Martin Davis began his career in the golf world when he created Sports Marketing Group (SMG) in 1980. SMG grew to become the largest publisher of specialty golf publications in the country, ultimately publishing 23 separate titles, including The Official U. S. Open Magazine for the USGA, The Met Golfer, The Westchester Classic Spectator Guide (650,000 circulation in The Sunday New York Times), The Memorial Tournament Magazine, the Television Viewers Guide to the Grand Slam, The Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Magazine, The USGA Guide to the National Championships and The Masters TV Viewers Guide.
Davis sold SMG to Times Mirror in 1989.
Through The American Golfer, which he founded in 1990, Mr. Davis has written, edited or published 39 books on the game. His first book, The Hogan Mystique, became a national best-seller in 1995. In the ensuing years, The American Golfer has become known for publishing golf books of the very highest quality, most specifically lavishly produced large-format (11" X 14") coffee-table biographies on Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus as well as somewhat smaller (9" X 12") coffee table books on Quaker Ridge GC, Monterrey Peninsula CC, Palm Beach CC and Shinnecock Hills GC.
In addition, The American Golfer published The Masters Annual for the Augusta National Golf Club for seven years.
Some of his other books include:
America's Gift to Golf: Herbert Warren Wind on the Masters, a compendium of all of Wind's writings on The Masters.
My Mulligan to Golf, which was released in traditional hardcover printed form and as an eBook for the Apple iPad. Featuring over 70 minutes of embedded video, My Mulligan is not only one of the very first golf books published with encapsulated video; it is one of the very first books produced using this new mixed media.
Two Roads to Augusta, is the heartwarming story of Ben Crenshaw and his caddie, Carl Jackson.
The Ryder Cup: Golf's Grandest Event, a complete and expansive history of the Ryder Cup published in conjunction with the PGA of America, featuring many of golf's finest writers in a large book format that contains over 500 pages and multiple gate fold spreads. It has been called the most definitive history of the Ryder Cup ever assembled.
His newest book, Arnold Palmer: American Hero, a large (11 X 14) coffee table book with 372 pages, 300+ photos and several spectacular gatefolds will be released in November 2023.
Mr. Davis has come to be known as one of the foremost golf historians in the game, serving in that role with Golf Channel, SiriusXM and as the on-camera golf historian for the three lead-in television shows on CBS network on the Saturday and Sunday of the Masters.
Davis is a past president and a current Board member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. He has provided radio commentary for WCBS, PGA TOUR radio (SiriusXM) and WFAN and has appeared on CBS, NBC, FOX Sports, CNN and ESPN television, as well as contributing to various websites, including CNN.com, NYTimes.com and GolfChannel.com. He has also written for Sports Illustrated and occasionally writes a guest piece on golf history for The New York Times during golf's majors and the Ryder Cup.
Mr. Davis has been a regular on-air contributor to Golf Channel for many years, providing historic perspective on the Top Ten Series (75+ half-hour shows over six - seven years), golf's majors and selected specials. He also contributed monthly hour-long golf history specials on SiriusXM for five years. An elector with the World Golf Hall of Fame, several of his books provided the basis for major exhibits on Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson and Jack Nicklaus.
An inveterate golfer, Mr. Davis lives in Greenwich, CT and Aiken, SC.
