Copyright scotsman
Spencer Henderson may still be hurting after being dispensed with “out of the blue” by Scottish Golf, but he remains fiercely passionate about doing everything he can to help tartan talent flourish in the amateur game before, hopefully, riding the current welcome wave of success being led by Bob MacIntyre in the paid ranks. Falkirk-born Henderson ended his role as national men’s coach in the recent World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore, where a trio comprising Cameron Adam, Niall Shiels Donegan and Connor Graham finished a respectable seventh, after being told earlier in the year that his contract wasn’t being renewed by the Rosyth-based governing body. It marked the end of Henderson’s second spell with the organisation, having originally been an assistant to Ian Rae before becoming the junior coach in 2004 then leaving six years later to work as the Turkish Golf Federation’s first national coach, serving in that post for four years before moving to Azerbaijan to take up a similar ground-breaking job there. On returning home in 2015, he became national boys’ coach again before stepping up to take over as the men’s coach four years ago. Throughout his time with both the Scottish Golf Union and Scottish Golf, Henderson was hugely respected by the players he worked with and, by the sounds of things, he would jump at the opportunity if the role was offered to him again at some point in the future. For the time being, though, he’s been left to reflect on losing the job he loved while trying to deliver success competing against nations with resources dwarfing what Scottish Golf currently has at its disposal when it comes to coaching camps in particular. “It shows you how out of the blue it came that I was actually meeting a tour caddie on the day I got told to discuss how we could implement some of the work he does with tour players into our programme with the amateurs next year,” Henderson told The Scotsman. “I’d actually done all the winter planning, so, yes, it was a huge surprise. “I think it was the manner it was done as well. I’ve worked for Scottish Golf on and off for the guts of 15 years. I don’t know who made the decision, whether it was the board or the performance manager. I was basically told the results weren’t going well enough, which is fair enough. But, at the same time, you’ve got to look at what is behind that potentially. “I was obviously really disappointed, but I know that I gave absolutely everything to the job. Scotland is everything to me and that is the disappointing thing for me. You’ve given everything, yet you are being judged on certain things that are a wee bit outwith your control as well. Yeah, I found that quite hard to take, to be honest.” Sportscotland significantly cut funding for Scottish Golf in 2017, reducing its budget by over a third from approximately £1.025 million to £665,000. That led to substantial cuts to development programmes and investment in the sport in its birthplace. Under Robbie Clyde as the new CEO, Scottish Golf got the green light last year to raise the per capita fee paid by club golfers by £3 to £17.50 while the Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation continues to provide valuable support. Compared to other European countries, though, Scotland is now lagging behind when it comes to being in a position to provide the best possible support to emerging talent. “If you look at what could probably be described as the good old days, when Hamish Grey was in charge and the budget was there, we used to do so much more for the players and that has gradually got less and less,” observed Henderson. “You tried to do the best with what you’ve got, but, ultimately, you are hamstrung by that, aren’t you? “Budgets have got a massive part to do with it and the likes of Denmark, Sweden, France and Italy have definitely overtaken us in terms of results but also in terms of budgets, structures etc. I’ll give you a good example. I was speaking to Davy Law and he was out in Abu Dhabi, where the Danes had 40 players out there for a training week and they had specialists out there with them and all their coaches. We just can’t do anything like that now. We don’t even have a real training base any more. “It’s great that we still have the South Africa trip thanks to the funding from Johann Rupert through the Dunhill Foundation and I’d personally hate to see that lost as it is terrific because it does give players four or five weeks of winter training where the guys can get ready for the season. But it is interesting how the landscape of that has changed as well. I remember when Ian Rae would have 12 full-time amateurs who were basically fighting for six spots. Whereas last year when we went, I only had three full-time amateurs who could go to South Africa. Most of the guys are now going to America because the funding and support out there is far more than we can offer them.” If the “right opportunity” comes up, Henderson could be tempted to work abroad again, though, as has been the case since 2018, he is still employed by Paul Lawrie in running the former Open champion’s academy programme for the top juniors in the north-east of Scotland. “I’m going to see the winter out in Scotland and then see what I want to do after that,” he said. “I want to keep supporting the under 18s I currently work with through my connection with Paul. At the same time, if the landscape changed at Scottish Golf, I would never turn it down because there is no hidden agenda there for me. I just want to see Scotland being successful. “We finished seventh in the recent World Amateur Team Championship, which was our best finish since 2010. When you’ve got the best players - as was the case with Cammy, Niall and Connor in Singapore - I think Scotland can still compete, but we need all our best players all the time to compete against some of these other nations.”
