With Henninger, coaching and teaching golf is more than mechanics

Golf Farm co-owners Amy Simanton and Brian Henninger

For a long time, Brian Henninger found he could play golf at the highest level.

In recent years, he has found he can teach it, too.

But it’s not just about teaching fundamentals for Henninger, co-owner of the Golf Farm indoor facility in Tualatin.

“Brian is good at teaching the mechanics,” says Christian Oelke, whose son Jennings is a client of Henninger’s at the Golf Farm. “But he has also helped Jennings with the mental aspect of the game through his life lessons and teachings that come from his development from a self-taught kid to a professional golfer.”

Henninger works with adults, but it would seem that his passion may be working with youngsters.

“Mentoring and coaching kids is way more than a golf swing,” says the Eugene native and Sherwood resident, 61. “It’s way more than a chipping or putting motion. There’s so much opportunity for people to learn about golf now, whether it’s from YouTube or social media. My job is to keep the talent away from all that information, because information is not always the best.

“When I was young, I was seeking it, I was searching for it. I wanted answers. I wanted predictable outcomes. Today, I try to keep the kids in here, learning as we go. We are the most powerful resource. Impacting these kids in some little way is pretty cool.”

Henninger smiles, then adds, “I try to be more guru-ish… and stay away from the technical stuff. With the technical stuff, people tend to get lost.”

Henninger and co-owner Amy Simanton have run the Golf Farm as an instruction and training facility out of a warehouse off of Tualatin-Sherwood Road for five years.

“I like the idea of indoors, because I can slow people down,” Henninger says.

A members’ session at the Golf Farm, located at 20160 SW 112th in Tualatin (courtesy Brian Henninger)

Henninger’s clientele includes a number of adults.

“Brian makes it real simple,” says Chris Dussin, owner of the Portland-based Old Spaghetti Factory chain. “He tries not to give you too many things to think about. He layers things on one at a time. He is such a positive, fun guy to be around. He makes you want to do better. It doesn’t feel like I have to grind through this or that.

“I find that after working with Brian for the past two years, I hit the ball more consistently with my irons. I hit the ball closer to the hole than I have in my whole life. I’m 68 years old. Wish I’d have found him when I was 28, or 18.”

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Henninger moved with his family from San Rafael, Calif., to Eugene when he was in fourth grade. Both of his parents were from Roseburg. Brian, who graduated from Sheldon High, was an excellent youth tennis player who played on the national junior tennis circuit.

“But I had a lot of ability in golf, and I was getting tired of tennis,” says Henninger, who had played No. 1 singles on the Irish tennis team as a junior. In what seemed illogical but turned out to be the best decision in the history of decisions, he quit tennis and went out for golf at Sheldon as a senior. Brian won the individual title at the state 4A tournament at Glendoveer Golf Course in 1981.

“I had very little experience, but I was hyper-competitive,” Henninger says. “I knew how to compete.”

Henninger had never planned to play golf in college. Ironically, he had applied to and been accepted at Southern Cal.

“I was just going to be a student,” he says.

After he won the state title, Trojan coaches invited him to campus for an official visit.

“That was an important trip,” Henninger says. “I got to go face to face with the coaches, and they got to know me.”

Henninger was invited to walk on. The USC golf team was loaded with talent.

“There were four players who were All-Americans and could hit the golf ball like I’d never seen before,” he says. “I remember thinking, ‘I am so far behind these kids. Are the coaches going to keep me around?’ ”

Henninger’s guardian angel was Randy Lein, then an assistant coach and later Henninger’s head coach with the Trojans.

“Randy saw something in me,” Henninger says. “He took me under his wing, mentored and coached me, and gave me an opportunity.”

Lein became a close friend. When he died in 2020 at age 69, Henninger spoke at his memorial service. Lein’s golf bag rests in a corner of the front office space at the Golf Farm.

Henninger became a two-time All-American with the Trojans.

“I was just a workhorse,” Henninger says. “I took advantage of the opportunity for quality instruction.”

When he completed his eligibility, “Randy was my resource,” Henninger says. “He said, ‘You should go try to play professionally in Europe.’ ”

Henninger had some success, finishing second in one pro event there, but failed to make the grade at the European Qualifying School. In 1990, he returned to the U.S. and spent six months working at La Quinta Country Club in Southern California.

