls for players to keep their weight on their front leg throughout the swing.

Though hailed as revolutionary, it was met with derisive condemnation by the teaching establishment. Nonetheless, several players who switched to Stack and Tilt won on the PGA Tour, giving the method legitimacy.

Foley admits that he enjoyed discussing the intricacies of the swing with Plummer and Bennett, whom he likes and respects, but ultimately, he credits them with "maybe 5 percent" of the inspiration behind his own, very similar, swing ideas.

"Andy and Mike are very bright guys, but how much of what they teach is Mac O'Grady?" Foley said of golf's Bobby Fisher, a tortured genius who's spent years breaking down the secrets of golf.

"And how much did they take from (Sam) Snead and (Ben) Hogan? And how much of it is taken from (Isaac) Newton?"

Foley says his swing ideas were developed over 15 years. He said he learned when still a teenager trying to copy the swing of Curtis Strange -- who swayed off the ball on his backswing -- that keeping the weight more centred worked better.

He then studied the swings of great players in history and noticed they didn't make dramatic weight shifts away from the ball either.

"Mike and Andy aren't reinventing the wheel," Foley said. "Like me, they watched old school players hit it good and realized there was something to what they were doing, but they didn't invent the 1950 golf move."

The most obvious difference between Stack and Tilt and Foley is that all the players taught by Plummer and Bennett swing very much alike.

Foley's three highest-profile students (before Woods), Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan and Justin Rose, don't swing anything alike.

"Stack and Tilt is one method of swinging," Foley said. "If it's such a great system, then why are people coming for a 'watered-down version' from me?"

Foley finds it amusing to hear that he's being derided as the "flavor of the month" on the Tour practice range.

"If I'm flavor of the month then I've been flavor of the month for ten years," he said. "I'm doing what I was supposed to do, I really believe that.

"There's a sense that this was what I was meant to do, and here I am. But this is not fixing world hunger, this is getting people who are already very good to hit a golf ball better.

"I suppose my point is that I'm not a guru, and I'm not some guy who (BS'd) his way to the top. I'm just who I am."

Very interesting!

To learn more about better ball striking visit www.itsallaboutimpact.com

To see how Sean Foley's other students have fared click HERE