Fore! Images of Golf in Art

Myrtle Beach is the Golf Capital of the World and the perfect location for an art exhibition dedicated to the people, places and accoutrements of the sport of golf.   Fans tout its 100-plus golf courses – many of them designated Best You Can Play by major golf publications – and its sunny, hospitable climate. Its first golf course, at Pine Lakes Country Club, opened in 1927, a full 11 years before the city was incorporated in 1938.

So, what better time and place for an art exhibition about that compelling (and often maddening) game than this spring and summer at the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  Fore! Images of Golf in Art opens Sunday, April 28 and runs through September 15.

 

Myrtle Beach is home to 102 area golf courses and host to nearly a dozen annual tournaments, from the highly publicized Hootie and the Blowfish Monday after the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am Tournament and Golf Holiday’s Golf.com World Amateur Handicapped Championship to smaller-scaled contests for firefighters, high-schoolers and families.

 

Fore! Images of Golf in Art was organized with the assistance of Harmon-Meek Gallery in Naples, FL, the United States Golf Association, private collectors and regional museums.  The exhibition features more than 40 works of art celebrating the game of golf by nationally known artists like Will Barnet, Ray Ellis and Leroy Neiman as well as others known primarily in the golfing world. Works in watercolor, oil and sculpture depict many of the all-time greats of the sport: Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Greg Norman, Tiger Woods, Bobby Jones and the legendary Babe Didrikson.

 

Other images feature some of the most well known courses in the country, including Augusta, Ballybunion, Cypress Point, Merion, Royal St. George and Pebble Beach. Rounding out the exhibit are several pieces on loan from The Dunes Golf and Beach Club, the second-oldest course in the area, which opened in 1948.  The Dunes Club will host the PGA Professional National Championship in 2014.

 

Fore! Images of Golf in Art is the perfect adjunct to a golfing vacation, or perhaps the perfect alternative activity for one of those less-than-perfect days to play.

 

Gallery hours for the exhibit will be from 10 a.m – 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m. Sundays. Admission to the Art Museum is always free, but donations are welcome.