Nancy Henderson was a young golf professional steaming shirts in a golf shop as a part-time employee when she mustered up the courage to ask for the job she wanted.
She had played four years of college golf at Southern Methodist University, spent two years on the Futures Tour (now called the Epson Tour) and had advanced to the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament three times, missing her tour card by two strokes each time.
So, she took a job at Orange Lake Resort and Country Club in Kissimmee, Florida, where she worked to have course playing privileges as she tried to figure out what was next.
When Orange Lake’s merchandise manager left, she walked into the office of the director of golf and inquired about the job vacancy.
“He looked at me and asked, ‘Who are you?’ ” Henderson said. “I had been there for two weeks and he had no idea who I was.”
But Henderson knew who she was. And even in that awkward moment, Henderson knew she wanted to make a career in golf.
“I had heard from a lot of people that if you are female, you’ll never get to be a head golf professional or director of golf because those jobs go to men, and females just don’t have the same opportunities,” she said. “That made me want it even more, to prove everybody wrong.”
And while she had no prior merchandising experience, the club professional listened as she explained that his shop did not have the logoed souvenirs the resort’s customers were requesting. Henderson got the job and doubled the shop’s sales that first year by adding items beyond the traditional golf merchandise already in the shop.
“I qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open a couple of times but playing on tour just wasn’t meant to be. Still, I realized I knew a lot about golf. I wanted to open more doors for women in golf,” she said. “I just felt like there weren’t enough women who were able to follow their dreams.” – Nancy Henderson
She proved herself as the club’s merchandise manager from 1991-99. Early in that period, when the head professional position opened in 1992, she was able to assume both roles. Three years later, she became the resort’s director of golf — still overseeing merchandise — where she stayed until 1999.
It was a breakthrough for a woman who had been motivated through golf from a young age.
Henderson’s first exposure to golf came around age 8 in Clearwater, Florida. Neither of her parents played golf but her father was a developer who built homes in a golf community. Henderson’s family lived on a golf course and Nancy watched the golfers passing by.
She also watched LPGA star Nancy Lopez on television, began playing junior golf and took lessons from PGA Master Teaching Professional Bill Madonna. The only girl on her high school boy’s golf team, Henderson dreamed of being a professional like Lopez.
Her father eventually owned a golf course, which provided an up-close opportunity to learn the business of the game. She cut the holes on greens, raked bunkers and sometimes ran the cash register.
And when her aspirations of following Lopez to the LPGA Tour as a player didn’t pan out, Henderson was pragmatic.
“I qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open a couple of times but playing on tour just wasn’t meant to be,” she said. “Still, I realized I knew a lot about golf.”
Henderson left Orange Lake in 1999 to become the general manager/director of golf at LPGA International Golf Club in Daytona Beach, Florida. She had big plans in her new role.
“I wanted to open more doors for women in golf,” she said. “I just felt like there weren’t enough women who were able to follow their dreams.”
Henderson wanted to oversee a facility that was “very female-friendly and female-focused” and she wanted to make sure that at least half of the golf shop merchandise was targeted toward them. But Henderson came to realize there were still many challenges for women golfers at her course. She learned that many of her employees didn’t always view 40 women coming to play the same way she did.
“The bag staff looked at them and believed women would not tip,” she noted. “The beverage cart drivers thought that women would not buy as much beer and the course rangers assumed that there would be slow play.”
Henderson heard the stereotypes about women golfers and worked hard with her staff to help them recognize their own subconscious bias.
“We could change the mindset for some and for others, we realized it wasn’t the right position for them,” she added. “I was finally able to build a team with like-minded individuals who viewed women as equals on the golf course.”
Both an LPGA and PGA member, Henderson stayed at LPGA International for nearly eight years before moving over to LPGA headquarters in March 2007 as the executive director for the LPGA’s Teaching and Club Professionals division — now called LPGA Professionals.
She still wanted to open doors for women in golf. Henderson believed that in her new role at the LPGA, she would have the ability to help LPGA members navigate the golf industry.
“We have more members who are starting their own golf schools and businesses and who are working in the industry in a variety of professional positions,” she said. “About 70 percent of our members are primarily teachers.”
Currently, there are 1,900 members from 23 nations in the LPGA Professionals. The LPGA’s teaching certification process also is now offered online in four different languages through a partnership with Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“Nancy knows the business from every angle and she understands the challenges teachers have in the industry,” said Marvol Barnard, LPGA Professionals National President.
“She’s been a golf teacher, served as a head professional and director of golf, and she’s lived every aspect of what those of us in the organization are living,” Barnard added. “She’s also a good player, so she understands the tournament side, as well as the entrepreneurs and what it means to run your own business. She’s just a font of knowledge.”
In 2011, Henderson added LPGA Foundation President to her current dual role as LPGA Professional Membership Chief Teaching Officer. That means she also oversees the LPGA’s Foundation, which awards scholarships and financial assistance, runs the LPGA-USGA Girls Golf program, the LPGA Leadership Academies and the LPGA Amateur Golf Association, formerly called the Executive Women’s Golf Association (EWGA).
“Nancy is very forward thinking, particularly with the (LPGA) Foundation’s work and in changing the face of golf,” Barnard said. “The latest statistics show that we’re bringing women and girls to the game.”
The data is proof. National Golf Foundation numbers show that, historically, only about 17 percent of U.S. junior golfers have been girls. Last year, the number rose to 36 percent.
Since 2010, the Girls Golf program has grown from 5,000 girls a year playing golf to more than 100,000 girls. The program expects to celebrate its one-millionth girl participant this year and will have more than 600 Girls Golf programs — with at least one in every state. Girls Golf programs also are planned to open in four locations in Korea this year.
Next is the goal of improving participation numbers for women, which still hovers around 25 percent of all golfers nationally.
By acquiring and rebranding the EWGA as the LPGA Amateur Golf Association, Henderson and her team have ramped up that group from 11,000 to 16,000 women members. And to address attrition by teens ages 13-14 leaving the Girls Golf program, Henderson and her LPGA Professionals have looked for ways to keep girls in golf and to bolster self-esteem through the LPGA Leadership Academies.
Their goal is to increase female golf participation to one day reach 50 percent of all golfers.
“I feel like we’re making a difference and I love the progress we’re making,” Henderson said. “I never dreamed I would be able to do something so fulfilling.”
And with Henderson at the helm, Barnard is confident women in golf will continue to benefit.
“Nancy is our touchstone, our historian, our cheerleader and the calm hand on the tiller,” Barnard said. “She’s done it all in golf and is now leading a group of women who have the chance to do it all.”