“It was an important choice for me to work there,” Henninger says. “I could play golf and work on my game opposite my (work) shift. I was wired to get better.”

Later that year, Henninger joined the Ben Hogan (now Korn Ferry) Tour, a secondary circuit to the PGA Tour primarily for up-and-coming players. Henninger won three tournaments and finished second on the money list on the Ben Hogan Tour in 1992, earning his PGA Tour card for 1993.

Henninger won twice on the PGA Tour — ironically, at the same tournament, and both times in shortened events. He won the Deposit Guarantee Classic in 1994 (cut to 36 holes by inclement weather) and the renamed Southern Farm Bureau Classic in 1999 (trimmed to 54 holes due to the memorial after the death of Payne Stewart) in Jackson, Miss. Henninger earned $360,000 for the latter title.

In 1994, Henninger also gained a measure of notoriety for being one of the featured players in John Feinstein’s classic book, “A Good Walk Spoiled: Days and Nights on the PGA Tour.”

Henninger had another brush with fame that year. On the final hole of the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta, he blasted a 212-yard 4-iron to within eight feet, then sank the eight-foot putt for an eagle to momentarily tie for the lead. He finished tied for second, however, when John Daly made birdie on No. 18 to win.

Henninger’s victory at the Deposit Guarantee Classic reaped a $126,000 first prize, but more important, a two-year exemption for the World Series of Golf and the Tournament of Champions and a spot in the most storied of events in the sport — the Masters.

Henninger made his mark at his first Masters — and how. He was tied for the lead entering the final round of play. Brian finished tied for 10th, but it was still a Cinderella story that caught the attention of the national golf media.

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Today, Henninger’s memories of his fabled four days at Augusta are hazy.

“It was a long time ago now,” he tells me recently in a sit-down at the Golf Farm. “ I wasn’t a historian of the game. I loved sports. I watched golf on TV, but I wasn’t one of those things where I was thinking, ‘I’m walking down Magnolia Lane.’ I didn’t have a reverence for the event. I do now.”

Fortunately, there are many details provided in a book he wrote with Brent Summers in 2005 titled “The Mouse That Roared.”

As Henninger battled with the greats of the game, his size was referred to as 5-8 and 155 pounds.

“That was an exaggeration,” he says today. “I was 5-8 and weighed no more than 140, but I was quick and I was athletic. And I could move a ball pretty well.”

“Brian had incredible distance and speed with the driver,” says long-time PGA Tour pro Peter Jacobsen, the former Portlander who served as a close friend and mentor to Henninger during their decade together on the tour. “That comes only when you understand your golf swing and how you load it and unload it. You understand what you need to do to get your speed. It was something Brian had to do to be competitive on the PGA Tour.”

Corvallis pro Bob Gilder got to know Henninger’s game when both played the Champions Tour in the 2000s.

“Brian had one of the best swings I’ve seen,” says Gilder, who won 10 times on the Champions Tour and was No. 2 on the money list in 2002. “It was pure. I loved watching it. He was really good. He was fit, and he generated quite a bit of speed. He could hit the ball.”

“Bob, Peter and John Fought got most of the publicity of the Oregon guys who played professionally, but Brian was a great player, too,” says Jeff Sanders, a Sunset High grad who played five years on the PGA Tour. “He could really swing it. He was a little guy with a nice, compact golf swing that lasted a long time.”

(At 5-9 himself, Sanders knows something about little guys with nice swings.)

On Thursday at the 1995 Masters, Henninger bogeyed four of the first five holes but recovered nicely to finish at 2-under 70. On Friday, he shot 68 paired with Nick Faldo. On Saturday, he shot 68 paired with Davis Love III to move into a tie with Ben Crenshaw for the tournament lead at 10-under. Five players, including Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson, loomed a shot back.

Brian Henninger exults after making “an impossible” birdie putt on No. 16 during the third round of the 1995 Masters Tournament (courtesy Brian Henninger)

“I wasn’t playing any different golf than I felt I was capable of,” Henninger says today. “I found myself on top going into the last day, but at the time, I was pretty oblivious. The pressure and all the things that came with it, I didn’t think about it. I had nothing to lose. I had nothing to prove to anybody. I felt like I belonged. I felt like I was a pretty good player. I was confident in myself. I expected good things to happen.”

