by Mitch Laurance

As the 2005 United States Open came again to Pinehurst's famed #2 course, it marked the 16th consecutive Open immortalized by painter Linda Hartough. No one is more passionate about her work or captures the spirit of the game quite like this renowned golf landscape artist. I am transfixed. Standing in the sun-splashed studio of Linda Hartough’s glorious home on Spring Island, off the coast of South Carolina, I have found myself drawn, trance-like, to an easel in front of a large bay window.

My wife and I have strolled through Hartough’s home, getting a first-hand tour of a house and studio that are as comfortable and gracious as is our hostess, a fairy-tale setting of country manor and fenced pastureland, horses grazing outside, light and brick and warm wood inside. As we’ve moved into the studio area, where Hartough spends so much of her time, painting, watching golf and movies on a state-of-the-art flat-screen TV, the heart of her workplace has become increasingly apparent, and I feel as though I have a entered a sacred space. Not only a master artist’s sanctuary, but the emerging world of one of the most famous of the game’s Par 4’s, Ballybunion’s 11th hole, two-thirds completed, waiting for Hartough’s touch, her brush, her inspiration, to bring this Irish paradise to life. It is an incredible moment, especially to those of us who don’t share The Gift. The scene’s top portion completed, vibrant and alive. The bottom section stark, blank white, save for a line drawing of basic composition. It is then that it really hits home, the exceptional, elusive ability Hartough, and all great artists, possess. Having stood on that spot at Ballybunion myself, I get chills looking at a partially finished painting.

Linda Hartough’s ability to ellicit a golfer’s deep emotional connection to the game and its great courses has characterized her work in golf over the last two decades, and has made her the most sought-after golf landscape artist in the world. Her official paintings of the 2005 U.S. Open (one for the USGA series, one for Pinehurst’s official poster) long since completed, her enormous body of work includes not only paintings that hang in the halls of the most exclusive private clubs (Augusta National, Pine Valley, Laural Valley), and in the homes of some of the most famous names in the game (Jack Nicklaus, Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Rees Jones), but also as reproductions in the living rooms of golf lovers around the globe. The myriad paintings of courses both public and private, by the only artist ever commissioned by both the R &A and the USGA to paint the official series of Open championship courses, have evolved, onto coasters and placemats, greeting cards and pillows, and one of the most beautiful coffee-table books you can own, “Hallowed Ground”. They have appeared on two ABC Golf Specials on the “World’s Most Dramatic Holes,” hosted by Nicklaus, and Hartough’s travels have taken her from her South Carolina home to the far corners of the earth.

As a child, there was no inkling that golf would play the central role in Hartough’s life. Though her father had a passion for the game, the young girl did not. Her lifeblood was tied to seemingly traditional outlets, horses and art. Her career timeline seems natural enough, marked by life’s usual assortment of fortuitous meetings, coincidences, and decisions. One can find all the particulars of Hartough’s path on her website or in her gallery on Hilton Head Island.

What isn’t available in either place, however, is the rare opportunity to get a first-hand feel for her process, to watch her work, to talk about her approach to each painting. It is in those moments that you begin to understand why the paintings seem to truly live. It is in those moments that you can feel her passion.

The process is time-intensive and laborious, and can stretch out to 2 years or more for a given painting. Whichever course is to be painted, Hartough begins by discussing with the people at each course their thoughts. “They have their opinion, I have mine, and we’ll come to a consensus,” she says as she stands next to her chair. “I of course want to pick the one that would make the best landscape and give the best feeling of the course,” she continues, and it is the first time of many that the word “feeling” will be used.

Hartough goes on, sitting in at the easel. “Once I make a selection of the hole, then it’s a matter of finding the light that will make it do what I want it to do,” and now, surrounded by literally hundreds of photos of Ballybunion’s 11th , part of a her “Courses of Ireland” series, you get an idea of the commitment it takes to do what sounds a seemingly simple thing, “finding the light.” Up to 40 rolls of film per painting are a testament to the days, the weeks, the different times of year, the varied conditions, changes in shadows and angles, all a part of Hartough’s initial stage of preparation. “When I’m at the course, I don’t really know exactly what I’m going to do,” she says, but once she returns home, she continues the analytical part of the process, moving toward a final composition. “I’ll take the best parts of everything I’ve got in pictures. I’ll use a different sky, a single cloud, the green at one time of day, the fairway from another. I’ll find the best parts that work with that composition.” She has said before that when she looks at a golf hole, she tries to “see it as a golfer sees it, how a golfer would play it, then as a landscape, as a work of fine art.” It has proven to be a stunning combination of ideals.

