Ball, ranked among the LPGA's Top 50 Teachers from 2017-2019, was chosen by the LPGA T&CP Executive Committee
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Aug. 21, 2019 – The LPGA Teaching and Club Professionals announced today Louise Ball as the recipient of the 2019 Nancy Lopez Golf Achievement Award, which recognizes an LPGA professional who gives back to the game in the spirit of Nancy Lopez.
The Nancy Lopez Golf Achievement Award was created in 2007 and is given to an LPGA professional who emulates qualities valued by Lopez: Leadership, Passion, Giving, and Approachability. Lopez is a 48-time LPGA Tour winner and four-time Rolex Player of the Year. She was inducted into the LPGA Tour and World Golf Halls of Fame in 1987 and captained the victorious 2005 U.S. Solheim Cup Team.
"To be an LPGA member and have a career that I love is amazing, and I'm so appreciative," Ball said. "Nancy Lopez is someone I've looked up to for a very long time and to receive the award named after her is truly the icing on my golf cake! To me this award represents a passion for golf and a commitment to the LPGA, something Nancy Lopez has demonstrated every day of her career. I am grateful to all of those who have inspired and mentored me along the way. You win in life with people, and I have so many to be thankful for."
Ball is a teaching professional with 22 years of extensive experience in golf instruction for students of all abilities, ages, and genders. Owner and Director of Instruction at Tennessee Golf Academy, she has demonstrated an enduring passion for growing and playing the game of golf through tireless promotion of and participation in numerous tournaments and events across the country.
Consistently ranked among the LPGA's Top 50 Teachers from 2017-2019, Ball has become known for her diverse leadership and her mentoring of skills of youth and fellow golf professionals as part of the LPGA's Executive Committee and Leadership Academy. In 2017 and 2018, she worked as the site director and host for the national LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee. For the past five years, she has also served as an instructor at the LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Academy.
"I am so proud to say I am a member of the LPGA, just like Nancy Lopez," said Ball. "She has done and continues to do so much to grow the game, and empower little girls, women and men through sports. I strive each day to act as Nancy does - as a golf professional to give back to the game I love through compassionate rewarding experiences for my students, something I have watched Nancy do her whole career with her fans. Nancy has been one of my idols for a very long time."
Past recipients of the Nancy Lopez Golf Achievement Award are: Debbie O'Connell (2007), Troy Beck (2008), Patti Benson (2009), Lynn Stellman (2010), Malia Folquet (2011), Suzy Whaley (2012), Marvol Barnard (2013), Angela Aulenti (2014), Teresa Zamboni (2015), Donna White (2016), Sandy LaBauve (2017) and Lynn Marriott (2018).
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