On Sunday, he shot 4-over 76 paired with Crenshaw, finishing in a tie with Couples for 10th place at 6-under 282. The payout was $57,200; the experience priceless. His top-10 finish provided an invitation to play the Masters again in 1996, but he shot 76-79 and missed the cut.

Surprisingly, 30 years later, Henninger seems to have not a lot of nostalgic feelings about his unforgettable week at Augusta.

Henninger sets for a shot during the par-three event at the 1995 Masters (courtesy Brian Henninger)_optimized.jpeg

“I’m not a rear-view type of guy,” he says. “I enjoyed that week — wish I’d have played better the final day — but I don’t reflect much on the past. Even at my age, I’m still trying to find that thing that pushes me and excites me about getting out of bed — going to work, discovering a new skill set, or whatever it might be.

“When I look back, I don’t know if I’d have done anything different, except that I didn’t have a team or support staff to help me when I had questions. But I wouldn’t trade my experience playing professional golf for anything.”

Henninger survived on the PGA Tour for a decade. He played in four U.S. Opens and six PGA Championships.

“Brian did it with a lot of savvy,” Jacobsen says. “He has always been an incredibly sharp person. Those little guys — like Chi Chi Rodriguez, Ben Hogan, Corey Pavin — are so smart, they figure out what works for them. Brian couldn’t play golf like Vijay Singh or Tom Weiskopf or Scottie Scheffler, but he figured out what worked for him. The small guys understand what they do best, which is usually get around the golf course with their short game.”

While he was on tour, Henninger made a lot of friendships, including with the other Oregon guys.

“Brian is a very kind person,” Gilder tells me from his home in Corvallis. “He gets along well with people. I certainly enjoy him.”

“I have always admired and had great affection for Brian,” says Jacobsen from his home in Naples, Fla. “I’ve known him and his wife since right after they got married. We played a lot of practice rounds together on the tour, went to Oregon football games together. I just find him a fun guy to be around.”

Sanders says he first met Henninger when he was still known as a tennis player. Brian’s sister Celeste worked for Jeff Sanders Promotions, first as a sales associate, then in the promotional products division. For several years, Sanders’ company ran the Winco Foods Portland Open on the Korn Ferry Tour. Henninger attended media day a couple of times.

“Brian would drive out to Pumpkin Ridge in his pickup truck,” Sanders says. “He was always all-in. It would be like, ‘Whatever you need. I’m here to help.’ He’s a super positive guy.”

After the 2002 season, Henninger lost his tour card at age 40. For most of the next decade, he played on the secondary tour; then for another five years on the Champions Tour, where he had back-to-back runner-up finishes one year. Henninger would amass more than $3.3 million in official earnings on all the tours and teamed with Scott McCarron to win the last Fred Meyer Challenge in Portland.

The Challenge was a special event run by Jacobsen from 1986-2002 that featured many of the game’s greats, including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Gary Player and Lee Trevino, and raised millions of dollars for charity.

“I played in the Challenge eight times,” Henninger says. “It was a privilege to be involved in such a great event with all those iconic figures. It was like, ‘Of course I’ll play. You don’t even have to pay me.’ ”

In 1999, the Brian Henninger Foundation was established. It lasted 15 years. For several of those years, Henninger emulated the Challenge with his own “Fireside Chat,” an annual signature fund-raising two- or three-day tournament at either Bandon Dunes or Sunriver.

“Playing in the Challenge and observing the money that Peter was putting back into his community, I wanted to do something to benefit children’s charities,” Henninger says. “I would get pros to participate, including my best friend on the tour — Brandel Chamblee — and Paul Goydos. Paul is Mr. Sunshine. Brandel can go off on any topic. He is so well-versed and researched. We gave out $1.5 million to charities over the years despite having no sponsorships.” (Chamblee was one of the TV commentators for last week’s U.S. Open).

No regrets on that, but perhaps some on the totality of his playing career.

“It was up and down,” Henninger says. “I was a journeyman, but I was a fighter. I never did it for the money. I did it for the opportunity.

“To be honest, I feel like I underachieved. I don’t know if it happened because I didn’t have enough support around me, but maybe. That’s why I built this place.”

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When Henninger hit 45, while living in Wilsonville with wife Cathy and their three children, he began coaching junior players in the area. It was a little after that time that he began working with Simanton, a state champion at Lake Oswego High who went on to a storied career at Cal Davis. Simanton was Big West Freshman of the Year and won first-team all-conference honors all four years, placing tied-for-15th at the NCAA Championships as a junior. She is also a two-time Oregon Amateur champion.

