Lydia Ko has received high praise from her coach Sean Foley on Instagram. Photo / Screenshot
Lydia Ko has received high praise from her coach Sean Foley on Instagram. Photo / Screenshot
Lydia Ko's coach Sean Foley has given a detailed insight into their work together, and has described one part of her game as the best he's seen.
Ko brought Foley in at the end of July, just prior to the restart of the LPGA Tour calendar. The pair have establisheda strong connection already, with improved results including four finishes of 14th or better in the six tournaments for Ko.
She has risen to 34th in the world rankings, from her placing of 55th just before Foley entered the fold.
Taking to Instagram to share their latest session on the course, Foley noted plenty of positives in Ko's game, and areas of improvement.
"She has been hitting the ball tee to green, very well for the last three months. We are more accurate off the tee as well as much longer. Lydia's iron play is becoming very solid as well," Foley writes.
"The downside of improving a part of the game is that other parts get neglected. So over the last two weeks the questions from Lydia, have been more about the short game. Her touch around the greens is not teachable.
"The key to short game is being able to provide the right amount of friction consistently to produce the trajectory of the shot most suited to scoring. Lyd's tendency is too start and stay too much on her right side around the green and have not enough travel in the clubhead in the backswing. This has led to contact issues and shots with not enough spin control. Lydia uses the bounce as well as anyone I have seen.
Foley has previously worked with Tiger Woods and more recently Justin Rose.
His knowledge and its application to Ko's game is vital given the Kiwi's win drought. Ko hasn't claimed an LPGA Tour victory in over two years, unfamiliar when compared to her successes between 2014 and 2017.
"Lydia said out of the bunker she is either amazing or terrible. When I hear something like that it's not mental it's technical. We worked on getting much more square to the target, utilising the clubs loft/bounce on the backswing with a longer backswing, and then really focusing on the speed and take over rate through the sand. As well we hit many shots off of uneven lies because we have to make slight adjustments due to slope, lies and type of sand," Foley explained.
Lydia Ko has received high praise from her coach Sean Foley on Instagram. Photo / Screenshot
Foley noticed the improvements right away. "It became insanely good as soon as she UNDERSTOOD the MATH and the WHY. Technique + Talent is undefeated," he wrote.
"This woman has incredible skill."
Foley is Ko's fifth different coach in four years. A winning formula is clearly hard to come by, but perhaps this is one that will stick. Her next tournament is set to come at the women's PGA Championship next week.
