Major Scottish Golf shake-up leads to top post being advertised

Henderson, who is in his second spell with the governing body, will leave his current role at the conclusion of the World Amateur Team Championship later in the year.

In his final assignment, Henderson will accompany Walker Cup trio Cameron Adam (Royal Burgess), Niall Shiels Donegan (Mill Valley) and Connor Graham (Blairgowrie) to Singapore for the Eisenhower Trophy event at Tanah Merah Country Club.

The decision to look for a new national men’s coach has been announced in a post on the Scottish Golf website. It stated: “Spencer Henderson will leave his role as Scotland's national men’s coach at the conclusion of this year’s World Amateur Team Championships in Singapore in October.

“Spencer has been engaged with Scottish Golf since 2015 and working as national men’s coach since 2021 most notably at the World Team Championships in 2022 and 2023, the European Team Championships and Home Internationals. He has also supported players at key individual events such as the Nations Cup and European Men's Amateur.

Role of national men’s coach deemed ‘hugely important’

“We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Spencer for his professionalism and commitment to this role and wish him well for the future. The role of national men’s coach remains a hugely important one within our performance structure and we will soon invite applications for the vacant post.”

That process has now started, with Rosyth-based Scottish Golf saying it is seeking a “driven and enthusiastic” national coach and describing the role as an “exciting opportunity”.

Falkirk-born Henderson served his PGA training at Duff House Royal before joining what was then the Scottish Golf Union when the governing body was based at the ill-fated National Golf Centre at Drumoig.

Originally an assistant to Ian Rae, he became the junior coach in 2004 and worked with the likes of Michael Stewart, Jordan Findlay, David Law and Ross Kellett.

Spencer Henderson held roles in both Turkey and Azerbaijan

He left the SGU in 2010 to become the Turkish Golf Federation’s first national coach, serving in that post for four years before moving to Azerbaijan take up a similar ground-breaking job there.

On his return home, he became national boys’ coach again before stepping up to take over as the men’s coach four years ago.

Since 2018, Henderson has filled his Scottish Golf post alongside being part of the coaching team at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, working with players who are part of the Paul Lawrie Academy.