Golf Course Paintings and Golf Art Work

HILTON HEAD, S.C. August 20, 2002 Linda Hartough, the golf world's foremost landscape artist, has just completed the official painting of the 2003 U.S. Open, the 14^th in her series of U.S. Open works. The piece depicts a 461-yard hole at Olympia Fields just outside Chicago, which will play host to the Open next June. The par 4, which will be played as the 12^th hole during the Open, is traditionally the 3^rd hole on Olympia Field's North Course.

"This is a very dramatic hole. It's the one that everyone mentioned when I asked about the course," said Ms. Hartough. "There is a creek in front of the elevated green and a very distinctive tree that hangs over a bridge. I was taken with it right away."

Ms. Hartough last visited the course in May, taking hundreds of photos of the hole to use as reference for her painting, which depicts a brilliant spring scene. She has been working on the project steadily at her studio in Hilton Head ever since. The completed painting is now being reproduced for the United States Golf Association, which will sell the prints for $225. The original work will be available from the Linda Hartough Gallery in Hilton Head at a price of $53,000.

Ms. Hartough, the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA to produce official paintings of the U.S. Open sites, is the most renowned painter of golf landscapes in the world. She is regularly commissioned to paint signature holes by many of the leading golf clubs in the U.S. and Britain. Ms. Hartough also has a thriving business offering brushstroke reproductions, prints and other products featuring her landscape images. The various reproductions, available through her Hilton Head gallery and its website, allow the general public, as well as collectors, to enjoy the pleasure of owning a Hartough.

Ms. Hartough's gallery is located just steps away from the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island. Her gallery is open daily. For additional information please telephone 888-333-1525 or visit the gallery website at www.hartough.com.

By Declan Colley
August 10, 2002 ART has always been a huge part of Linda Hartough’s life, but it is only in the last 18 years that she has found a market niche producing golf paintings and she has now gained a reputation as the foremost artist in the world in this field.

However, it was almost a complete accident that she turned her hand to painting golf scenes and found not only a market for quality work, but also great personal satisfaction and fulfillment.

She was for many years a native of that golf haven, Hilton Head in South Carolina, although that had nothing to do with her eventual metamorphosis. A graduate of the Art Institute of Chicago, she had been involved in art in one shape or form throughout her life, although she confesses to having been “more of a horse person” and still takes an interest in all things equine - to the point of even breeding her own horses.

After graduating from Art College, she turned to landscape painting and came to the attention of the powers that be at Augusta National, the home of The Masters and, in 1984 they commissioned her to do a painting of their world famous course.

She came to the task, she says, as a landscape painter, and she took on the commission on the basis that she appreciated aspects of the course as a landscape in its own right and not just a golf course.

“It was a different approach, I suppose, and I was not sure that it would work, but the people in Augusta were pleased and it was only when I realized that they were marketing prints of the painting and also selling it as postcards through their merchandising division, that it dawned on me there was a market for this type of work,” she says.

Creating the market for her paintings was a lengthy process, but once she began to get established it helped make the activity viable.

“A big eye-opener was the annual PGA Golf Show, which is a huge exhibition for all manner of companies and individuals involved in the production of golf related merchandise. I went along there in 1988 and I found there was really big potential for what I wanted to do. Everybody was really appreciative of the work.”

Hartough admits that, historically, golf paintings are not necessarily high art or even mainstream art. “I tried to bring to my paintings a sense that it might be appreciated as fine art and I have tried to develop my work along those lines. One man who helped me greatly was a Scotsman called Bob Pringle, who is a golf artist based in Troon. In Scotland, unlike America, there is a real history of golf art and there have been many fine artists from there over the years.

“Bob not only helped me to get other commissions, but he also introduced me to the history of the sport and the traditions of golf, as well as showing me places like the Old Course and Troon, which are of course such an integral part of golf’s history.”

Those courses inspired her further and she has done some very successful work as a result of her association with Scotland.

