CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | Scott Davenport, a Southern gentleman to his pink shirt and khaki pants core, would not have wanted the fuss but this time the quiet man could do nothing about it.
As a rare Southern snowstorm was blanketing Quail Hollow Club more than a week ago, approximately 150 employees and members gathered around the circle in front of the white clubhouse as “The Parting Glass,” a traditional Scottish goodbye song, played from speakers near the front door and club president Johnny Harris lowered the American flag to half-mast.
It had been less than 24 hours since the 69-year-old Davenport had passed away after a brief illness and both the grief and the enormity of the moment were still settling in as the snow fell.
In Quail Hollow’s 66-year history, there have been only two head professionals – Jim Hood and, for the past 27 years, Davenport. At a club of fewer than 350 members where influence and ego can run deep, Davenport’s quiet and gentle grace worked beautifully, building a culture and a connection that helped define both the club and him.
Scott Davenport
COURTESY Quail hollow
Though Davenport would have politely smiled and shaken his head at the notion, perhaps standing in a corner away from the noise, he has a place among the most impactful club pros of his generation.
“Some bosses talk and you listen to some of it. With Scott, every word had enormity. If he spoke, he meant it. It was from the heart,” said Eric Williamson, who worked under Davenport at Quail Hollow before moving to become director of golf at Shoal Creek in Alabama and now at Charlotte Country Club.
When Williamson was a finalist to become the director of golf at Shoal Creek a few years ago, he and his wife were heading there for a third interview. The morning they were leaving, Davenport called with a simple message: “I’ll see you there.”
Davenport chose to make the six-hour drive from Charlotte to Birmingham to be with Williamson through the final part of the interview process, his way of helping without being asked.
“I was in my car two or three days ago and I thought I’ve got to call him and I caught myself,” Williamson said. “I’d always call him because he would have the right answer. If he didn’t, an hour later he’d call and say this is what you need to do.
“It will be hard not being able to make that call.”
Davenport could often be found near the first tee, sometimes holding a wedge, greeting everyone who was playing that day. If he missed someone, he would ride out on the course to say hello or find them after their rounds.
Davenport came to Quail Hollow from Georgia’s Sea Island, where he learned the game and the art of being a professional from giants, including Davis Love Jr. and Jack Lumpkin. Davenport had been scheduled to be on the plane that crashed in 1988, killing Love and three others, but he stayed behind to let someone else go.
He came to Quail Hollow before it fully developed its place in the game and helped guide its evolution as a PGA Tour and major championship host. People who worked under Davenport went on to bigger jobs, carrying the lessons he taught them and continued to reinforce through the years.
“In his time at Quail Hollow, just about everything changed. He was the one staple that was always there,” said Charles Frost, a former assistant pro under Davenport and now director of golf at Old Town Club in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“He loved every aspect of the business. We were on a group text and up until the last couple of months, he was still texting pictures of setting up the range and how perfect it looked. I remember one picture he sent and he said, ‘Man, perfect range setup on Thursday.’”
After nearly three decades at Quail Hollow, Davenport was still among the first to show up in the morning and he would join his staff getting the carts in order, wetting towels that were draped just so and making sure scorecard pencils were placed on the right side of their holder for right-handed players.
(From left) Scott Davenport with Quail Hollow colleagues Keith Wood and Tom DeLozier.
COURTESY QUAIL HOLLOW
He preferred to stay in the background but his influence and impact was enormous. Davenport’s most public moments may have been when he served as the ninth (and later 18th) green announcer at the Masters for many years.
Davenport brilliantly walked the line between tradition and change, a trait that served him well.
“He loved the traditions but despised the complacency of the operations,” Frost said.
“I marvel at his ability to keep pushing forward to new thoughts and ideas. One of the things he hated to hear is, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’”
Davenport had a recent meeting scheduled with Harris and general manager Tom DeLozier to show them swatches for neckties the club was having made. When DeLozier called to confirm the time that morning, Davenport apologized that he might not make the meeting. He was in the hospital again, having twice driven himself to the emergency room in recent weeks.
DeLozier, who worked 18 years with Davenport, recounted the story of a prominent businessman at Quail Hollow who grew so frustrated by the game that he quit. Eventually, Davenport convinced him to try again and the man now plays six, sometimes seven days a week in retirement while crediting Davenport for changing his life.
“He was such a quiet man,” Harris said. “He always was trying to help and do a better job. When we started having professional golfers here, Arnold Palmer said, ‘You do not realize how lucky you are to have Scott Davenport.’”
Davenport leaves behind a wife, two daughters, three grandchildren and three dogs, and he often counseled his protégés to make sure to spend time with their families. Don’t miss the dances or the birthdays, he told them. Every phone call, his protégés said, included questions about their families.
At Quail Hollow, Davenport was part of the club’s soul and inspiration.
“It was always about you, never about him,” DeLozier said.
When Harris showed up at Quail Hollow on that sad, snowy Saturday, the flag ceremony had been intended for only a few people but word got out and soon dozens more were there.
David Dooley, a club member, showed up with 27 red roses representing Davenport’s time at Quail Hollow. After the flag had been lowered, club and staff members grabbed individual roses. With Carrie Underwood’s version of “Amazing Grace” playing, they walked toward the first tee.
One by one, starting with lead assistant pro Preston Cole, they dropped the roses on the ground. Dooley had the 26th rose and Harris, who had made the decision to hire Davenport all those years ago, laid the last rose on the snow-covered ground.
Amazing grace, indeed.
Top: Quail Hollow president Johnny Harris after lowering the flag to half mast in honor of Scott Davenport
