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Westwood switches to Foley?

bluewolf

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Now this might be old news for some, or it might be completely fabricated by the papers, but a few of tomorrows papers are reporting that Westwood has switched to Sean Foley. Citing his recent success with Woods, Mahan and Rose as the reason for his decision. Foley was apparently at Muirfield with Westwood yesterday, and has had a 5 hour session at Old Palm a few weeks ago.

Westwood is claiming to be "hitting the ball better, and further" since they got together. That's the end of this News Update....:thup:
 
pbrown7582

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first ive heard of this, Westy hasnt seemed to be as consisitant tee to green this year and there have be signs of short game improvement but also some poor shots. Given Sean Foley's high esteem and current success it would be a good move me thinks.
 
One Planer

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To me,, Westwood is getting to the point where he is looking for thing to blame.

Previous coach, then no coach, now Foley.

He's fantastic tee to green usually, but when he gets stuck greenside, in tour terms he's distinctley average, if not poor.I'm not going to say his short game is bad, as you don't get to play on tour if you're "bad" at something. The same goes for his putting. I also don't think any amount of technical coaching will help Westie. With him it's a mental issue IMO and one he needs to work through.
 
Fader

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Seems odd to me had a great coach in Pete Cowan who made Westwood probably the best ball striker on the planet tee to green for quite a while and got to World No1 with a superb long game and distinctly average by pro standards short game. So what does he do bins the coach and goes it alone then realises nope I need help I'll join Foley.

So what happens how his ball striking picks up again and he remains distinctly average with his short game! I think Westwood is looking for someone or something other than him to blame. He'd be better served seeking out a short game coach and getting the practice in on that part of his game instead of blaming other things and doing that incredulous look of why has that putt missed again when the fault isn't the green its him.
 
Foxholer

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I don't think either/any of them are so stupid that they can't see where his weakness is.

It's just a case of finding the right trigger to actually make the improvement! He's certainly changed his practice routine and that's been paying off, though maybe not to the extent he wants - thus the trip 'to a Pro'!
 
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Fader said:
Seems odd to me had a great coach in Pete Cowan who made Westwood probably the best ball striker on the planet tee to green for quite a while and got to World No1 with a superb long game and distinctly average by pro standards short game. So what does he do bins the coach and goes it alone then realises nope I need help I'll join Foley.

So what happens how his ball striking picks up again and he remains distinctly average with his short game! I think Westwood is looking for someone or something other than him to blame. He'd be better served seeking out a short game coach and getting the practice in on that part of his game instead of blaming other things and doing that incredulous look of why has that putt missed again when the fault isn't the green its him.
Click to expand...

Lee hits a great ball and is one of the most consistent on either tour. he does have a problem with his short game and has used every man and his dog over the last couple of years, including long time mate pete Cowan and that numpty Mark Rowe. Lee would have won at least 3 more events last season if only he could chip, and one of those was a major.
 
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I think one of the earlier comments hit the nail on the head. Westwood often looks to blame external factors - when he misses a putt there was a pitch mark on his line that he theatrically taps down afterwards or the break was different. It's never just a bad putt.
Compare to Justin Rose after the Masters. He came straight out afterwards and said his putting wasn't good enough and it was something for him to take away and improve. Look what happened next.....
 
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hackandburn said:
I think one of the earlier comments hit the nail on the head. Westwood often looks to blame external factors - when he misses a putt there was a pitch mark on his line that he theatrically taps down afterwards or the break was different. It's never just a bad putt.
Click to expand...

I think that is a bit harsh... Think it might have been in one of Rotella's books, but not sure...but you basically should blame something else to keep confidence up. It's no good if Westwood, mid round or mid tournament, tells himself that he's a terrible putter... He has to try and stay confident and if that means blaming a miss on something else then this is what he should do.

After the tournament then fine, I think he knows he's weak in this area though, he'd be a fool if he didn't.
 
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I didn't mean to suggest that he should label himself a terrible putter (I don't think he is - it's just it's not quite as good as it needs to be) but even great putters sometimes hit bad putts. I think part of what makes a great putter is being able to move on and accept a bad one in the same way the great drivers of the ball sometime miss fairways but don't blame the wind switching etc...
 
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Agreed, he's not a terrible putter... It rarely happens though that a player is great at everything, I wonder whether this is the way it has to be... I.e. great long game players like Westwood have neglected the short game because they either practice the long game too much or never needed a great short game when they were growing up... If Westwood had the short game of Tiger he would have won loads more.

As for blaming outside influences, I think it's whatever works best for you... It's going to the next shot with confidence that matters, if that means blaming a spike mark then so be it.
 
mikee247

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Piece said:
Agree. But it is actually a very smart move? Westwood gets into the Woods stable, spends alot of time with Woods, then asks for Woods help on putting...
Click to expand...

Yeah right!! I can imagine old Woodsey giving Westy a big slap on the back ..doing some putting practice together like a couple of regular fella's and then popping down the Dog and Gun for 1/2 a mild!! :rolleyes:
 
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Unless he gets someone to sort out his putting and the mental side of things he might as well go with Axel Foley.
 
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