Tom Jackson—Director of Instruction
Tom brings 25 years of experience in golf—as a coach, mentor, touring professional and golf administrator—to his role as Director of Instruction of the Core Golf Junior Academy.
Tom has helped develop the careers of some of Canada’s most promising young players, including J.C. Deacon, Robbie Greenwell, and Claudine Foong.
Tom developed his coaching expertise as a protégé of the late Ben Kern at the National Golf Club of Canada, and as a tour player on the Asian, Australian and Canadian tours. He is a Class A member of the Canadian PGA.
Tom also currently operates the Core Golf Academy at Piper’s Heath Golf Club in Milton, Ontario. He is former Director of Instruction of the ClubLink Academy at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ontario.
Recognized as one of the Canada’s Top 50 golf instructors in Canada by The National Post, Tom is a member of Ontario Golf magazine’s “Group of Seven” instructors.
Tom is the founder of Core Golf.
Sean Foley—PGA Tour Coach
Driven by a passion to help young golfers become the best players and people they can be, Sean Foley is renowned for his ability to connect with students and for turning good players into great ones.
Sean is a rising star among PGA Tour coaches. Foley’s students include PGA Tour players Stephen Ames, Hunter Mahan, Parker McLachlin, Sean O’Hair, Justin Rose, Greg Owen, LPGA Tour players Jessica Shepley and Lisa Strom, as well as top-ranked amateurs and juniors.
His Core Golf post-graduate students include Nicole Vandermade, who won the 2008 Ontario Amateur Championship and earned a scholarship to the University of Texas; and Jennifer Kirby, who dominated women’s amateur golf in Canada in 2009, winning the Canadian Amateur, the Canadian Junior, the Ontario Junior and the Ontario Amateur. Kirby earned a scholarship to the University of Alabama.
Sean was named 2008 Ontario PGA Teacher of the Year. Sean is National Coach of the Canadian Junior Golf Association.
Dr. Craig Davies—Director of Fitness and Nutrition
To compete at the top levels of golf today, a great golfer must be in top physical condition and operate at peak efficiency. No one understands that better than Dr. Craig Davies, who is among the top trainers and physical therapists on the PGA Tour.
His clients include Y.E. Yang, winner of the 2009 PGA Championship, and PGA Tour players Stephen Ames, Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan, John Rollins and Justin Rose.
A certified chiropractor with a specialty in high-performance golf therapy, Craig ensures that all students have proper biomechanics. He also creates individualized golf-specific fitness training programs for each student, provides counselling on proper nutrition for optimal performance, and designs programs to overcome injuries.
Craig has taught golf performance courses to fitness coaches, healthcare providers, and teaching professionals, and is the performance therapist and strength and conditioning coach for the Canadian Junior Golf Association. He is the developer of Golf Exercise Specialist and Golf Performance Therapist certifications.
BOB SKURA—DIRECTOR OF MENTAL PERFORMANCE
Bob brings a background in competitive golf, corporate training, and sports psychology research to his role at Core Golf.
His experience on the Canadian Tour taught him that strong mental skills are a prerequisite for higher performance in golf, business and in life. So for nearly 30 years Bob passionately studied the ideas of leading psychologists such as Maria Montessori, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Lev Vygotsky and others.
The byproducts of Bob’s research are a number of game improvement tools to deal with performance issues such as trust, self-talk and getting into the zone. The tools include his award winning book, How Great Golfers Think, a companion WORKBOOK to assist college coaches in presenting the mental game, plus a CD of mental game exercises.
A native of Kitchener, Ontario, Bob coaches elite golfers including Nationwide Tour player Jon Mills.
Bob will work with Core students to bolster their performance in tournaments and in every day life.
Neale Smith—MENTAL Performance ADVISOR (PGA Tour)
In addition to the vital physical and biomechanical aspects of golf, the Core Golf Junior Academy emphasizes the essential psychological and mental facets of the game through the expertise of Neale Smith, a renowned performance enhancement consultant on the PGA Tour.
His clients on the PGA Tour include Steve Allan, Nick Flanagan, Nathan Green, Hunter Mahan, Scott McCarron, Brent Snedeker and Mark O'Meara.
A lifelong athlete in many disciplines, Neale has won five professional tournaments, including the 1992 PGA Tour Qualifying School and the 1999 MTS Classic on the Canadian Tour. Neale had 15 top-10 finishes in his career and played the U.S. PGA Tour, Australasian PGA Tour, Canadian Tour, and other world tours.
He holds a Master of Science in Sports Psychology from California State University and is the mental performance coach for the Stanford University golf teams.
Jeff Hay—Director of Operations
Drawing on more than two decades of teaching experience, Jeff Hay assists Director of Instruction Tom Jackson and PGA Tour coach Sean Foley while ensuring the overall student experience at the Core Golf Junior Academy is everything they—and their parents—dreamed it would be.
"Our mandate is to make the Core Golf Junior Academy the premier development institution for junior golfers, and to develop the best talent and the best people. Our students use their Core Golf Junior Academy experience as a vehicle to succeed in life," says Jeff, a Canadian PGA Class A professional.
Jeff has worked with outstanding golf instructors such as Ben Kern, Tom Jackson and Mark Evershed. He is the former Head Professional at Canada’s top-ranked National Golf Club of Canada, where he was the lead instructor for the club’s renowned Elite Junior Program developed by the late Ben Kern.
Kate Foley—Business Administrator
Kate Foley provides a welcoming environment for bright and energetic young golfers. With her proven organizational and communication skills, Foley helps to build a strong and caring rapport within the Core Golf Junior Academy community.
Among her responsibilities, Kate organizes entry into the Florida Junior Tour, Future Collegians World Tour, and International Junior Golf Tour, tournament registration, scheduling, and billing for competing golfers.
Shawn Jackson—Assistant Director of Fitness and Nutrition, and Student Lifestyle/Services Representative
Shawn takes responsibility for the overall health and fitness of all Core Golf Junior Academy students on a daily basis. A registered nurse and certified trainer, Shawn also oversees our residence students to ensure their safety, well-being, proper nutrition for health and peak performance, and they are enjoying their experience.
Shawn is the direct liaison with parents and Windermere Preparatory School where our residence students live and attend school. For our students, Shawn is a trusted confidante and source of guidance.
In consultation with Dr. Davies, Shawn runs students through their daily workout routines, providing supervision and the latest training techniques. A native of Florida, Shawn is a certified golf fitness instructor (Level I Titleist Performance Institute), personal fitness trainer (International Sports Sciences Association), and owner of Body FX Fitness Training.
Lyndon Wilson—Coach
Lyndon brings tour experience to his role coaching students and ensuring they are fitted with equipment that perfectly suits their physiology and the state of their game. Lyndon custom fits the students, monitors their progress, and builds and repairs clubs for them.
Originally from Essex, England, Lyndon is a two-time British Public Champion, and he has played on development tours in Europe and Florida. Lyndon is also Director of Instruction for Nike Golf Schools and Junior Camps.
Annie Mallory—Coach
It’s no surprise that Annie Mallory earned a spot on The Big Break IV on The Golf Channel.
A native of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Annie Mallory is engaging, a great athlete, a highly skilled golf professional, and one heck of a communicator.
Even though she picked up her first golf club at age 13, Mallory earned a scholarship to NCAA Division I University of Texas-El Paso, where she was twice named to the second-team of the All Western Athletic Conference.
As a touring professional, she played on mini-tours and became a contestant of The Big Break VI. (Alas, she was eliminated in the second round.) A teaching professional since 1998, Mallory is also an instructor at the Core Golf Academy at Piper’s Heath Golf Club in Milton, Ontario.