What's up with Brooke Henderson

[gvogel]

Brooke is my favorite LPGA player, and one of the two or three pro golfers (both PGA and LPGA) that I look for in the standings on a Friday or Saturday morning.

 

I don't like to see her struggle.  What's going on?

[MikeW2]

My guess is the forced switch to a shorter driver has her uncomfortable.

[SEP1006]

I honestly think she is struggling with the new 46" MAX driver rule. She has always ( since she started playing ) used a 48" driver and chocked down. Looked like she was choking down to around 46" anyway but who knows. I think it has bothered her mentally as well. And like any mental issue in golf it creeps into your whole game. 

 

Now she is also struggling with putting as well. Used to always putt with the flag in but now is having it pulled. She looks like she is trying anything different to get things turned around. I hope she does!!!

[Stooch]

1 minute ago, SEP1006 said:

I honestly think she is struggling with the new 46" MAX driver rule. She has always ( since she started playing ) used a 48" driver and chocked down. Looked like she was choking down to around 46" anyway but who knows. I think it has bothered her mentally as well. And like any mental issue in golf it creeps into your whole game. 

 

Now she is also struggling with putting as well. Used to always putt with the flag in but now is having it pulled. She looks like she is trying anything different to get things turned around. I hope she does!!!

 

Nothing wrong with the Driver other than not making flush contact every shot like with the 48" but she's actually a significantly more accurate with 46" outside the final round at the 1st major, even when she withdrew in Hawaii  she 13/14 fairways.  It's the putter she lost it when Covid started and hasn't found it since, her play to the green from the fairway has declined since the change, that could be due to not gripping down with driver.  She probably his about a 1/3 to 1/4 of her shots each week not gripping down and maybe it hurting her feels with other clubs.  I suspect it's probably the new ball, she seems to be fighting it a little bit in the wind I noticed.

 

But if she's more accurate with the driver not gripping down she should probably change it throughout the bag but she might have to miss a month or so, cause she'll have to recalibrate all her distance but none of that matters if she's not gonna go for outside help with her putting.

[MikeW2]

Has her distance declined at all with the 46 driver? You quoted really impressive fw hit percentages but does she now attack the green from further away? Not hitting as close as before would negatively affect her putting stats.

[Stooch]

12 minutes ago, MikeW2 said:

Has her distance declined at all with the 46 driver? You quoted really impressive fw hit percentages but does she now attack the green from further away? Not hitting as close as before would negatively affect her putting stats.

Like I mentioned, she's just not catching it flush all the time, it just more of a timing thing IMO, I say she'll be back to normal by the end of the season.  But essentially she really is pretty much where she was before the change, longer than most of the LPGA but still a few yards behind the really long hitters on the tour.  So one hole she might be 10 yards shorter than normal but the next hole hit as long as she normally was, just working out the kinks. 

[Stooch]

Also her dispersion on misses seems much bigger, the only fairway she missed she had to his a provisional.  Also comparing Brooke's distance with the some long hitters (well not all of them) today.  The only one's who I found out drove her, were Yuka by 2 yards, Maude-Aimee Leblanc by 26 yards (but she the longest player on tour IMO) and also Jin Young Ko (but there was no really head wind on 1 of her driving holes)

Edited April 29, 2022 by Stooch

[iGolf67]

It's golf. I have no doubt she will figure it out. 

 

 

[Socrates]

On 4/28/2022 at 7:52 PM, gvogel said:

Brooke is my favorite LPGA player, and one of the two or three pro golfers (both PGA and LPGA) that I look for in the standings on a Friday or Saturday morning.

 

I don't like to see her struggle.  What's going on?

46" driver and I think it's a distraction for her.  Her putting has always been shaky at best.  She also has gained a little weight in the last year.  It all adds up to a temporary decline in performance.  Whether she gets over the driver issue is debatable.   It's likely the root of her problems right now.

[Stooch]

Weight?  Her body type and weight have been the same for years IMO, perhaps she's adding muscle, her legs and thighs are pretty jacked.  Honestly the only time I saw a weight change with Brooke was in the months before her sister wedding and that was losing the bulkier muscles and getting more toned, probably for wedding photo's.

