Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/130253
iG1304--rev 5/12/13 11:49 AM Page 1 COVER STORY BY JEFF SUTHERLAND The Sean Foley Story: Born To Coach When Sean Foley got the call from Tiger Woods in 2010, it may have looked like an overnight success story. Not so much. Foley's journey to the top echelons of golf began more than 30 years ago... and he's only 38. Sean's focus on golf goes as far back as the age of ten where he ended a grade-school autobiography with the line, 'When I grow up, I want to be a scientist or professional golfer.' Interestingly his ultimate career choice as a golf instructor/coach would include elements of both. What is even more surprising is that it would only take another three years for him to reach that decision. While his love affair with golf may have started earlier, his exposure to top-level instruction was nurtured during one of the many moves that his family made during his early years. Starting in Burlington, Ontario the Foley family would live in seven cities both in the U.S. and Canada. At one point, at the age of 13, Sean would live in North 28 Vancouver which was when he would get the opportunity to sit on the range at Shaughnessy Golf Club and watch the semi-legendary Jack McLaughlin teach. Foley recalls the experience this way,"I love what he did. I'd get on the bus from North Van at 6 am, I'd get to Shaughnessy by 8. I used to sit on a wire basket and watch him teach Jeff Craemer, Brent Franklin, Ray Stewart… all day. " Getting to watch and absorb McLaughlin was no accident. Sean's father Gerry had asked around who was the pre-eminent instructor in the lower mainland and had then approached McLaughlin about allowing Sean to learn under his tutelage. "The thing I found, in hindsight, about my Dad is that nothing was done by accident," says Foley. "I've met these guys who told me years later, 'Your dad was so into what you were doing and how you were doing it and the people that you were surrounded by.' And I never knew. All he used to say was, 'Love you, son.' I had no idea he even had contact with any of them." When the time came for Sean's final move, back to the GTA (Greater Toronto Area), it was Dad Gerry who set that up as well, "My dad called Jack and said, 'Look, I've been moved back to Toronto. Who would you want Sean to see? Who can you get to help us? Sean's really into this, his swing.' And McLaughlin said, 'I'm going to call my friend Ben and set up an interview for him.' That's when I met Ben Kern." While his time on the range at Shaughnessy may have been the germination stage, it would be the time spent at the National Club with renowned teacher Ben Kern where the flowering of his fascination with the golf swing would occur. "I got to watch Ben at National, and I was like, 'I want to do that. That looks like that's the way to live life. These guys are respected and admired. They're unbelievable people. They run the gamut -- teaching, playing, director of golf… ' I mean, I used to sit on the range and watch Moe Norman and Al Balding hit balls at the tree on the left side of the range at National and then watch Tom Jackson and Craig Marea and others practice. And then everyone would go play… Mark Henderson, all those guys. They'd all go and I'd grab a teaching basket, go to the back of the range on the left corner, video myself and hit balls, video myself and hit balls. Foley was on the curve of absorbing everything he could about the golf swing from asking questions of Kern to mimicking every swing he could Continued On Next Page