Scott Davenport, beloved golf pro at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club, dies at 69
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- Scott Davenport, the beloved golf pro at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club, died Jan. 30.
- Davenport was 69 years old and had worked at Quail Hollow since 1999.
- He is being remembered for his mentorship and his love of both his job and his family.
Scott Davenport, the head golf pro at Quail Hollow Club for the past 27 years, died Jan. 30 after a sudden illness, leaving one of Charlotte’s most prestigious sporting destinations in mourning and his family devastated.
Davenport, 69, had been the head golf pro since 1999 at Quail Hollow, Charlotte’s most well-known golf club and the host of numerous major events like the PGA Championship, the Presidents Cup and the yearly PGA Tour event called the Truist Championship.
CBS Sports announcer Jim Nantz, who is also a Quail Hollow member, once labeled Davenport “the perfect golf professional.”
Others who knew him well described Davenport as a Southern gentleman and a pro’s pro, someone who was comfortable helping others improve their golf game but uncomfortable when the spotlight turned his way.
Said Tom DeLozier, the general manager at Quail Hollow and a close friend of Davenport’s: “Scott was from that generation that was just always there. He never spoke too much. He wasn’t necessarily the guy out front. Not very talkative. Incredibly humble. But he was so thoughtful and kind, and he was an extraordinary steward for the game of golf.”
Lauren Davenport, the daughter of Scott Davenport, said her father’s death had not been expected. She said she would rather not disclose his exact cause of death,, but added that he had seemed completely healthy before beginning to feel unwell in September.
“It’s so shocking, because he took such great care of himself,” Davenport said. “We thought he would outlive us all.”
Scott Davenport still worked off and on for the next several months at Quail Hollow, but his original illness cascaded into an insurmountable series of health problems. He died peacefully in Charlotte, surrounded by his family.
Davenport is survived by his wife of 42 years, Sheri; his daughters Lauren and Meggie; his brother Thomas Davenport; his three grandchildren; and his three mixed-breed dogs, who were constant companions and went on walks with him each morning before he headed to the club.
In the past few days, Davenport’s family and the members at Quail Hollow Club have been recalling a man who loved the Alabama Crimson Tide (Davenport spent a large part of his early life in Tuscaloosa) and the joy of a good routine.
Davenport went to bed at 8 p.m., woke up at 4 a.m. and ate the same breakfast almost every day, his daughter said. It consisted of half a grapefruit, homemade granola he had mixed himself and a hard-boiled egg. Maybe two.
At the club, Davenport liked to station himself near the first tee, talking to members, arranging their golf games and remembering who golfers liked (and didn’t like) to play with. Quail Hollow is legendarily exclusive, with about 350 members and no official tee times. So the head golf pro there needs to not only know the game and its rules, but also must have the unerring instincts of an excellent cruise director combined with an air traffic controller.
“He was the mastermind of making sure everyone had fun,” DeLozier said. “Scott was really good at just making people feel good.”
Davenport’s love of his job and his family was profound. He mentored numerous assistant golf pros and junior players. As Davenport himself said in 2017, in a promotional video made before Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship for the first time: “‘I’m incredibly lucky that my vocation and my avocation happened to be one and the same.”
Davenport’s daughters spent their early years on St. Simons Island, Georgia, before the family moved to Charlotte for the job at Quail Hollow.
“We would go to the beach at sunset almost every night,” Lauren Davenport said. “And he would bring a golf club with him, always practicing. In later years, nothing made him light up more than his grandchildren. The moment he arrived, he would be on the floor, playing. He was already talking about the day he would teach them how to hold a club.”
Johnny Harris, the well-known Charlotte developer who is president of Quail Hollow, said in the 2017 video about Davenport: “We’ve only had two professionals here at Quail Hollow in our existence (the golf course opened in 1961). Everything he ever does, he does sort of by the rules of being a gentleman and being someone who understands the rules of golf, and never wants to see us break with the kind of traditions that make a great golf club. Everybody trusts him. And everybody likes him. And it sure is a lot easier when you trust and like your pro.”
I met Davenport a few times while covering events at Quail Hollow. He was content to stay mostly in the background at major news conferences, with Harris taking the lead with his big personality. Davenport always looked at least 10 years younger than he really was and would be dressed tidily, in a golf shirt and pressed khakis.
“I don’t think he even owned a pair of sweatpants,” his daughter said with a laugh.
In that 2017 video made prior to the first time Quail Hollow hosted the PGA Championship, Scott Davenport also spoke about his career as a golf pro and what it had meant to him.
“I would not ever consider doing anything else,” Davenport said. “I’m incredibly fortunate. Nobody deserves it this good.”
Davenport’s memorial service and burial will be private. Contributions in his memory can be made to the Humane Society of Charlotte or the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
This story was originally published February 6, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Scott Davenport, beloved golf pro at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club, dies at 69."
