Scene and Heard: Ball, 98, shares his lifetime of learning

By John Kim, PGA.com Coordinating Producer

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Of all the presenters and luminaries from the world of golf who presented at the Summit, perhaps none commanded the presence of Errie Ball, 98 years young and best known for being the lone surviving member of the field from the very first Masters golf tournament.

Ball, along with Summit co-host Laird Small, guided the audience through the evolution of the game, complete with anecdotes about his relationship with golf greats such as Bobby Jones, Sam Snead and Walter Hagen.

Ball's insight had the assorted teachers engrossed; from his thoughts on the swing (best to have a firm left side), equipment (shaft improvements have made the game and easier), the grip (essential to a good swing) and life lessons from golf (Treat your partners with respect -- you'll make more friends and fewer enemies on the golf course.)

Ball was also presented with a new driver and personalized golf bag from Callaway Golf, and he christened the driver with a couple of impressive shots for the crowd. Though only 30 minutes in length, the presentation created many "favorite storie" for the crowd and prompted two standing ovations.

A NUMBERS GAME: Sunday's theme dealt with the advancements of technology and how they impacted instruction. Analytics and statistics were discussed by presenters as a way of a approaching teaching from a different perspective.

"Kids often have a video game mindset," said Andy Beyrer, vice president of LinxTracker,
a golf scoring and statistics company. "They not only want to perform a task, they want to study their performance and try to improve on that result."

Beyrer referenced several examples of this behavior, including the popular Guitar Hero franchise and
video game systems.

Co-presenter Eric Hogge from the PGA Center for Learning also referenced the fact that golf doesn't deal in statistical analysis as much as other life applications.

"When you talk baseball, you talk ERAs or batting averages or you buy a car based on empirical data," he noted. "It's time golf starting looking at improving players using similar methods."

WEARING DIFFERENT HATS: Two of the nation's top golf instructors, Laird Small of the Pebble Beach Golf Academy and Suzy Whaley of TPC River Highlands and one of only three women to ever play in a PGA Tour event, were asked to serve this
year's Summit as moderators for the presentations. Still, that didn't keep them from wanting to learn more about the fundamentals of teaching, learning and golf analytics as they would do as regular attendees.

"I always give myself an over/under," Whaley explained when asked if she was able to learn from the Summit while still serving as host. "I wonder how long it will take before I realize that I need to learn so much more than I already know, because there is so much great information out there.

"This year, it took about two hours," she said. "When you get this many great minds in one place, you can't help but get excited about the wealth of information that can be shared."

Small agreed.

"I try not to have any opinions on any presentations before they begin; I realize that this is such a unique opportunity to learn in so many ways," he said. "I learn from the presenters as I work with them, I learn from the presentations and I learn more about myself, how I handle the pressure and expectations that come from an event like this. It's a tremendous experience from start to finish."