[Golf Dino]

48 minutes ago, Stooch said:

Weight?  Her body type and weight have been the same for years IMO, perhaps she's adding muscle, her legs and thighs are pretty jacked.  Honestly the only time I saw a weight change with Brooke was in the months before her sister wedding and that was losing the bulkier muscles and getting more toned, probably for wedding photo's.

 

While no one can know with any precise certainty, notwithstanding her inner circle, she does appear to have put on weight and she most definitely does not appear to be toned or with any appreciable definition.   

 

She may very well be at the crossroads of her career.  Of course, only time will tell if this is a temporary blip or something that becomes more prevalent.  I hope it is the former, but I will not be surprised if it is the latter.

 

The thing about being at a crossroad, is that she can choose the path to follow.  

 

I believe that the driver length change -- the Brooke Henderson Rule, has affected her and she has not adequately prepared for it.  Furthermore, her relative driver woes (by her standards) puts a little more pressure on her iron/approach game and that leads into her area where she is least competitive relative to the remainder of the field and that is with her putting.   Stooch, as you and I have discussed over the past 2-3 years, she needed to get away fron her father/coach and work extensively with a putting authority -- a Faxon, Stockton, or even J. Burke Jr. . . . though his advanced years may have prohibited that.  

 

The newcomers are more developed players than those she had been competing against in the past.  When she arrived on the scene, there were few in the game with her skills and attributes.  Now there are at least a dozen, if not more out here competing week in and week out.   Many are not necessarily younger than Brooke, but similar in age and took longer to develop and mature.

 

They hit the ball long like Brooke, have solid iron/approach games (maybe not to the level of Brooke's) but they have far better short games and most definitely better on the greens.  They also come with a fitness dedication that seems to suit them well for the longer term.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Golf Dino

[Stooch]

I say "forest for the trees", I'm not sure but there seems to be a misconception Brooke's Driving has faltered.  On the contrary, it has greatly improved even if there is a slight loss of distance, which with a good hit, I doubt there is. By round since the driver change at the Chevron, 9/14, 12/14, 11/14, 5/14   Hawaii 13/14  LA 13/14, 13/14 Palos Verdes 13/14, 13/14.  She was 4/5 in Top 10 until the change and simply it's been the putter.  Outside the final round at the Chevron give me the driving stats and green in reg stats of  any of those rounds since the the change and I'll show you Brooke averaging 2-3 under par regardless of proximity.

 

Honestly IMO the true problem (and not so sure how big it is. outside bad putting) is to steal a phrase from Star Wars "there's a disturbance in the force".  Brooke made a choice many years ago, not knowing a guy named Bryson Dechambeau would tear apart a US Open Golf course and the golf world would make it Brooke's Henderson's problem and she should be punished for it.  So because she gripped down on every club in the bag there was continuity, now each week I bet 1/4 to 1/3 of her shots practicing are conventional grip and probably just messes with the feel just that little bit.  Brooke probably resisted any change even if they could be improvements cause the thinking was the "juice ain't worth the squeeze" with her performance levels gripping down.  IMO I feel she should return to the continuity of the same grip throughout the bag, hope she feels the same way.

 

So with Brooke pulling out of the Founders it tells me she's working on something and one of two things IMO.  She either sought someone out for putting help and it's the time she can work with that person.  Cause if it's just Team Brooke working on the putting they don't care where they do it, they'll bring it on the road.  Or, the second option and the one I hope for is she working on change her grip to uniform throughout the bag.