Ireland was always going to be a natural progression and she made her first visit 13 years ago: “My husband had a friend who was in a band touring Ireland so we tagged along, but during the course of the visit I got to see places like Ballybunion and Portmarnock and I knew I would have to come back some day.”

Hartough and her husband spent three weeks here in early September and traveled the length and breadth of the country, visiting some of the major golf courses Ballybunion, Lahinch, Doonbeg, Tralee, Waterville, Killarney, Portmarnock and Portrush.

Hartough never does any more than four paintings in any given year, finding that is about as much as she can deal with, but she promises that she will have produced her first Irish painting by the end of next year.

And what will it be?

“Ballybunion, definitely,” she asserts firmly. “That place is just so beautiful and so natural; it has to be top of my list. And anyway, when I go somewhere I always like to start with the best ones.

HILTON HEAD, S.C., March 20, 2002 – You’ll eventually be able to buy a print of the official painting of the 2002 U.S. Open from the United States Golf Association for $225. But if you want the original Linda Hartough oil-on-canvas, which depicts the glorious fourth hole at Bethpage Black, it will cost you a little more -- $53,000 to be exact.

The framed, 26 ½” by 42” painting, the 13th in Ms. Hartough’s U.S. Open Series, is currently the focal piece at Ms. Hartough’s gallery in Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island, and it is for sale. If the price sounds steep, you might want to consider Ms. Hartough’s track record. Recently, she sold her original of the seventh hole at Pebble Beach for $75,000. Her paintings are in the collections of such famous clubs as Augusta National, Pine Valley and Laurel Valley, and the private collections of Jack Nicklaus, the late Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones.

For the first time in her U.S. Open series, Ms. Hartough chose to create an autumn scene for her rendering of New York’s Bethpage Black, using a robust palette of russet and scarlet, green and gold. The beauty of the resultant landscape did nothing to prevent her from capturing the obvious challenge of the hole, a brilliantly bunkered, uphill par 5.

Ms. Hartough, the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA to produce official paintings of the U.S. Open sites, is the most renowned painter of golf landscapes in the world. The other 12 paintings in the U.S. Open series are in private collections and exclusive clubhouses around the country.

She is regularly commissioned to paint signature holes by many of the leading golf clubs in the U.S. and Britain. Ms. Hartough also has a thriving business selling fine art recreations in a variety of print styles and other products featuring her legendary “golfscape” images. The various reproductions, available through her Hilton Head gallery and its website, allow the general public, as well as collectors, to enjoy the pleasure of owning a Hartough.

Ms. Hartough’s gallery is at 140 Lighthouse Road in Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island. Her website is located at www.hartough.com.

COLUMBIA, S.C., February 20, 2002 – Linda Hartough, the world-renowned golf landscape painter, has donated a variety of unique pieces to the South Carolina Junior Golf Foundation for an auction and raffle at the Foundation’s first annual Golf Ball on February 23. The highlight of the artwork being offered is a lithograph print of the 12th hole at Augusta National signed by Tiger Woods. It will be auctioned off to the highest bidder as the premier item of the evening. Ms. Hartough will be on hand to present the print to the winning bidder.

Ms. Hartough, a longtime supporter of the SCJGF, assembled a very special
collection of her work to help make the inaugural Golf Ball a major success. In addition to the 12th hole, a print of the 15th at Augusta will also be auctioned. The print is signed by Gene Sarazen, who once famously double-eagled the hole. The Grand Sponsor Door Prize of the evening is a brush stroke canvas print of the 18th hole at Harbour Town. A variety of signed lithographs of many other famous holes will also be raffled off. The signatories represent a who’s who of the golf world, including Tom Lehman, Greg Norman, Ken Venturi, Ray Floyd, Nick Price, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo. Rounding out the Hartough prizes will be various other items from her Harbour Town Gallery, including signed books, throws and pillows featuring her award-winning work.

