Father & Son Trophy a Tribute to Bill and Mike Davis' Legacy

By Pete Kowalski 

The winning team at the 16th Pennsylvania Golf Association’s Father-Son Championship Division at Chester Valley Golf Club in Malvern will receive The Davis Cup, named for a father and son duo who have had a special impact on the game in the Commonwealth. 

Mike Davis, a native of Chambersburg and the winner of the Pennsylvania State Junior championship in 1982,  served as the Executive Director and then CEO of the United States Golf Association from 2011-2021. 

From his prominent position of leadership and throughout his 31-year career at the nation’s governing body, Davis intensified his relationship with the game that began when his father, Bill, introduced him to golf at age eight.

 The son introduced the father to the world of golf rules and administration, and Dad served on the board of directors of the Pennsylvania Golf Association for many years. Those years of service led to an appointment on the USGA’s Senior Amateur Championship Committee.

 As a tribute to their combined commitment to golf, the Pennsylvania Golf Association named the championship trophy in their honor. At the inaugural Father-Son Championship in 2010, The Davis Cup was presented to David and Deryl Denlinger by the Davis’. 

“With Bill’s staunch support of golf in Pennsylvania and Mike’s position at the USGA, it was a natural,” said Jim Parsons, a long-time Executive Committee member and a good friend of the elder Davis. “They are the most prominent Father-Son in golf from Pennsylvania.”

 The family name on the trophy takes on deeper meaning if you ask Mike Davis.

 “I think it means more than the Pennsylvania Golf Association will ever know,” Mike Davis said of the naming of the winner’s trophy. “We didn’t know there was going to be a Father-Son but today we remain as humbled as we were when they called us. It’s interesting, both my father and I have a keen past connection to the association. In my career at the USGA, I had a lot of dealings with the Pennsylvania Golf Association. The state is near and dear. On my father’s side, he got interested in golf administration when I was at the USGA and he started studying the Rules of golf.”

 The Davises have mostly played recreational golf together on trips around the U.S. and the United Kingdom but not in state or regional competitions. 

Bill Davis, who lives in an assisted care facility, is near 92. He has not played golf since his mid-80s, according to Mike. But when they talked recently about The Davis Cup, a bright smile crossed Bill’s face.

 “He is still proud of that, and he still cherishes those years working closely with the Pennsylvania Golf Association,” Mike said.

 Mike Davis, who is now partnering with Tom Fazio II in a golf course design business, lives in south Florida. He and Fazio designed the recently opened South Course at the Apogee Club in Hobe Sound, Fla.

 He still cherishes his Pennsylvania golf roots and says his Junior Championship trophy “still sits, proudly displayed, in my office.” Davis remembers beating Arnold Cutrell by one stroke at Hershey Country Club. Cutrell remains a force in Mid-Amateur and Senior Amateur competitions across Pennsylvania.

 “Given the values that our game exemplifies, golf at its purest, is a game best passed down from one generation to the next,” said Pennsylvania Golf Association Executive Director Jason Barkley, who won the Parent-Child Net division with his daughter, Emilee, in 2019, 2020 and 2021. “Many players in the field compete regularly in championship tournaments. Most will tell you that their favorite event of the year is when they get to compete with their parent or their child. Providing a high-level, state championship event, where family members can compete as teammates, fits perfectly with the mission of the Pennsylvania Golf Association.”

 The Father-Son Championship and the 7th Parent-Child Championship, begun in 2019, are scheduled for July 14-15. A maximum of 60 teams will compete, and entries close June 30. For information on this year's championship click Here.