 

I kinda came terms early this was gonna be a lost year for Brooke (not fault of her own), although I thought its would be a wild driver.  IMO I feel the lack of grip continuity is impacting her iron play and proximity, which exasperates the bad putter, especially long putts. which I didn't really see.  She really gotta get over her yips of putting 6 ft and in, that is what changed and IMO it's purely a mental thing and a self fulfilling prophesy every time she stands over one, she gotta fix that, also her recent bad putting has been on Poa and I bet if you look 50-60% of her missed cuts probably come on this surface.  So IMO the rest of the year will be a fight with ballsticking (big problem with the driver is flush contact every shot that will improve with repetition) but I don't see anything terminal other than a slight down turn and some recalibration but by next season I should be back to simply bitching about her putter lol

[Golf Dino]

1 hour ago, Stooch said:

On the contrary, it has greatly improved even if there is a slight loss of distance, which with a good hit, I doubt there is

 

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. (with apologies to Twain)

 

As for her driving, I can agree with you for nearly all of your argument.  While we are just entering the Second 3rd of the season, Brooke finds herself looking from outside the top-10 in driving distance YTD -- sitting at 18th.  Her length is about the same but there are more players that possess the power off the tee.  This is also supported by the Strokes Gained index in which she is either 17th or 18th in SG off the tee. 

 

As for her Driving Accuracy, her ranking last five seasons are: 

2021 - 53rd, 2020 - 35th, 2019 - 77th, 2018 - 60th.  2022 YTD - 82nd.

 

Is the shorter driver affecting her game -- most definitely at the mental level and relative to the field.   Will it continue that way?  Only time will tell and as I stated in my previous post, I hope it is only a temporary blip.

 

 

3 hours ago, Golf Dino said:

I believe that the driver length change -- the Brooke Henderson Rule, has affected her and she has not adequately prepared for it.  Furthermore, her relative driver woes (by her standards) puts a little more pressure on her iron/approach game and that leads into her area where she is least competitive relative to the remainder of the field and that is with her putting. 

 

I suspect that it is the "feeling" of the new grip/club length that is weighing on her mind and perhaps applying a little more pressure on her than she is normally accustomed to.   

 

Look, it is pure speculation at this point until she formally makes a statement on it.  Who knows, it could be something else or it could be nothing.  Maybe a large part of it is that she has been very consistent over the past 5-8 years . . . and we've grown accustomed to seeing her performing at that high level. 

 

 

1 hour ago, Stooch said:

also her recent bad putting has been on Poa and I bet if you look 50-60% of her missed cuts probably come on this surface.

 

While she may well have struggled with it, the irony is that her last win came in LA on a poa putting surface.  🤣

 

[Stooch]

21 minutes ago, Golf Dino said:

 

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. (with apologies to Twain)

 

As for her driving, I can agree with you for nearly all of your argument.  While we are just entering the Second 3rd of the season, Brooke finds herself looking from outside the top-10 in driving distance YTD -- sitting at 18th.  Her length is about the same but there are more players that possess the power off the tee.  This is also supported by the Strokes Gained index in which she is either 17th or 18th in SG off the tee. 

 

As for her Driving Accuracy, her ranking last five seasons are: 

2021 - 53rd, 2020 - 35th, 2019 - 77th, 2018 - 60th.  2022 YTD - 82nd.

 

Is the shorter driver affecting her game -- most definitely at the mental level and relative to the field.   Will it continue that way?  Only time will tell and as I stated in my previous post, I hope it is only a temporary blip.

 

 

 

I suspect that it is the "feeling" of the new grip/club length that is weighing on her mind and perhaps applying a little more pressure on her than she is normally accustomed to.   

 

Look, it is pure speculation at this point until she formally makes a statement on it.  Who knows, it could be something else or it could be nothing.  Maybe a large part of it is that she has been very consistent over the past 5-8 years . . . and we've grown accustomed to seeing her performing at that high level. 

 

 

 

While she may well have struggled with it, the irony is that her last win came in LA on a poa putting surface.  🤣

 

1.  Numbers can lie, that's why you gotta keep them honest 🤣  So Brooke played 28 rounds this season and I pay close attention probably way too close attention lol.  She currently averages 272 yds so for this exercise I dropped 2 yds and multiplied 270 by 27 and then added 187 and dived by 28 which gave me 267 a loss of 3 yds.  What's with the 187 number?   That was her driving distance in the final round of the Chevron when she pull hooked her drive right into a tree on #2 that only measured 100 yds (still made birdie lol) so minus that outlier on a measuring hole and the loss of approx 3 yds to her distance average which if added to 272 would have her at 275 right with Pauline Roussin Bouchard and Yuka Saso at 6th or 7th, which seems right to me with the eye test.  Because of only two measuring hole each round I only usually use this stat to group players in sorta flights like "A" being the longest hitter "B" being just below them and continually going down.  I've always grouped Brooke in the "B" group and that hasn't changed for me yet.

