Sean Foley On Tiger, Nelson Mandela And Johnny Miller

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From part one of Brian Wacker's "exclusive" Sean Foley Q&A at PGATour.com. It's exclusive because PGATour.com is acknowledging someone in golf who is not a member of the PGA Tour.

Nonetheless, as with any Foley interview, it's not short on engaging topics including Johnny Miller's recent comments about passing on the chance to teach Tiger, and this...

Q: I want to go back to that day about 10 years ago when you were sitting in a bar in Canada with Sean Casey, who's now the director of golf at Glen Abbey, and you saw Tiger Woods on television and you said "I'm going to coach him one day." What made you think you could?

SEAN FOLEY: I used to say it and then be met with a phase of ridicule. There are some things that are difficult to explain. It's like asking anyone about ideas like God or destiny. It's really difficult to put into terms and into words and to quantify. I can tell you that there probably weren't many people who ever thought [I would coach him]. But I've seen people like Nelson Mandela get thrown in jail and stay in jail for 27 years and then come out and become the president of the country. It's not just that he became president, but he came out forgiving his oppressors.

Even though that has nothing to do with my situation, to me as a kid, it was like, OK, if he's capable of that, what am I capable of? I always wanted to teach golf. There were a lot of things I wanted to do, and that's the benefit of being so young. And I just thought it would be cool.

Yao Ming Looks Great At Address...

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...and then there is his swing.

Thanks to Alan Shipnuck for Tweeting this golf.com photo gallery of Eugene Hoshiko's AP images from the World Celebrity Pro-Am at Mission Hills. Included are shots of Adrian Brody, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Phelps, Ronaldo, Andy Garcia and three shots of actress Minka Kelly.

Yao looks tremendous at address and so I went to YouTube to see if the rest of the seven-foot and then-some former Houston Rocket had a decent move.

I think you'll feel better about your wedge game.

Finally An iPhone Swing Recording Device That Frees You From Relying On Unreliable Friends Or Other Range Rats

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John Strege with a review of what looks to be the solution to the problem of letting friends record your swing in shaky, incompetent fashion.

It's the CamCaddy and it's $37.95.

My only question as someone who uses iSwing to record, which won't work with this device because it requires manually recording when the swing starts.

What do you use for the best slow motion and playback?

Foley Says Kostis Mangled Tiger Swing Analysis

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Pete McDaniel talks to instructor Sean Foley, who explains how CBS on-course reporter Peter Kostis got it wrong in breaking down Tiger's swing last weekend when he described Tiger's clubface as being "toed-in'' when it really was the opposite.

Foley went on to explain that the shot was actually executed with an open clubface. Through body rotation Tiger imparted right-to-left spin on the ball and that's what made it curve.

"His clubface was open say three degrees and his body rotation amounted to four degrees. That's what produced the draw.''

"With designer glasses for goggles and haute couture as a wetsuit, Foley has been swimming upstream ever since."

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Jim Moriarty files the kind of profile that makes a Golf World contributor proud and is a must read. But since you all subscribe and received your issue last week, you know this.

Just in case you don't, here's a link to the digital edition where you'll learn the story of Sean Foley's rise both as an instructor to star players and simply the progression of a career devoted to the game. No matter how you feel about his philosophy, I'll be shocked if you aren't in admiration of his devotion to golf.

The story is also supported by interesting shots from Darren Carroll's camera.

Woodland On The Instructor Rebound, Lands With Butch

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I know many of you were lying awake at night worrying about the fate of Gary Woodland--he of the highly dysfunctional and extremely uncoordinated golf swing that produces mere drop kick drives--after his longtime instructor Randy Smith quit out of loyalty to his agent son after Woodland moved to Steiny Stables. Jeff Babineau reports that Woodland only managed a week as a single man before driving range instructor Butch Harmon agreed to take on this reclamation project.
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News Of The Weird: Haney Sued For Lack Of Personal Instruction

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A Golfweek staff report on instructor Hank Haney getting sued for not deliving on promises of personal instruction at his South Carolina academy.

Maureen Fitzgerald and her son, Matthew Teesdale, of Ambler, Pa., alleged consumer fraud in a suit filed Sept. 16 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia.

They claim that Haney, Tiger Woods’ former coach, gave a total of 7 minutes’ instruction to Teesdale, then 18, who paid $30,000 plus fees when he enrolled at the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head Island, S.C., in 2009-10.