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Tiger Woods’ old coach on Woods — and vulnerability

Sean Foley and Tiger Woods on the 2013 Masters.

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Tiger Woods is a human being, Sean Foley says. 

“An ordinary guy who did extraordinary things,” he provides. 

Foley would know. 

He was speaking on the most recent No Laying Up podcast, which you’ll be able to — and ought to — listen to in full here. And a query from host Chris Solomon was whether or not Woods’ one-time coach had ever seen moments from the 15-time main winner that shocked him. Were there moments the place he was “vulnerable?” And after all, there have been. 

Woods is human. 

And he’s Woods. 

And we might be interested by our stars whom we see and hear usually, however don’t actually know. What’s a phenom like after they’re not being phenomenal? When they’ve *our* highs and lows? Foley, who labored with Woods from 2010 to 2014, shared a few of it on the podcast. 

The back-and-forth was good. 

“I’m curious,” Solomon began on the podcast, “you said you got to see up close just kind of what his life is like and what that kind of fame level is. Anything that sticks out, in terms of moments where you were like, wow, I don’t think I really realized that? Or moments you thought he was especially vulnerable due to just kind of reaction to things and how he was taking everything that was going on at the moment in his life?” 

“Yeah, I mean, he was always very vulnerable with his kids,” Foley stated. “Very susceptible about his basis. He would give yearly at his event, he would give a speech about — a child would come up and they’d spotlight this child and what this child has executed and the place he got here from, and T-dubs couldn’t get by way of a kind of speeches with out crying. He’s a human being, man. He’s an strange man who did extraordinary issues. 

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“I believe that he needed to alter himself a bit of bit to place this wall round him. You know, lots of people did him fallacious. And so love is one thing I give everybody. But belief is one thing that you simply actually should earn from me. And I believe that’s good for everybody to know that. People give belief earlier than they provide love. I’m going to provide love since you’re only a human being like me and we’re most likely doing our greatest from what we perceive to be our greatest and I’m OK with that. But belief is a unique factor. 

“So I remember when we first started, like right around that time, that’s when Hank Haney wrote the book, The Big Miss [about Woods]. Now I’m the next guy, and I’m just standing there on the range, going like, holy s**t, this is f***ing tricky right now. Like, oh my god. You know, being on the range and watching helicopters fly over and film us and stuff. Justin Rose and Sean O’Hair and Hunter Mahan [former Foley students] are pretty well known, but we got to a Prince-Michael Jackson level, you know. I would imagine 99 out of 100 people in the world who have never touched a golf club or even been on a golf course still know who Tiger Woods is, right.” 

Here, Solomon questioned about what that was like for Foley himself.

“Well, there’s no book,” he stated on the podcast. “There’s nothing you may learn on it. People’s recommendation doesn’t assist. You simply obtained to seek out your technique to do it. And for me, I used to be by no means going to let it change me. I’ve all the time been very social, very talkative. I’ve time for anyone, no matter whether or not you’re the CEO of a corporation otherwise you’re a janitor in the identical constructing; that doesn’t matter to me. There had been the followers of what we had been doing and the individuals who hated it, so I’d run into each of them within the airport. 

“But look, I was the one who said yes to doing it. And so basically because I chose to do it, I’m responsible for whatever occurred after that. It all comes down to me.”

Then there may be that technical facet. 

left: tiger woods and scottie scheffler talk on a driving range. right: tiger woods stands with his arms crossed and talks to the camera

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On the podcast, Foley talked of what they labored on. “Basically we went to like this little baby cut off the tee and really focused on the iron play from 170 to 200 yards.”

Which tied in to a different notable query from Solomon: 

How precisely does a coach coach Woods? When the 2 linked, he had gained 14 of his majors. 

Foley’s reply was prolonged. 

“Like I said, it was a different time, for sure, 100 percent,” he stated on the podcast. “Ultimately, if it was immediately, I’d have went again to an 18-year-old Tiger Woods with some slight upgrades. So the explanation how I used to be in a position to not make that mistake once more, was that once I began with Lydia Ko, I went immediately again to her DNA and then simply put upgrades on it. 

“So the factor about human motion is the one which we’ve made probably the most, we wrap probably the most protein round that neural pathway. So the issue with technically altering your swing is that old swing you may have isn’t going away. It’s wired. It’s fully in there. What occurs is you can also make a brand new sample that’s obtained its personal wiring. But when push involves shove, the mind goes to select the neural pathway that it may well switch thought down the quickest. I believe it could have been extra alongside these strains, simply whether or not or not with 4 knee surgical procedures and an Achilles surgical procedure if he may have executed that in any case. 

“I’ve been most likely certainly one of Tiger’s largest followers ever and to have the ability to spend time with him like that and to get to know him and to only see the sheer issue of his life, that kind of fame, that kind of notoriety — you wouldn’t want it on anyone. The recreation of golf, particularly the PGA Tour, they owe that man the whole lot as a result of purses are usually not right here immediately due to the enterprise improvement points of the PGA Tour; it’s all as a result of a Black child in a crimson shirt from Orange County, California. And I believe if anybody wouldn’t admit that, they’re clearly fallacious. 

“So I think that would be more of it. It would have been just kind of spending enough time with him, maybe asking the right questions and just kind of guiding him to him discovering what it is. And that’s something I feel like I do very well now after that.”

Editor’s word: To take heed to your complete No Laying Up podcast with Foley, please click here

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Nick Piastowski

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his position, he’s answerable for enhancing, writing and growing tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be enjoying the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and quick, and consuming a chilly beer to scrub away his rating. You can attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his recreation or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.


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