by Mark Hayes
Daniel Alfredsson would be proud.
Arguably the Ottawa Senators’ greatest player, not even the powerful NHL legend’s slapshot would generate the compelling combination of vicious yet graceful power of Brooke Henderson’s driver.
Henderson, 18, whose love of hockey and home town of Smiths Falls just south of the Canadian capital combines to make her an avid Senators fan, is making huge waves in women’s golf.
Just 15 months into what shapes as a long professional career, the delightful 18-year-old has surged to No.11 in the Rolex Rankings.
And one of the key reasons is her prodigious length off the tee.
Henderson is just 163cm – 5’4” in the old vernacular – of athletic power, yet packs a 48-inch driver after a few recent experiments with her Ping custom fitter/clubmaker.
If you’re keeping track, that’s a staggering three-quarters of her height – and the maximum permissible driver length.
That, combined with one of the longest swings in world golf – men’s or women’s – gives her club-head speed almost unrivaled on the LPGA Tour.
Henderson takes the driver back way past parallel – think John Daly on muscle relaxants – then drops her arms inside so that the clubhead is swinging towards the ball on a much flatter arc than her peers.
A few to have seen her unique swing this week at The Grange have likened it to a baseball batter’s power stroke.
Henderson herself says it’s more like a hockey slapshot she grew up watching in the NHL.
Nor has it been advised or honed by a series of swing gurus.
“It’s just natural. I don’t even think about it,” Henderson said this week.
“I just grew up playing hockey – I guess it’s a bit of slapshot more than anything.
“It’s just the swing I grew up with. I’ve kinda had the same swing since I was three years old, so not much has changed. I’m not much of a technical player, just feel.”
The 2015 Canadian Sportswoman of the Year said she grew up playing with sticks longer than her perfect fit as a young girl and subsequently learnt to grip down the shaft by 4-5cm.
It’s a trait that continues today.
“It just feels natural to me,” she said.
“I made the change (to a 48-inch driver) a month ago. My Ping rep came down and we looked at a few options and I had one 47 inches and a little bit before that, so I was willing to try the 48 out and see what happened.
“I got a little bit more distance. The fear was I might lose a little bit of accuracy, but I hit it pretty straight anyway, so I was willing to give that up.
“It seems to be working out pretty well.”
That could be the understatement of this young LPGA season.
On Thursday, with the aid of a slight helping breeze, Henderson, powered a drive 295m off the 18th tee – a number that surprised even her.
“Yeah, that’s really big, that’s really cool,” she beamed when told.
“I am probably averaging around 270 yards (245m), give or take, then a good one around 290 yards (265m), but that was a good one.”
They are numbers others can’t surpass – and only few can hope to match.
And it’s one reason why she’s rapidly becoming the must-watch player in women’s golf.
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