Good writing flows like a conversation, so it isn’t a huge surprise that several top-notch print journalists are now being seen and heard as well as read.
Southland native Damon Hack is among that group, having joined the Golf Channel’s Morning Drive show in 2012 after 16 years as a sportswriter. The Van Nuys High and UCLA graduate edited sports highlights at KNPC before getting his master’s degree in journalism at Cal two years later. That led to the launch of his writing career at the Sacramento Bee in 1996, and four years later the lifelong Californian got a call from Newsday offering him the New York Knicks beat. He also was a golf writer at Newsday before moving to the New York Times where he covered the NFL and golf, a combination he continued at Sports Illustrated for five years before the Golf Channel called.
“At heart I’m still a writer, I think that words are important,” Hack said. “I think the way you present a thought, a statement, an opinion matters, that you speak in concise sentences. … I think there’s a rhythmic element to great writing and I think there is a rhythm to television as well.”
Hack’s improvisational gift of gab comes through in interactions with guests, such as when PGA Tour star Matt Kuchar appeared on the Morning Drive set in March. The visit included golf on a simulator, an engaging interview and a competitive game of ping pong that didn’t stop Hack from asking Kuchar questions during rallies.
“I know I’m not young (44) but I feel like I’m young at heart and my eyes and ears are open,” Hack said. “Whenever I’m interviewing somebody I’m still listening and learning. The art of listening as a journalist or reporter is everything.”
Co-workers sense Hack’s passion and joy in what he does.
“He doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, genuinely,” said co-host Cara Robinson. “He’s a lovable character.”
“He has got a very, very smart wit and it comes across on TV, but he doesn’t beat you over the head with how smartly funny he is,” added co-host Gary Williams. “My career is better off because he’s in it.”
Hack’s move from writer to on-camera talent is one that impressed Williams.
“To make a transition as smoothly as he did from the written word to live television, it takes a special person,” Williams said. “It’s not just the talent to do it but his likability.”
Indeed, Hack’s rapport with his peers at Golf Channel is notable and respected.
“He’s a great co-worker, he’s a great teammate, and it’s a real pleasure to come in and work with him everyday,” said Morning Drive contributor Charlie Rymer, a former grinder on the PGA Tour. “Even though Damon is certainly far from a scratch golfer, his love for this game is off the charts.”
Speaking of teeing it up, Hack misses some of the courses he used to play in the Southland, such as Angeles National, Temecula Creek Inn and Coyote Hills. So how does golf in Orlando compare to Southern California?
“If you’re going point by point I’ve got to go with my native soil,” Hack said. “I just think you have more variety, the topography and the variation of ocean courses versus mountain and hills.”
And even though there’s good golf in the Orlando area that can serve as substitutes, Hack misses the opportunity to go to Dodgers and Lakers games, although he can still watch and listen from afar.
“I used to watch Dodger games and Laker games and I’d watch Vin Scully and Chick Hearn,” he said. “I just loved the way they painted pictures.”
Hack, who took the brush available to him through print media and created his own landscapes with words, is part of a Morning Drive show that’s no longer a sleepy wake-up call for golf fans or a mouthpiece for the PGA Tour. Since debuting in 2011, the show, cast and format has evolved and expanded to seven days a week.
“We’ve widened the lens so significantly,” Williams said. “(Before) we were really concentrated on PGA Tour life, and that was what drove the program.”
Not so much anymore. With an emphasis on when and where listeners can play, what apparel they could wear and how to improve their game and diet, there’s a lot more these days for amateur golfers to glean from the show.
“Our mantra is sort of how to play, where to play, what to play,” Rymer said. “We can sort of touch on those any day.”
And Hack – who moved to Florida from New York with his wife Suzanna and triplet sons James, Rhys and Miles to work for Golf Channel – is excited to be part of the growth process, regarding both him and the network.
“In a lot of ways I feel like I’ve come home to what I’ve always wanted to do, which is to be a broadcaster,” he said. “I feel lucky that I’ve had the experience as a writer because I think writing is so important.”
