Meet John Davis, GWAA, AZGA
John told the Arizona Golf Authority “Ever since high school, when I first reported for my hometown newspaper, I knew I wanted to be a sports journalist because it would keep me “close to the action.” So it comes as no surprise, after completing military service as a medical specialist, he spent most of his waking hours in sports venues, and slept in several as well.
“JD,” as friends and colleagues know him, has covered every major sport in his home state of Michigan and Arizona, and still resides in both. When not enjoying the winter respite of Arizona golf in Valley of the Sun, he is on the shores of Lake Michigan in a popular golf area known as Michigan’s “Gold Coast.”
It was there, at the Traverse City Record-Eagle, that he began his daily newspaper career and, among other things, covered the high school basketball games of Dan Majerle, who later reached stardom with the Phoenix Suns at a time when John happened to be covering that NBA team. They also are fellow Chippewas, having graduated from Central Michigan University. But, as JD likes to say, “I’m the Chippewa. He’s the Chippendale.”
John’s sports beats also have included the NFL, NHL, major league baseball and college football and basketball, but he is best known for his golf writing. He covered his first major championship in 1979 at Oakland Hills near Detroit and since has penned stories from many more majors and Ryder Cups around the world.
For 10 years he was the golf writer at the Arizona Republic after covering golf and other sports for the former Phoenix Gazette. He has won numerous writing awards and continues to write for the Republic and other newspapers and magazines around the country on a freelance basis.
And when he turns off the computer, you can find him teeing it up, watching mob movies and Seinfeld reruns, enjoying Italian cuisine or just chilling out with a “Stella” and Stevie Ray Vaughn. In any case, JD will tell you most anytime you ask, “It’s all good.”
The AZGA agrees, and is proud to have JD plying his Arizona golf writing craft at the Arizona Golf Authority!
