Nothing could prepare us for Wayne Gretzky.
‘The Great One’ took 11 seasons to surpass Gordie Howe’s seemingly unattainable 1,850 career points – set over 26 NHL campaigns. He blew away all standards of measurement – as if a mile was a metre, and a Noah-like rainstorm was a mere sprinkle. He was a dancing, weaving, puck-moving magician who was thin as a delivery boy, but deadly as a Marvel Comics superhero.
From 1981-82 until 1986-87, he won the NHL scoring title by pluralities of 65, 72, 79, 73, 74 and 75 points. He holds the NHL record for records (61).
Which brings us to Brooke Henderson, the ‘Next Great One’.
This golfing savant is running up Gretzky-like numbers. Consider: she won her first major (the 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) at age 18, has nearly $6 million in career earnings (more than Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez), scored her ninth victory at the 2019 Meijer LPGA Classic, and that makes her our winningest touring pro ever, leapfrogging Sandra Post, George Knudson and Mike Weir.
Last August in Regina, she was serenaded with a stirring rendition of O Canada after winning the CP Women’s Open, breaking a 45-year hometown hex, and consigning the name of the last winner, Jocelyne Bourassa, to agate type.
But this isn’t a story about numbers and records; it’s about impact and how Henderson’s pure brilliance can have a multiplier effect and grow female influence in the game –both at the industry and grassroots levels. Let’s call it “The Brooke Bounce”.
Gretzky’s influence was immediate, especially after his blockbuster trade to LA. Growing the game in the Sunbelt might be his lasting legacy. Henderson is very much a work in progress, but her impact could also be ever-expanding, like a cosmos bursting. Will this close the participation and workplace gap that shows golf in Canada is still a bastion of male dominance?
Yes, says Kevin Haime, owner of a golf centre near Ottawa. He’s seen firsthand the power of “The Brooke Bounce” as a founder of the ‘Kids to the Course Golf Classic,’ held in early May at the Eagle Creek Golf Club. The tournament’s proceeds have placed over 600 kids in high end golf courses and helped them with lessons and equipment grants. None of this would be possible without the support of Henderson, a Ping staffer who grew up in nearby Smiths Falls.
Playing a few shots with foursomes, and travelling around the event in a cart, wasn’t enough for her. She wanted to help with kids’ development. Her clinics for almost 200 boys and girls each year, is a feeder for the ‘Give Golf a Try’ program, said Haime.
“For the kids, it’s like meeting Cinderella on Main Street. Brooke creates magical moments for them.”
Haime said Henderson isn’t just a pied piper who will lead young girls to the game, but many of them will stay on to earn a living in the industry.
“There are so many great jobs in the game of golf,” he said. “I’m always on the lookout for [female] teachers to show girls or women how to play the game.”
Writer Sven Birkerts suggests that “in our culture, the lag between a sound and an answering echo is, roughly speaking, 20 years. A generation.”
The answering echo to Henderson’s brilliance and eagerness to give back could be felt long after she leaves the game.
“There are some great female pros now, but we need more than a light smattering in this country to help the industry succeed,” said Haime.
Lesley Hawkins, general manager of adidas Canada agrees that it may take a generation to feel the impact of Henderson’s career on the game for women. Those barriers could break down on the fairways, in the pro shops, or even the C-suites.
There are changes happening everywhere. The inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) showed surreal images of women playing the course that Bobby Jones built, and Jack and Arnie and Tiger won on. It didn’t quite erase many of the sexist and racist labels once attached to the club, but this baptismal event stirred up a pitiful past when a woman named Martha Burk, a non-golfer, helped change the game forever.
The 2003 Masters was dubbed the Martha-Hootie Showdown. Hootie was William Woodward Johnson, the Augusta chairman, a sharpie bank executive who viewed Burk – chair of an umbrella group known as the National Council of Women’s Organizations – as a dog would a fire hydrant.
The story goes that Burk read a column about Augusta National’s refusal to admit women members, and sent a letter to Hootie who should have ignored it, but instead, returned serve.
His caustic response said Augusta would not be “bullied, threatened, or intimidated,” and yes, women might one day join Augusta, “but not at the point of bayonet.” His response now seems as dated as the Dead Sea Scrolls. By 2014, public scorn, and many millions in lawsuits forced the club to cave. The AWNA was the final coup de grâce.
Hawkins believes “we need to find ways to get more exposure for the women’s game.” Haime said Henderson has an indefinable quality that makes her interaction with kids – boys and girls – both heartwarming, and a driver for change.
Ada Mackenzie, founder of the Ladies Golf Club of Toronto, can claim “First Lady” status for golf in this country. She not only founded the club, she also started up the first line of women’s golf apparel, and left us with this famous quote: “Women were supposed to know more about a cook stove than a golf club.”
Her successors have also had a huge impact, including Marlene Stewart Streit (the only woman amateur in the World Golf Hall of Fame), Sandra Post (a three-time major winner of the LPGA Tour), and all the club pros (there are a few) now working across Canada. But Henderson has re-written the record books, and her impact seems unlimited – if she’s willing to expand her role.
Golf is still riddled with misogynistic dinosaurs, like famed teacher Hank Haney, host of a show on Sirius XM. His racist and sexist comments on the LPGA got him temporarily tossed from the airwaves. Golf is still riddled with too many Hooties.
Gretzky’s trade from Edmonton to LA changed the NHL forever. Kids who didn’t know a hockey puck from a Frisbee, began to play the game in the Sunbelt states. The answering echo is a tsunami of American players being drafted into the game, including Toronto Maple Leaf superstar, Auston Matthews, born in Arizona.
Henderson will be the star attraction at the CP Women’s Open at Magna Golf Club. We have yet to see the ripple effect of her greatness in terms of more girls playing, or more women working in the industry.
In Gretzky’s autobiography, he remembers his father Walter telling him to skate where the puck is going, not where it’s been.
Golf should follow that sage advice. More participation by girls and women – both on and off the course – is the last best chance to grow the game.
