[7] Once his application for employment at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in Canada was accepted,[3] Davis booked passage to North America arriving in April 1881.
[1] By July 1891, Davis was in Southampton, New York where he planned the original 12-hole short course at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in just about a month.
[7][12] One writer applauded Davis' work at Newport and proclaimed "what was last year but an unexplored swamp is now one of the finest golf links in this country.
Following an offer in the fall of 1899 to join the newly constructed Rye country club, Davis began almost immediately.
[16] One of his first projects was working with golf committee member Maturin Ballou to improve drainage for the links in November 1899.
[22] Davis' assistant Horace Rawlins[23] won the inaugural U.S. Open title, two strokes ahead of Dunn, the runner-up.
[3][4] For some time, Davis was not given correct attribution for his design of the course at Shinnecock and credit was given to professional golfer Willie Dunn instead.