This October marks Burchfield's Golf Gallery's 20th anniversary in the Village of Pinehurst at 80 Magnolia Road. To celebrate this anniversary the gallery will be featuring different items on sale each week.

"To help us with the celebration, Linda Hartough, world-renowned golf course artist, will be at Burchfield's Golf Gallery, Friday, Oct. 13, from 5 to 7 p.m., for a book and print signing," says Sally Gold of the Gallery.

Linda Hartough is internationally renowned as the world's foremost golf landscape artist. She is the only artist ever commissioned by both the United States Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews to create the annual official painting of their respective Open Championships.

Her original works are displayed in the permanent collections of such legendary clubs as Augusta National, Laurel Valley and Pine Valley, as well as in the personal collections of Jack Nicklaus and Robert Trent Jones Sr.

Regarding her talent, Trent Jones says: "Whenever you see a Linda Hartough golf course rendering, you have to resist the urge to grab a club and drop a ball. Linda has the unique ability to capture the very essence of the course itself."

From her first commission in 1984 -- the 13th hole at Augusta National Golf Club -- to her most recent release, the 2007 U.S. Open Championship image of the 14th hole, Oakmont Country Club, Linda Hartough's work has elevated her to an unrivaled status among golf artists.

A confirmed artist since the age of six, Hartough was raised in the tranquil countrysides of Wilmington, Del. and Louisville, Ky. She received her fine arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1970. She remained in Chicago and exhibited in many local and statewide shows, garnering numerous awards.

Hartough moved to South Carolina in 1980 and continued painting landscapes, portraits, and horses.

A chance encounter in 1984, when one of her landscapes drew the attention of an Augusta golf pro, led to her commission to paint Augusta's spectacular 13th hole, "Azalea."

Her approach as a landscape painter (with very little golf background) pleased the people at Augusta, and the rest, as they say, is history. An appearance at the 1988 PGA Golf Show was met with enormous success; then she was asked to create the official painting for the 1989 British Open Championship.

Soon other famous clubs came calling -- Pine Valley, Oakland Hills, Pebble Beach -- all wanted Hartough renditions of their signature golf holes. Her name became synonymous with "preeminent fine golf artist" in golf circles.

Hartough's drive to "capture the powerful sense of history bordering on the spiritual" in her golf landscapes is not without its unique challenges.

She often spends up to a week at a venue, wearing her waterproof golf shoes for tireless photo shoots from various angles at different times of day.

The effect of light -- such an important component of her work -- is captured during these sessions. She also determines what is important (or memorable) about a hole and includes that in the painting.

While Linda's work begins in photographic realism and is enhanced by her memory of what she saw, her innate ability to find the essence of a view sets her work apart.

"When you look at a golf hole, you have to see what players like about it -- how a golfer plays it," Hartough says. "Then you have to see it as a landscape, how the light plays on the contours -- as a work of fine art."

Hartough's standing in the golf world was further enhanced with the presentation of Golf Digest's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001, the first of its type ever given.

"Linda is the golf world's painter laureate," says 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 says receiving the award was a great honor because it recognizes and promotes the quality of golf landscape art that is being produced today.

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

Linda Hartough is a founding trustee of the Academy of Golf Art, a professional society of golf artists established in 2004 to create an awareness and appreciation of golf art as a valuable segment of fine art.

She lives with her husband, Ed, on an island in the Low Country of South Carolina, not far from her gallery. A spacious studio is located on the property, and their peaceful retreat is shared with their horses and dogs.