“We are very grateful to Linda Hartough for her generous donation of artwork for our auction and raffle at the Golf Ball,” said Tim Kreger, Director of Development of the SCJGF. “Her longstanding support of the SCJGF has helped us in our mission of advancing junior golf in South Carolina. We are delighted to be able to offer attendees of the Golf Ball the chance to own one of Linda’s highly prized paintings. In the process, we are raising money to fund a wide variety of programs that bring the benefits of golf to youngsters throughout our state, with special attention to reaching minority and underprivileged children.”

The Golf Ball is expected to draw hundreds of golfing enthusiasts to the Ellison Building at the State Fairgrounds in Columbia on Saturday, beginning at 6:30 p.m., with all proceeds going to the SCJGF. The Foundation was created to fund scholarships for youngsters across the state and has granted more than $200,000 in scholarships in the past six years. Along with education, the foundation creates opportunities for minority and underprivileged children in South Carolina to play the game of golf.

“I am very proud to be associated with the SCJGF and to help launch the Golf Ball as an exciting annual event,” said Ms. Hartough, who has been awarded the Order of the Palmetto, the state of South Carolina’s highest public service honor, for her support for the Foundation. “Golf is a wonderful activity for young people, offering them a great opportunity to learn the value of hard work and discipline, while enjoying the outdoors and playing a challenging game. The Foundation does tremendous work in bringing the game to hundreds of young people who would otherwise not have the chance to participate in the sport. It is an honor to be able to offer some of my work to help raise funds for this very worthy cause.”

Known as “the golf world’s painter laureate,” Ms. Hartough is regularly commissioned to paint signature holes by many of the leading golf clubs in the U.S.
and Britain. Her paintings are in the collections of such famous clubs as Augusta National, Pine Valley and Laurel Valley, and Hartough originals are included in the private collections of Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones. She has also built a thriving business selling brushstroke reproductions, prints and other products featuring her landscape images. The various reproductions, available through her Hilton Head gallery and its website, allow the general public to enjoy the pleasure of owning a Hartough as well.

Ms. Hartough is the official artist of the United States Golf Association. She is the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, to do the annual, official paintings and prints for the U.S. Open and British Open championships. Ms. Hartough was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Golf Digest magazine, in recognition of her contributions to the sport as the preeminent artist chronicling the beauty of courses around the world.

Ms. Hartough’s gallery is at 140 Lighthouse Road in Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island and her website is located at www.hartough.com.

ORLANDO, January 15, 2002 – The award-winning artwork of Linda Hartough, the world-renowned golf landscape painter, will be on hand in all its forms at the PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, January 24-27 (booth 10148). Retailers and buyers will see a complete selection of products featuring her artwork, including brushstroke reproductions, prints, calendars, stationery and gift items featuring her landscape images, which depict in great detail the mystique of single holes at the world’s leading golf courses. Ms. Hartough herself will be on hand to discuss her approach to creating the images and her experiences as she has traveled around the world to capture on canvas the allure of the world’s most beautiful places to play. She will also be signing limited edition prints and copies of her acclaimed new book “Hallowed Ground.”

Ms. Hartough was recently honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by Golf Digest magazine, in recognition of her contributions to the sport as the preeminent artist chronicling the beauty of courses around the world.

“Linda is the golf world’s painter laureate,” said Bob Carney, creative director of The Golf Digest Companies, when he presented her the honor. “She helped the whole world of golf discover landscape painting and is the first great golf landscape artist.”

Ms. Hartough’s original paintings have been commissioned by many of the leading golf clubs in the U.S. and Britain, and are in the collections of Augusta National, Pine Valley and Laurel Valley, among others. Hartough originals are also in the private collections of Jack Nicklaus, the late Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones. The various reproductions and giftware based on the images allow the general public to enjoy the pleasure of owning a Hartough as well.

