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First year on Tour with ‘swing engineer’ Sean Foley
About a year ago, Stephen Ames popped the question that would change Sean Foley’s life.
After watching how well Foley worked with juniors at his annual Stephen Ames Cup event, the PGA Tour
player asked Foley if he’d like to consider coaching him. They began to work together in November 2006,
and then Ames went out and won the LG Skins Game. Although it was an off-season exhibition, it was a
good start.
For Foley, it was also part of the payoff for a big risk in moving with his wife Kate to Orlando, Florida in
August 2006 to open the Junior Academy of Canada (JGAC), which provides private school education and
coaching and training to high-school aged junior golfers.
Ames became a frequent visitor to the JGAC facility at Orange County National Golf Club, and Foley became the only Canadian to be coaching regularly on the PGA Tour and at golf’s major championships.
Being located in Orlando - a popular home for touring players with its climate and hub airport - from fall to
spring also made it easier for Foley to work with many of his other students who play on the Nationwide,
Hooters, LPGA and Futures tours such as David Morland, Chris Baryla, Salimah Mussani and Lisa Fernandes.
With the 2007 PGA Tour season almost over, Foley is back at the JGAC for the second season and thrilled
how things have turned out in his career.
“Working with Stephen has been one of the highlights of my life,” said the 32-year-old native of Burlington.
“Stephen is one of the most misunderstood people I have ever met. He’s just honest. As a student, he is
hardworking and committed to the path we are taking. As a friend, he is very loyal and caring.”
Foley is pleased with the progress they have made in rebuilding Ames’ swing to correct his posture,
alignment and take-away to make it more efficient and to reduce the strain on his back that caused him to miss the three months of the 2006 season.
By press time, Ames had not won on the PGA Tour in 2007 - he’s battled a cold putter - but he played painfree, performed well in three of four majors: finishing T24 at the Masters; briefly holding the final-round lead in the U.S. Open until finishing T10; and playing in the final group with Tiger Woods in the PGA
Championship.
Foley admitted that he’s probably never been more nervous in his life than watching his player contend in
the final round of two of golf’s biggest events. “It became apparent to me on those Sundays why I never
became a great player,” Foley said. “I could barely watch let alone play. But I was new to it, and I’ve
learned how to handle it next time… I think.”
Working with Ames has been a dream come true for Foley, who has long aspired to coach at the highest
levels of the game. It also provided him with the opportunity to meet and learn from some of the top
teachers in the game, such as Butch Harmon, and Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, known for working with players such as Mike Weir and Aaron Baddeley.
“If I was off the tour, it would have taken me about five years to absorb what I learned this year. I spent
time with some of the brightest minds in the industry. As a members of a new generation of teachers, most of us are more like swing engineers than swing coaches. We all talk about geometry, physics, kinetics and biomechanics. It is a great to be part of a group that is changing the way golf is being taught.”
For those who’ve followed Foley’s career, his rise to the PGA Tour is no surprise considering his reputation at the ClubLink Academy at Glen Abbey and as national coach of the Canadian Junior Golf Association.
“He’s doing great work with Stephen Ames, but he’s just getting started. He’s on his way to working with
the best on the PGA Tour,” said Tom Jackson, General Manager at OslerBrook G&CC who mentored Foley at Glen Abbey.
Foley has an insatiable search for knowledge, he reads a wide assortment of books, he has a strong set of
values, and he has plenty of opinions that he’ll gladly share - a trait he shares with Ames, winner of the
2006 Players Championship and the 2004 Cialis Western Open.
With the JGAC in its second year and his coaching career on an upward trajectory, Foley and his wife
bought a house this fall in Orlando. “I miss Canada a lot, but everyone seems to live here, from players to
coaches.
“The JGAC is a revolutionary idea for Canadian golf. It provides an intensive environment for players to
develop and learn that they can access all year long. This project is going to be huge for Canadian golf.”
As for life on tour in 2008 and beyond, Foley has even loftier objectives: “My goal is to have my players win every major in the next eight years. I have a lot of belief in myself and what I am doing.”
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