“When I started at UC Davis, I wanted him to check out my game and see what he thought,” Simanton says.  “At the time, he was coaching some of the best high school and college players in the state. We had a fun group of kids who liked to practice and play golf together. He would walk around with us and talk about golf and his career. I enjoyed his influence, his mentorship and just being around him.”

Henninger worked with Simanton through her college years, “and she wanted me to be a part of her life on a daily basis,” he says. “I thought that was pretty cool. If somebody thinks that much of me and wants me to support her, that felt good. It felt like I was still in the game. I started coaching more kids, and they were having more success, and I had an appetite for it.”

Simanton spent three years on the Epson Tour — the secondary tour to the LPGA — while Henninger was playing the Champions Tour. Then they combined to make a dream a reality.

“We had this idea to get an indoor space together,” says Simanton, who doubles as assistant coach for the Lake Oswego High boys team. “We found the right place in Tualatin and built it out.”

“I wanted Amy to be a part of this,” Henninger says. “She is super bright and does the accounting, scheduling, a lot of things.”

The Golf Farm offers one-hour lessons to its customers. It also has a number of bi-weekly and weekly members, who have access to two-hour sessions that include instruction, video analysis, simulation and discourse with Henninger and/or Simanton.

“We have built a close relationship with many of them,” Simanton says. “We have a great community of people who visit us. They hang out and get to know each other. We talk about all aspects of the game. It’s not strictly a golf lesson but more about conversations and discussions. Over time, you can see a lot of benefit vs. coming in for one golf lesson.”

“Simulation golf has come a long way,” Henninger says. “We can create the infrastructure out there and the strategies that get them away from the ambivalence of the structure of a golf swing. We can work on everything. I do miss turf, especially for the short game. It’s hard to recreate that. But other than that, it has been effective. Our people seem to like it.”

Dussin has been a member for two years.

“Brian watches you hit shots and offers suggestions that he thinks will help you be more confident in hitting the ball,” says Dussin, a member at Waverley Country Club. “I had a bit of a swayback on the backswing. He and Amy taught me to stay over the ball and turn back. It made it easier to drop the club into the right position and square up the face. Brian is really good at watching your swing and showing you pros’ videos and how they swing from the back and the side. You get to see what you’re not doing properly and are given one or two things to try to correct it.

“I have gotten to know him and feel like I’m a friend with him. I enjoy going to see him and talk to him. He has a lot of great stories about his time on tour. He and Amy make a great team together. I don’t know of anybody who doesn’t admire Brian and like him as a person.”

Many of the junior players visit also and train with Henninger and Simanton. Among them is Jennings Oelke, who just finished his junior year at Tigard. Oelke has qualified for the state tournament all three years and took third place as a sophomore in 2023.

“It’s been fantastic,” his father says. “Brian has been instrumental in Jennings’ development and continued improvement in the game of golf. One of the things I appreciated about Brian when we first got connected was that he approached working with Jennings in a manner of not trying to put a particular swing into his hands. It has been, ‘Let me see what you have, and I’ll take that and guide you in a manner that will help you improve your swing.’

“Beyond that, Brian provides a really fun environment for the kids. People don’t realize he is teaching them because he talks to them in layman’s terms. He is a really good teacher but an even better human being.”

Another youngster who has benefitted from Henninger’s tutelage is Drew Woolworth, a sophomore at Lake Oswego who shot 7-under 137 at Quail Valley to claim the state 6A championship by eight strokes last month. Woolworth has worked with Henninger for the past five years.

“I love working with Brian,” the 5-9, 160-pound Woolworth says. “The first couple of years, (the emphasis) was to get me in tune and work on my golf game. As I have progressed and gotten better, it has mattered more about my mental state and how I approach the game instead of how my swing is feeling.”

Woolworth works out twice a week with a personal trainer.

“Every other time, Brian and I get together and we will talk about stuff and I’ll hit balls and practice,” Woolworth says. “Having been on the PGA Tour, he has a bunch of knowledge. He is down to earth, an easy-going guy, and he is very positive, which is a good thing. He sees the game and life as positive and doesn’t look at negatives, which is what I look for in a coach. I don’t like someone telling me what I did wrong. I would rather have somebody tell me what I did right and show me how I can improve.”