“I love landscape painting and have found in golf courses worthy subjects, with great variety and beauty as well as a sense of history and tradition,” said Ms. Hartough. “At the same time, these paintings mean so much to the golfers who know and have played these holes. The painting is a success when the artistic challenge of capturing the landscape and conveying the essence of the golf hole are both fulfilled.”

Ms. Hartough, who is the official artist of the United States Golf Association, didn’t start out painting the world’s most beautiful golf holes. Portraits, horses and other landscapes filled her early career, but the beauty and tranquility of golf course settings transfixed her. Four years after being commissioned in 1984 to paint her first golf hole – the 13th at Augusta National Golf Club – she turned her career to focus entirely on the golf art genre.

Her works have gained her international recognition. She is the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, to do the annual, official paintings and prints for the U.S. Open and British Open championships.

A dedicated artist since age 6 while growing up in Wilmington, Del., and Louisville, Ky., Hartough received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Golf Digest, the first of its type ever given, at the inaugural Art of Golf Festival at Pinehurst, N.C. The festival honored 24 of the golf world’s most talented artists, writers, sculptors and photographers.

“There’s a tranquility about her paintings that is absolutely beautiful,” said Mr. Carney. “When you view them, the paintings have the effect of actually putting you there. They’re beyond real.

“Linda does not have bad days when she’s painting. She’s consistently breathtaking. The continuous high level of quality and the longevity of her work are unparalleled in her field.”

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. Dec. 11, 2001 - Linda Hartough, the world-renowned golf landscape painter, has been presented a Lifetime Achievement Award, the first of its type ever given, for her contributions to the sport as the preeminent artist chronicling the beauty of courses around the globe.

"Linda is the golf world's painter laureate," said Bob Carney, creative director of The Golf Digest Companies. "She has helped the whole world of golf discover landscape painting and is the first great golf landscape artist."

Hartough said receiving the award is a great honor because it recognizes and promotes the quality of golf landscape art that is being produced today.

"I'm proud to have been recognized as an innovator in this field and to know that golf art is being taken seriously," she said.

Hartough, whose original paintings have been commissioned by many of the leading golf clubs in the United States and Great Britain, has built a thriving business selling brushstroke reproductions, prints and other products featuring her landscape images, which depict in great detail the mystique of single holes.

Her paintings are in the collections of such famous clubs as Augusta National, Pine Valley and Laurel Valley, and Hartough originals are included in the private collections of Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones.

"I love landscape painting and have found in golf courses worthy subjects, with great variety and beauty as well as a sense of history and tradition," Hartough said. "At the same time, these paintings mean so much to the golfers who know and have played these holes.

"The painting is a success when the artistic challenge of capturing the landscape and conveying the essence of the golf hole are both fulfilled."

Hartough, the official artist of the United States Golf Association, didn't start out painting the world's most beautiful golf holes.

Portraits, horses and other landscapes filled her early career, but the beauty and tranquility of golf course settings around the globe transfixed her. Four years after being commissioned in 1984 to paint her first golf hole - the 13th at Augusta National Golf Club - she turned her focus entirely on the golf art genre.

Her works have gained her international recognition. She is the only artist ever commissioned by the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, to do the annual, official paintings and prints for the U.S. Open and British Open championships.

A dedicated artist since age 6 while growing up in Wilmington, Del., and Louisville, Ky., Hartough received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Golf Digest at the inaugural Art of Golf Festival at Pinehurst, N.C. The festival honored 24 of the golf world's most talented artists, writers, sculptors and photographers.

"There's a tranquility about her paintings that is stunning," said Carney. "When you view them, the paintings have the effect of actually putting you there. They're beyond real.
"Linda does not have bad days when she's painting. The continuous high level of quality and the longevity of her work are remarkable."

Reproductions of Hartough's work are available at her gallery at 140 Lighthouse Road in Harbour Town on Hilton Head Island and through her website, www.hartough.com.