SCOTT HENDERSON WORKING ON SWING FOR NEW SEASON

By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Aberdeen's Tartan Tour regular Scott Henderson has one thing in common with Tiger Woods at the moment - they are both working on swing changes.

But Scott does not need a coach to tell him what he should or should not do. He has been long enough in the game - turning pro in 1992 - to work it out for himself.

"I am trying to iron out a flaw that has crept into my swing over the last season or two. I been taking the club up too steeply in the backswing and I've been working through the winter on sorting it out," said the 41-year-old whose 38 wins on the PGA Scottish Region circuit include the 1996 Northern Open in a gale at Cruden Bay.

Henderson, who has played out of Kings Links Golf Centre in his 19 years as a pro, had a brief spell on the European Tour. He came through the Qualifying School in 1996 and was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 1997, the year after Thomas Bjorn and two years before Sergio Carcia. Sadly, he lost his playing rights on the European Tour at the end of the 1999 season and has never managed to win them back.

Henderson has won £232,057 in Tartan Tour events over the years and last season was his best since 2005.

"I think we've all been given a lift by Paul Lawrie and Martin Laird's double success at the weekend. Tremendous achievement."

One of Henderson's opening events on the Tartan Tour will be the Castle Stuart Invitational on April 10-11 when

his swing alterations will be given their first real test although he did play with Mark King as his partner in the low key Glenmuir Winter Series four-ball, better-ball event at West Kilbride yesterday (Tuesday).

"Castle Stuart is a great new links although you could land a plane on the fairways they are so wide. I presume this to enable visiting amateur golfers to get round in a reasonable time without losing too many balls," said Scott.

"I am certain that before the Barclays Scottish Open is played at Castle Stuart in July, the rough will have been allowed to grow on both sides of the fairways.

"I do hope that they get as good crowds as they got when the tournament was played at Loch Lomond. The European Tour has never had a venue as far north in Scotland as between Nairn and Inverness."