 

2.  Besides LA she's won twice in Hawaii, so yeah with Brooke and Poa she obviously either gets it or can't see a thing😂

[elwhippy]

She looks more nervous over a putt than Lexi, and that is not good. 

[Socrates]

6 hours ago, elwhippy said:

She looks more nervous over a putt than Lexi, and that is not good. 

I've often said to my buddies that if Lexi and Brooke were playing alternate shot together, they might never finish a hole if someone didn't tell them to "just pick it up - that's good."

 

Seriously twitchy putters.

[OrangeGravy]

She was struggling way before this driver change. She's a really poor putter and that isn't gonna change

[BadgerLin]

4 hours ago, OrangeGravy said:

She was struggling way before this driver change. She's a really poor putter and that isn't gonna change

Putting is definitely an issue for her, but she played well enough to be a top player and win if the putter did just enough.  She wasn’t struggling to start this year.  Her finishes to start the season were:  2, 6, 11, 6, 4.  Chevron (first event with shorter driver?) was 13th.  Then WD, C, C.  

[Stooch]

6 hours ago, BadgerLin said:

Putting is definitely an issue for her, but she played well enough to be a top player and win if the putter did just enough.  She wasn’t struggling to start this year.  Her finishes to start the season were:  2, 6, 11, 6, 4.  Chevron (first event with shorter driver?) was 13th.  Then WD, C, C.  

 

It's why golf is so fun?  Ironically her driver was off during that run and it also hurt her greens in reg and that's what probably kept her from winning during that stretch.   At the time of the change she was at 67% fairways hit and now she's 73%, so she now hits the fairway but doesn't find the green enough and when she did she could get the ball in the hole lol

[BIG STU]

On 5/9/2022 at 10:27 AM, Socrates said:

I've often said to my buddies that if Lexi and Brooke were playing alternate shot together, they might never finish a hole if someone didn't tell them to "just pick it up - that's good."

 

Seriously twitchy putters.

Too Funny but sadly true

[grm24]

Brooke changed to playing the TM TP5x ball this year after using the Pro-V1 for many years. It's possible the ball change could be impacting her game this year like it has for Rickie Fowler the last 3+ years. Couple that with the driver length change. They could possibly be part of why she hasn't been as sharp this season. Or simply it's just a down year so far for her. 

[3whacker]

when I first saw Brooke come out on Tour and saw her having to choke up on a driver, my first thought was she was playing poorly fitted clubs as a junior, so someone advised her to choke up on the club for more control and she learned how to make do....take two inches off a club and then choke down on it , now we are looking at old school golf club specs..it has to have changed her stance, her set up, and where she feels the club head is in the swing. it might even feel like her 3W but with a driver head and loft.. Think of us old guys that started playing golf when the persimmon standard was 43.5 in, the first time someone put a 45 in driver in my hand it felt really strange...Her game revolved around the driver, once she figures it out she will be back on top of the leaderboards

[Tasals]

On 5/13/2022 at 2:37 AM, grm24 said:

Brooke changed to playing the TM TP5x ball this year after using the Pro-V1 for many years. It's possible the ball change could be impacting her game this year like it has for Rickie Fowler the last 3+ years. Couple that with the driver length change. They could possibly be part of why she hasn't been as sharp this season. Or simply it's just a down year so far for her. 

