Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/130253
iG1304--rev 5/12/13 11:52 AM Page 1 Foley - Cont'd From Previous Page numbers, they don't even send me the video." part in the learning because within While Trackman has been used for trust there's safety. Within safety we years by players like Phil Mickelson are going learn as much as possible and Luke Donald, its use is only now because we don't have any starting to percolate down to the club predetermined fears or doubts or level and there are those traditionalists anything like that so that's a huge who still don't buy in. advantage in the philosophical aspect of the relationship with the client. In 2012 Jack Nicklaus said, "I sat next to Tiger at the Masters dinner this year, He continues, "Some of my students and I was asking him, 'Why do you now understand how Trackman works need somebody to watch you all the and when they aren't hitting the ball time?' He said, 'I really don't.' He said, well they are sending me their tracking 'I go to Sean and I get some ideas, but 38 then I really go work on it myself and try to learn what I want to do and how I want to do it.' I said, 'If you're doing that, you're on the right track.' " Tiger may be not spending as much time with Sean but it's possible they are interacting just as much trading data and analyzing the results. "The funny thing is people see the numbers and all that they think is that it's too mechanical; I reply, 'I've never in lessons as much as I have in the last couple years talked about 'Let's feel more of this, let's feel more of that'. We spend less time in front of the mirror, less time on video and more with kinesthetic and noetic images and feels, more with visual aspects... so the true mathematics is getting us further away from mechanics and that's always a good thing." While it's clear that Foley is at the forefront of instruction in the 21st century, he is not one for sitting still. "There's a saying that I read a long time ago that the key to a teacher is making himself obsolete to the student," says Foley . "It's really fascinating doing article interviews I mostly get the same questions but my answers are changing. People think I'm changing but I'm not. I'm just evolving. I'm trying to make sense of all of it." "The next big step for me in instruction is to appreciate and want to continue to evolve my understanding of the mechanics. The key now is to learn the best way to train golf. The Navy Seals have a very efficient way to train. How can we learn from them? So much of what we (as golf instructors) are doing now is by accident. A gymnast gets only the one chance every four years and they get up on that balance beam and execute. How clutch is that? Why can't golfers do that? They (Navy Seals and gymnasts) must be doing something that is more efficient and effective. Either it's that or (chuckling)... maybe golf is just really friggin' hard." About The Author: Jeff Sutherland is the publisher of Inside Golf magazine and website. He can be reached at publisher@insidegolf.ca.