Henderson’s long game must get shorter
Rule change will force Canadian star to abandon her beloved 48-inch driver in March
When it comes to her equipment, Brooke Henderson is a creature of habit.
With the LPGA Tour’s 2022 season underway this week, however, there will be a couple of changes to her set-up — one by necessity and one by choice.
Henderson, who tees it up at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Fla., starting Thursday, will be using a new ball, and wearing a new glove — both from TaylorMade. It’s the first time she’ll use a different brand of golf ball since she started competing as a professional.
The native of Smiths Falls, Ont., will also, come March 21, need to adjust the length of her go-to club, her driver, due to a new rule installed by the United States Golf Association and adopted by the LPGA Tour. The new rule says clubs can be no longer than 46 inches. Henderson has used a driver that was 48 inches long since she was 15. She will, however, use a 48inch driver on Tour until she no longer can.
Henderson said she has begun testing “a bunch” of shorter drivers under the watchful eye of her caddie and sister, Brittany, and her coach and father, Dave.
Videos of Henderson swinging a driver nearly as tall as she has helped make her a social media darling in golf circles. Although she stands just over five-foot-four, she chokes down on the lengthy big stick and lets it rip.
“I’ve worked on changing the grip. Recently when I have been using (the 46-inch driver) I’ve been gripping it at the end like a normal person,” Henderson told the Star with a laugh.
Henderson said she felt it wasn’t necessary for the LPGA Tour to adopt the new rule. At the LPGA Tour’s season finale in November, for example, there were fewer than 10 golfers using drivers longer than 46 inches.
Henderson was ninth on the LPGA Tour in Driving Distance last season, at just over 274 yards a pop. She hit more than 75 per cent of her fairways.
“I was disappointed when it came into play,” said Henderson, “but I’m just looking forward to the next five events so I can continue to use the 48-inch driver.”
This week’s LPGA Tour event features only tournament winners from the past two seasons in a ProAm format with celebrities from music, sports and media.
Henderson will start her eighth LPGA Tour season teeing it up alongside three-time NBA All-Star Deron Williams and former Toronto Raptor Vince Carter.
The 24-year-old is Canada’s winningest golfer on either the LPGA or PGA Tour and said her off-season was “really productive” in terms of getting re-energized for the year ahead, working on areas she wanted to with her short game, and testing new equipment.
Henderson said she started to experiment with a new ball “not too long ago” but right away found solid results off the tee and around the green. She first used the new ball at a charity event last week put on by her childhood idol-turned-friend Morgan Pressel and found success immediately — she made an ace, her ninth ever.
“I was playing in the morning proam, and I made a hole-in-one, and I was like, ‘OK, I guess I made the right decision here,’ ” said Henderson.
Henderson earned just over $1.039 million last season on the heels of seven top-10 finishes, including her 10th LPGA Tour win. She said she’s as excited as she’s ever been at the start of a season.
Henderson told the Star she’s expecting to play the first 11 events on the schedule.
The first event she’ll take off is the Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play hosted by Shadow Creek in late May — the week prior to the U.S. Women’s Open, which just announced a near 100 per cent purse increase, from $5.5 million (U.S.) last year to $10 million.
Overall, golfers on the LPGA Tour will be playing 34 events for a total purse of more than $85 million — a record.
“I feel it’s a great time to be on the LPGA Tour. There’s been purse increases and it’s exciting. I’m really looking forward to more of a full schedule like back to pre-COVID in 2019 when I was playing a lot of events,” said Henderson.
“Hopefully things trend in the right direction and hopefully we play a lot. And win a lot, too.”