Golf is an individual sport, but Chip Beck knows how to be a team player, too. The professional golfer participated June 3 in an Alabama Power-sponsored Junior Clinic at Shoal Creek, benefiting the Literacy Council of Central Alabama. About 60 kids came out to play an educational game akin to “Are You Smarter Than a 5^th Grader?” After the game, Beck held a putting lesson on the practice green and signed autographs.

Beck is a four-time PGA Tour winner who now plays on the Champions Tour. He is in Birmingham through June 9 for the Regions Tradition, an annual event that supports Children’s of Alabama.

Beck and the kids played a game called “Is a Golf Pro Smarter Than a Student?” In the game, 10 students were chosen to be in Beck’s “Study Group.” They took turns assisting Beck in answering elementary school-level questions in four categories: math, science, English and geography. Local media figures, the event’s “celebrity guests,” did the asking. The students in the audience had electronic devices so they could answer the questions too, allowing Beck to see answers chosen by the group at large.

For each question, Beck had the option to submit the answer of an individual student –his “tutor” – consult the entire study group or go with the crowd’s choice. More often than not, he chose to side with the individual student. Everyone could see the effect this had on the kids; their faces lit up with every word of encouragement Beck offered. Throughout the event, the youngsters clamored to speak to him, and he handled their attention with kindness and grace.

Beck provided a bit of comic relief as well. When asked a question about “cardinal directions,” Beck exclaimed that the only cardinal he knew about was “the little red bird.” When another question asked him to name the states that border Texas, Beck clasped the hand of the young girl assisting him and told the crowd, “We’ll be right back.” Beck and his new friend then jogged around the crowd to the practice green to ask a golfer from Texas who was warming up.

For every correct answer, Beck banked $100. By the end of the game, Beck and his smart, young tutors had raised $1,000 for the Literacy Council, which addresses the needs of the nearly 92,000 functionally illiterate adults in the central part of the state.

“We really appreciate Alabama Power’s continued support of literacy over the years,” said Beth Wilder, President and Executive Director of The Literacy Council. “It was a great event.”

Perhaps more important than the putting lessons or even the encouragement that Beck gave the kids was the advice he offered at the very beginning of the day. Before the game, Beck talked to the kids, challenging them to follow their dreams and work hard. “Find what you’re good at and achieve it,” he told them. “Being successful at something you love, well, that’s the American dream.”