Once she’s decided on the form, the artistic brain kicks in, and listening to Hartough speak, you sense that this is where the magical part of the routine really begins. “The compostion is so important in what I do,” Hartough says, staring at Ballybunion’s elegant landscape. “I see the painting completed, before I ever put a mark on the canvas, and as close as I can get to that initial vision, the better.” A very thin blue line will go on the blank canvas, as a guide. And then it happens, in front of me.

Hartough picks up her brush. Colors mix. Back and forth her eyes go, from the hand-held picture to the canvas, brush moving now, impulses and creation taking over. Working from the top of the painting down, what can be done in one day will be the next section painted, as “I like everything to be wet when I’m working on it.” And so it goes, minute detail by minute detail. Try as one might, unless you live in this world, this is the part we can only imagine, the miraculous unfolding of art, which in some cases, can take up to 6 months.

Hartough’s single most telling comment comes as she fleshes out Ballybunion. “The work reminds me of being there, which is what I hope happens to a golfer, too. I try to achieve that perfect moment, where you feel like you’re there, by yourself, at the most perfect time. Most people who are really into the game, think of it as a spiritual thing. Once I got into the spiritual side, I was hooked. It’s what I try to convey, the sense of timelessness and spirituality.”

As I let myself drift into the painting in front of me, I once again understand where my place of worship is.

On Pinehurst and the Open
On the challenge of painting Pinehurst: “It is a difficult course to capture, from a design perspective, as there are obviously lots of pine trees, shade, and similar hole designs, with little dramatic lighting. Finding the right lighting is really the key to showing off Pinehurst.”

On The 2005 Open
Linda Hartough chose the convergence of # 2’s 16th and 17th holes as the USGA official painting of the 105th US Open, because “so many dramatic events happened at 16 and 17 at the last Open.” The 18th hole, scene of the late Payne Stewart’s dramatic, walk-off putt, is her subject for the official Pinehurst poster for the Open, which captures the Sunday pin placement from 1999 (used every Sunday now), and the commemorative statue of Stewart’s now-famous gesture after making his historic putt.

On the USGA and The Merchandising of Linda Hartough
Chris Johnson, Director of Licensing and Merchandise at the USGA, recently retired after 29 years of service, who was involved in the original deal in 1989 that brought Linda Hartough to the USGA, recalls that Hartough’s friend and agent at the time, Bob Pringle, a Scottish artist himself, “stopped by the USGA Museum, asked to see me, and suggested using Linda to do a US Open painting. It just took off from there.” The USGA, according to Johnson, had a catalog at the time, but no specific marketing plan, and says “The USGA has always been extremely proud to offer her work.”

What They Say
“Linda has a gift for capturing the world in a wonderful and captivating way. I’m the proud owner of several of her paintings, and each time I look at one, I see something new. What Linda paints is the essence of a hole, and in it, the essence of the entire course. A Linda Hartough painting makes me want to play golf.” - Jack Nicklaus, owner of 7 original works.

“Whenever you see a Linda Hartough golf course rendering, you have to resist the urge to grab a club and drop a ball.” - Robert Trent Jones, Sr., who, when asked what he would save in a fire at his home, said it would be Hartough’s U.S. Open painting of the 16th hole at Hazeltine National.

“I first saw one of Linda’s prints at the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. It was on the restored 9th of the Open Course, and it captured our restoration work perfectly.” - Rees Jones who purchased Hartough’s U.S. Open painting of Congressional Country Club, and commissioned Hartough to paint the 15th at Haig Point.

“I think of Royal County Down, which I’ve visited virtually every year for 25 years. To me it’s the greatest course in the world, and to be able to sit in my house and look at that painting of the 9th hole, I can feel the course, the mountains, the beach. I think it’s the most wonderful painting I’ve ever seen.” - John Runette, neighboring resident on Spring Island, owner of 3 original works, including Ballybunion #11.

“Ever since I saw the first one Linda did here of the 10th hole at Winged Foot for the Open in 1984, I’ve wanted to collect them. I can’t wait for the next one to come out.” Tom Neiporte, Head Golf Professional at Winged Foot, collector of Hartough Limited Edition Prints.

For a complete listing of Linda Hartough’s biography and work, available originals and reproductions, a virtual studio tour, and contact information, visit www.Hartough.com.