The teaching, the coaching, the mentoring comes easily for Henninger. Well, maybe not easily.

“I love it, but I am hard on myself,” he says. “I want everyone to do well, and that’s impossible in this game. It’s not easy. Some people think there is a rabbit foot to this thing. There isn’t.”

Not all of Henninger’s pupils are going to make single digits for a handicap. Most of them, however, get better, at least to some degree.

“It can be about changing patterns,” Henninger says. “The player has this innate way to do it, and if the swing is manipulated in any way, the brain is going to have to accommodate for it. You are probably closer than you think you are, but to fight through it is tough sometimes.

“I love people who recognize what we want to accomplish here. If I give people enough new tools, maybe I have impacted them enough to see some improvement.”

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An hour discussion with Henninger brings out a wave of reflections and opinions based on a career in the game of golf. Like many, he has a particular fascination with current No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.

“What he has accomplished is unimaginable,” Henninger says. “It’s like nothing we have ever seen. He has so many unpredictable outlier-ish movement patterns that we’re not familiar with. He has a bit of a different swing, but he’s so good. His coach, Randy Smith, has done a wonderful job of not trying to change his individuality to look better.”

While on the PGA Tour, Henninger was paired with Tiger Woods a few times.

“Tiger was crazy different the way he could hit a ball, make putts under pressure that none of us had seen, accomplish so much,” Henninger says. “With Scottie, there’s something appealing about him. Part of it is his humble character. He seems to be doing it because he loves to get out there and challenge himself. It’s like he is in his own little world.

“What is going to be challenging for him is with how he deals with all the information out there. I don’t think he is a social media guy, but if he sees guys attacking him — which will happen — he could get burned out on being that guy. From what I know, and even in my little burst of stardom, it’s hard to take responsibility for that. Most of us like to fall beneath the radar. Win tournaments, win a lot of money and have people not recognize us when we go out to dinner.

“Scottie might be that guy like Tiger who quietly embraces being that person. So far, he has taken responsibility for it. It’s crazy what he’s done with golf, and the shots he pulls off — I have never seen somebody who can hit it pin high so often. He might wind up being the best ever.”

If Scheffler’s swing is somewhat unorthodox, that of the LPGA’s No. 1, Nelly Korda, is not.

“Nelly is the opposite,” Henninger. “She is the one who is on Instagram with the perfect golf swing. Everybody wants to model that swing.”

The game today is different than it was during Henninger’s heyday in the ‘90s.

“The athletes have changed, the equipment has changed, but it’s the golf ball that has made the biggest difference,” he says. “It started toward the end of my career. Instead of a 5-8 guy like me or Tom Kite or Larry Mize with smooth swings focusing on keeping the ball in play, guys were starting to pound it. It impacted me a bit. I started to see myself as not being as long, and that hurt my ego.

“The drivers are bigger, but the biggest thing was when the four-piece ball came, like the Pro V1, for guys who could create some real speed. Let’s say you generate 110 mph with your driver speed. Everything over 110 gets 3 1/2 yards more per mph. A guy like me was swinging at 107 or 108, but now you’ve got guys at like 115, and they have a good 20-plus yards on you in the air. If it’s 120, they have 40 yards on you. Then it became exponential with the new ball. Speed became a major resource for playing good golf. It’s shocking when you see a guy hitting an 8-iron 185 yards.”

Henninger comes down strictly on the side of the PGA Tour in its uncomfortable relationship with LIV Golf.

“What is going on there is sickening,” he says. “I have struggled with it. There is so much hypocrisy with the guys who won’t admit that it is all about money. They are trying to articulate that they are going to help better the game. How is all this money bettering the game? It’s mind-boggling. It has fractured the game. I love the history of the game now. It is meaningful. LIV Golf is not meaningful.”

Henninger expects to continue running the Golf Farm for at least a few more years. Brian and Cathy have a vacation home in Sisters and, at some point, may choose to live there full-time. “I’m a country boy at heart,” he says. “I love nature.”

Golf remains close to his heart, too, and he is a member of Oregon Golf Club, though he doesn’t play often. He and Amy took a client to Palm Desert a few weeks ago. Brian hadn’t played in four months yet shot rounds of 69 and 68.

“It’s still there,” he says. “I know how to chip and putt. I know how to play the game. I know what I am capable of. It’s like, ‘I can still do this.’ I am like that kid who can’t wait to hit the next shot.”

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