![\"walkingCourse2\"](\"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/walkingCourse2.jpg\")
<\/a>States Golf Association (USGA), only one thing has changed.<\/p>\n\u201cI play less golf now than I\u2019ve ever played in my entire life,\u201d laughed Davis (`87), who became USGA executive director on March 2, 2011, after serving as senior director of Rules and Competitions.<\/p>\n
Davis last played golf competitively when he was a Georgia Southern Eagle, and in 1990 he joined the USGA on the administration side of the sport as assistant manager of Championship Relations. Setting up the course for the U.S. Open, a job he started in 1997 when he became U.S. Open Championship Director, remains one of his great passions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love it,\u201d said Davis. \u201cI would probably pay the USGA to allow me to keep doing it if I had to. I\u2019m not only personally interested in it, but we\u2019ve made some really good strides in terms of how the course is set up, how it\u2019s presented and how much excitement it provides. Hopefully I\u2019m not too busy and I can continue to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The role of USGA executive director isn\u2019t one to be taken lightly. The position was established 117 years ago, and Davis is only the seventh person to hold the title.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not sure how to read that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of daunting if you think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis succeeded David Fay who held the position for 21 years, and follows legends like Joseph Dey, the executive director from 1934-68.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen (Dey) retired, he was so respected worldwide that he actually became the very first commissioner of the PGA Tour,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBack in those days the Tour was just a separate arm of the PGA of America before it broke away. There\u2019s been a lot of great people before me. I\u2019m humbled by the assignment, and I shudder to think that I\u2019m even in the same category as the six guys before me, and I\u2019m working hard not to disappoint.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working hard might be an understatement. Davis is the senior-most staff member of the USGA and is responsible for managing all aspects of the Association\u2019s day-to-day operations. He oversees all of its core functions \u2013 which govern the rules, handicapping and equipment standards for the game \u2013 essential programs, and human and financial resources of the Association.<\/p>\n
In total, the USGA conducts 15 championships including the U.S. Open, the U.S. Women\u2019s Open and the U.S. Senior Open, along with numerous amateur championships and international matches.<\/p>\n
On top of it all, Davis still finds the time to officiate at The Masters, The British Open and The President\u2019s Cup.<\/p>\n
With so much to juggle, it\u2019s nice to know that golf is one sport that sees the players actually step in and officiate themselves \u2013 just another aspect of the game Davis loves.
\n
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a self-regulating sport,\u201d he said. \u201cCan you imagine some guy in the NFL saying after a play, \u2018Wait, everybody hang on. I just held that guy, so give me a 10-yard penalty.\u2019 It happens all the time in golf, and the rare time somebody doesn\u2019t do that, they\u2019re almost looked at as someone who doesn\u2019t belong in the game. You don\u2019t meet bad people. Everybody\u2019s nice in the game. There\u2019s a great deal of honesty and integrity, even on the elite level.\u201d<\/p>\n
The love of the game started early for Davis, who grew up in Chambersburg, Pa., and picked up golf at 8 years old. His parents had a golf-club membership, and his father taught him the game \u2013 although it wasn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started, they didn\u2019t have junior clubs, so your parents took some old clubs, cut the shaft off and put a grip on it,\u201d Davis said. \u201cYou\u2019d take your sawed-off clubs, and that\u2019s how you learned to play back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
Davis went on to win the Pennsylvania State Junior Championship in 1982. That put him on the radar of the USGA.<\/p>\n
At the time, Davis was familiar with a star Georgia Southern Eagle, Jodie Mudd, who turned pro in 1982 after a stellar year as an amateur. That put Georgia Southern on Davis\u2019 radar.<\/p>\n
\u201cJodie Mudd was one of the best amateurs in the country,\u201d said Davis. \u201cHe played on the Walker Cup team in 1981 and I\u2019d seen him play a bunch of times. When he was at Georgia Southern, it was one of the top five programs in the country. I knew I wanted to come down South so I could play golf year-round, and I\u2019m just delighted I picked Georgia Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Matt Yogus<\/em><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Davis’ Career Leads to Historic Golf Post<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37],"class_list":["post-1218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-spring-2012"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}