St. Andrews – Road Hole
World-renowned golf landscape painter Linda Hartough knew as a young child what her future was going to look like—at age six, she discovered her talent as an artist and never looked back.
Raised in the picturesque countrysides of Wilmington, Delaware, and Louisville, Kentucky, Hartough enjoyed being around horses, drawing and painting them for hours on end. Her father being an avid golfer was what sparked her interest in the game, but especially it was the visual beauty of golf’s lush surroundings.
“My impression of golf was visual – where the ball should go, but didn’t,” says Hartough.
In 1984 Hartough, already known as a landscape painter, was contacted by Augusta National Golf Club to paint the famed 13th Hole, inaugurating what was to become her impressive career as a golf-landscape painter. She has enjoyed unparalleled global status, including receiving Golf Digest’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.” Hartough’s paintings are included in the permanent collections of many legendary golf clubs, such as Augusta National and Pine Valley, as well as the Morris Museum of Art in Augusta, Georgia, and the United States Golf Association Museum in Bernards Township, New Jersey. And her celebrated paintings are part of the private collections of Rees Jones, Jack Nicklaus and an array of other golf legends. Last year Hartough was honored for her 25 years of painting the U.S. Open venues, as commissioned by the USGA.
“I truly enjoy painting golf landscape,” Hartough says, “as it is some of the most beautiful and varied landscape in the world, combined with a deep historical sense of tradition that transcends time. The painting is a success when both elements emerge.”
