Foley turned pro as a teenager and quickly won an official event on the PGA Tour of Australasia, the 1980 Traralgon Classic, "stunning an experienced field.

[3][1] Roughly one year after turning pro Foley "stunned an experienced field" at the Traralgon Classic and won his first professional tournament.

[1] Later in the year, he won the Australian Four-Ball with partner Geoff Parslow, a club professional at Tweed Heads.

[4] Foley played in the 1981 Open Championship at Royal St George's Golf Club, earning his place through final qualifying.

[8] Late in the season, on 12 December, he tied Peter Fowler at the end of regulation of the Queensland PGA Championship.

Foley's −14 total was eight better than those that finished in joint third place, which included defending Masters champion Bernhard Langer.

[16] Later in the year, he had a chance to win at the Tasmanian Open, holding third place entering the final round,[17] but fell to Brett Ogle.

In 1989, he played excellently at the West End South Australian Open, taking the second round lead and then finishing eagle-birdie on Saturday to assure him a final group pairing with Nick Price on Sunday.

[18] During the final round Price started birdie-par-eagle and built a 7-shot lead after 8 holes to "virtually seal his win."

Foley, however, played admirably over the final round at Royal Adelaide and shot a 72 (−1) to finish joint runner-up.