Offseason Provides Henley Down Time and Drive to Build on Successful Golf Season

By Ken Klavon, Synovus

Coming off an exceptional year on the PGA TOUR, Russell Henley headed into the 2024 offseason with contrasting emotions.

On one hand, after placing fourth in this year’s FedEx Cup standings the Synovus brand ambassador felt energized by positive progress. On the other, the mental and physical demands from playing in 19 events left him expectedly exhausted.

“The mental break I get for about a month where I really don't pick up a club is just so refreshing,” said Henley in a recent interview.

Although he didn’t record a win this season, the former University of Georgia star grinded his way to seven top-10 finishes and placed 11 times in the top 25. When asked about golf goals, Henley, 35, uses the word “consistency” the way someone with an inspirational mantra would. Being consistent drives his mental fortitude, as well as the aspirations to improve upon four career victories.

His consistent play this season – his 12th on the PGA TOUR – catapulted him to 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking, up nine spots from the end of 2023. It’s quite the feat, considering how difficult it is to ascend the ranking with all the razor-thin talent in professional golf.

“I think at this point in my career, [in] the last five, six years, I've really tried to take a step forward and consistently work on every part of my game,” said Henley. “And not having any sort of gaps and trying to be really consistent with my work ethic, no matter how I'm playing.”

That arduous work translated into making 18 of 19 tournament cuts this season. Moreover, it helped galvanize his place in the top 10 in several key statistical categories: driving accuracy, sand saves, putts per round and overall putting average. He ranked first in three-putt avoidance.

It’s not by coincidence.

Much of his hard work comes from preparing in the offseason. The same offseason that is void of TV cameras and everyday TOUR distractions. So the question begs: what does a professional golfer do outside of the regular season? Every golfer, of course, has their own regimen. Yet it can undoubtedly set the stage for a successful season.

Analytics help them gauge areas that may need work. It could be a swing tweak, shoring up parts of their game or working on perceived weaknesses. Henley, who turned professional in 2011 and joined the PGA TOUR in 2013, admitted that having a strong season affords a golfer more options.

“The way the new season is, if you have a decent year, you don't have to play from September through January unless you make a team like I did this year [Presidents Cup],” he said. “So I really love to put the clubs completely up, but I love to continue working out in the gym.”

After the PGA TOUR playoffs ended in August, Henley decompressed by getting away from golf except for one special anomaly: he participated in the U.S. Team winning the Presidents Cup in Quebec, Canada at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in late September.

Since the PGA TOUR playoffs, his attention has been on his wife and fellow Synovus brand ambassador, Teil Duncan Henley (a professional artist), and his three children. He loves being a husband and father, he said.

Whether it’s supporting Teil’s career or taking the children to school and their extracurricular activities, making himself available – and present – has been priceless.

“Just seeing Russell in this phase of having little ones, he's so unbelievably hands-on, and he genuinely wants to be around us,” said Teil Duncan Henley. “There are times I think, ‘Surely he wants a little bit of a break, it's getting too rowdy, or he might need to rest.’ But it provides a way for him to escape from the pressures of golf, and we can sure provide some distraction. But he genuinely loves pouring into our family and he makes sure that he's there for us, always checking in with me, always supportive of what I do.”

Once November hits, Henley will start preparing for the coming season. He’ll strategize what events to play, the travel aspects and will hit the gym consistently (there’s that word again). Any cobwebs on the clubs get dusted away. It’s akin to emerging from a hibernation of sorts. As December approaches, Henley gradually re-introduces a rigorous practice schedule. Hit balls. Shape shots. Polish his short game. Remain limber with the help of diet and stretching.

“I have a couple things I want to do in the gym to make me a little bit stronger, a little bit faster,” he said. “But I'll start dabbling a little in the middle of November, and then starting in December it'll be pretty much full-on practice. I’ll work on everything.”

It’s not just the physical side. Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus once said, “Golf is 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical.” Being a tactician on the golf course goes hand in hand with the psychological elements. Since his junior amateur days, Henley has worked equally as hard on mental facets.

To prepare psychologically, Henley has a repertoire that he credits for compartmentalizing what he needs to do and how it keeps him in the proper frame of mind.

“Learning how I deal with the mental side has been the biggest key for me,” said Henley, winner of the 2010 Fred Haskins Award as the country’s outstanding collegiate golfer. “I definitely think that my game has improved dramatically consistency wise because I've gotten better mentally as well as in the physical practice. But I've also learned what works for me mentally.”

Heading into 2025, the goal is to continue the trajectory toward another exceptional year. Victories, not to mention major wins, continue to be the carrot at the end of the proverbial stick. Henley intimidated that to get there, playing consistently again paves the way to success.

“Over the last five years I've gotten better and better at that. Really six years,” he said. “And so I would assess my year as being a fantastic year consistency wise. I would have liked to have won a golf tournament, but in terms of playing well in big events – which is what I want to do – I love to play against the best players in the biggest tournaments on the biggest possible stage and see what I'm made of.

“That's where I've made my focus and I feel like I've done a pretty good job of it. But if you said, ‘Hey, you can either win a golf tournament but miss every other cut,’ I would 100% take the year I had this year over that. I'm very thankful for it.”

With any luck, the hope at the end of next season is that he can, again, come away with similarly juxtaposed feelings.