I really really liked the TP5x on longer clubs, windy days, damp greens. Its a great ball, was my ball of choice for a long time. However I noticed my tendency with wedges and other approach shots is I catch them slightly high on workable misses, and its already a lower spinning so it got even lower. I for whatever reason ended up with a few boxes of chrome soft and the more spin on the short game was a changer for me. I just could not use TP5x around the green anymore. If youre a higher spin player its great, but when I started to notice some issues on my pitches with it and I ended up changing last season and trying out a bunch of new brands. I think in some of the testing ive seen guys do on youtube, the TP5x and pro V1 are a few hundred rpm difference from 150 yards and in, and up to a thousand-ish on spinning wedge shots from 75 yards and in. This is all relative and im not the worlds best ball striker but the spin around the greens could be causing her some problems because it seems like her off the tee stats are still up there.

[Golf Dino]

3 hours ago, Tasals said:

This is all relative and im not the worlds best ball striker but the spin around the greens could be causing her some problems because it seems like her off the tee stats are still up there.

 

Yes . . . it's just one more thing for her to contend with.  Sometime changes should be kept to a minimum so as to give oneself a better chance of sucessful transition/integration.  The driver change was known months ago . . . the ProV1 was performing well for her up till then.

[Socrates]

19 hours ago, Tasals said:

I really really liked the TP5x on longer clubs, windy days, damp greens. Its a great ball, was my ball of choice for a long time. However I noticed my tendency with wedges and other approach shots is I catch them slightly high on workable misses, and its already a lower spinning so it got even lower. I for whatever reason ended up with a few boxes of chrome soft and the more spin on the short game was a changer for me. I just could not use TP5x around the green anymore. If youre a higher spin player its great, but when I started to notice some issues on my pitches with it and I ended up changing last season and trying out a bunch of new brands. I think in some of the testing ive seen guys do on youtube, the TP5x and pro V1 are a few hundred rpm difference from 150 yards and in, and up to a thousand-ish on spinning wedge shots from 75 yards and in. This is all relative and im not the worlds best ball striker but the spin around the greens could be causing her some problems because it seems like her off the tee stats are still up there.

I liked the TP5X, but not around the greens.  Prefer the TP5 or I'll use the ProV1x or ProV1 depending on how windy it is (or what I have in the bag).  Everyone on the LPGA needs money, but at some point Brooke might have to say that the TP5x just isn't working out.

[Rapidcat]

She needs to say 'eh' more.

[Lobby]

I got a used Ping Glide 3 SW off the Fleabay.   I couldn't hit it.

 

I took it to my club repair guy, and he compared its swing weight to a Vokey I have that felt "right."

"They have the same swing weight.   D3.  You're crazy."

Yet, I felt what I felt.   The Glide felt so much heavier.  So the repair guy persevered.

"Oh, the Ping has a lighter shaft.  Plus it's 3/8 inch longer than the Vokey."

He cut that extra length off the Ping, and voila.   Now it's my favorite wedge.   Its swing weight dropped to C 9.


The reason for this novel is that club length is a funny thing.   It can affect clubhead feel in a bunch of unexpected ways.  Perhaps this is what Brooke is going through?

[Stooch]

I have noticed some control problems on the approaches in higher winds (with the new ball) and maybe there's some adjustments around the greens, but the ball is an excuse.  Since the change in driver she's gained about 2-3 more fairways in reg per round but has also missed 2-3 more greens in reg per round, so I'd say it's a feel or mechanics thing.  Since the Chevron Brooke's problem has been nothing but the putter, so unless the TP5x is shaped like an egg it's not the ball IMO lol

[Argonne69]

9 hours ago, Stooch said:

I have noticed some control problems on the approaches in higher winds (with the new ball) and maybe there's some adjustments around the greens, but the ball is an excuse.  Since the change in driver she's gained about 2-3 more fairways in reg per round but has also missed 2-3 more greens in reg per round, so I'd say it's a feel or mechanics thing.  Since the Chevron Brooke's problem has been nothing but the putter, so unless the TP5x is shaped like an egg it's not the ball IMO lol

 

I simply attribute it to lack of practice. When a player focuses on a big change in one part of their game, they often neglect the other parts. We saw that in Lydia's short game when she was working on endless full swing changes.

 

[RainShadow]

 She can’t putt most weeks from what I’ve watched, and she and her sister are taking longer and longer to read the greens.

I don’t remember her being as “meticulous” a few years ago….