12th PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit gains supporting sponsors in GOLF Magazine, Golf Pride and GolfTEC

 

The kickoff for a busy week for PGA Professionals commences just 1 1/2 miles south of the Orange County Convention Center, site of the 58th PGA Merchandise Show, Jan. 27-29.

 

Opened in 1997, Faldo Golf Institute by Marriott is one of five such facilities with Faldo's name throughout the world. It is a 35-acre golf park, which features nine holes of executive golf; five instruction greens; five instruction tees and four practice tees.

 

Host Sir Nick Faldo will give a keynote address on "Touring, Teaching and Talking," highlighting a Hall of Fame career with his CBS golf analyst position and his love of teaching.

 

A premier list of presenters includes Golf Teacher Hall of Fame member Bob Toski; coaching legend Lou Holtz; and a foursome of PGA Teacher of the Year recipients in Dr. Gary Wiren (1989), Martin Hall (2008), Mike Bender (2009) and Todd Anderson (2010).

 

The schedule also features a "19th Hole Conversations" between Hall and "Golfing Machine" advocate Ben Doyle; VISION 54 co-founders Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson, renowned experts on the mechanics of the golf swing; PGA Director of Fitness & Performance David Donatucci; Golf Channel PGA Professional host Michael Breed; and Tour professional turned television analyst Bobby Clampett.

 

A special presentation on coaching the physically challenged will bring together Champions Tour Comeback Player of the Year Ken Green with PGA Professional Jim Estes, co-founder of the Salute Military Golf Association and Ret. Marine Lance Corporal Tim Lang of Ann Arbor, Mich.

 

Green lost a leg following a 2009 automobile accident and returned to competition last season.

 

Estes, the recipient of the 2010 Patriot Award and co-founder of the Salute Military Golf Association (SMGA), is one of the leading instructors in adaptive golf in the nation.

 

Lang, who trained under Estes while a patient at Walter Reed Medical Center, lost his right leg in 2006 due to roadside bomb explosion while on patrol in Iraq. Today, Lang is in his third year in golf and has regularly broken 80.

 

Since its origin in 1988, the Summit also has attracted those interested in the interplay between the game and psychology, the advance of technology and the cross-training that exists with other professional sports.

 

PGA Director of Fitness and Performance David Donatucci returns to the Summit stage, and partners with Tampa Bay Rays Batting Coach Derek Shelton, in the presentation "Out of the Park Power."

 

The wide range of topics in a two-day period was the goal of the PGA Instruction Committee, which reviewed a survey of PGA membership following the 2008 Summit.

 

James Leitz of Slidell, La., will be joined by PGA Professional Ed Mitchell of Dayton, Ohio, the chairman of Mitchell Golf, in the presentation "Club Performance and D-Plane Technology for Better Teaching."

 

Mitchell, whose company specializes in professional-grade club repair tools, said the presentation would review "14 different club performance criteria and how it influences a player's scoring ability."

 

Hallett said the mission of the Instruction Committee was to blend specialists, technology and human performance, and at the same time not neglect the observations of veteran instructors such as Toski and Wiren.

 

One of the hottest topics in the instruction industry, according to Hallett, is the discussion ball flight patterns based upon current and past PGA research. The Summit will attempt to encircle the topic by bringing together Wiren, a PGA Master Professional, who outlined the ball flight "laws," in 1991 in "Laws, Principles and Preferences" in his 1991 book, "The PGA Manual of Golf."

 

Wiren will be joined by Matt Frelich, representing TrackMan Golf, a first-of-its-kind computer system that maps the flight of a golf ball from impact to landing; and by PGA Professional Eric Alpenfels, the director of Pinehurst Golf Academy at Pinehurst (N.C.) Resort.

 

Hallett said bringing in the effervescent Holtz, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and a weekly analyst on ESPN football broadcasts, enhances the speaker roster. Holtz will focus his remarks on "The Importance of Being a Coach."

 

The Summit will conclude with Toski reflecting upon his six decades in teaching and how many of the practices of the past have circled around once again into today's golf instruction curriculum.

 

Begun in 1988, the PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit is the Association's largest forum for ideas and teaching methods. The biennial event evolved from indoor sessions (1988-2000), to an all-outdoor classroom amphitheater at the PGA Learning Center (2002 to today).

 

Presenters at the 12th PGA Teaching & Coaching Summit 

Jan. 24-25, 2011 

Faldo Golf Institute by Marriott – Orlando, Fla.

 

Monday, Jan. 24 

Michael Breed, PGA – Golf Channel – Master of Ceremonies 

Charlie King, PGA – New Rules Golf Instructor 

Lynn Blake – Making the Impact 

Derek Shelton, Tampa Bay Rays Batting Coach & 

David Donatucci, PGA Director of Fitness – Out of the Park Power 

Lou Holtz – The Importance of Being a Coach 

Chris Hart, Mark Connell, PGA and Michael Bentley, PGA – Technology: What You Will Need Today, Tomorrow 

John Haime, Simon Jenkins – Mental Facets that Improve Overall Performance 

Mark Sweeney – Aiming and Green Reading for Best Putting Results

 

Tuesday, Jan. 25 

Michael Breed, PGA – Teaching Beyond the Lesson Tee 

Lynn Marriott and Pia Nilsson – Coaching for High Performance 

Mike Bender, PGA – Modifying Your Methods to Get Results 

Ed Mitchell, PGA and James Leitz, PGA – Club Performance and D-Plane Technology for Better Teaching 

Jim Estes, PGA, Ken Green, PGA & \Ret. Lance Corporal Tim Lang – Challenges in Coaching 

Martin Hall, PGA and Ben Doyle, PGA – 19th Hole Conversations 

Bobby Clampett, PGA – Maintaining High Level Play with High-Level Instruction 

Todd Anderson, PGA – Tour Player Teachings – For the Rest of Your Students 

Matt Frelich, Eric Alpenfels, PGA and Dr. Gary Wiren, PGA - PGA Research and Ball Flight Patterns – Then, Now, the Future 

Bob Toski, PGA – 60 Years of Teaching – What's Old is New Again