Waverley Country Club

This will always be a special place in my heart. It was the sight of my first real job, and job in golf. I caddied at Waverley CC for a couple of years and worked in the bag room. It was during this period that the 93' Junior Amateur was held and Tiger Woods defended for the second year in a row and won a Record three USGA Junior Amateur titles. I was among the small crowd that final round and watched as Ryan Armour birdied 15 to go 2 up with three holes remaining. Well, they halved 16 and then Tiger did the unthinkable and made birdie from very difficult sand shot up and downs on the closing 2 par 5's in order to force a play off. He won on the with a par on the first playoff hole, hole 1. This oil painting is the view across the river I would see every time I was dropped off at work. The course has always shined, but never as bright as it has after Gil Hanse and his crew made some modifications just over a year ago. The current course looks like it has been there forever in all the right ways and blends very well with the history and pedigree of the Club. I was happy to be asked by the GM to create an oil painting of a place that meant a lot to me personally. Best, Josh Smith

Home of Golf

In the last year, I took a couple months off from commission work to create a couple of paintings that I was really interested in seeing. One of which is a place I have yet to visit... St. Andrews... but I drew all the passion I have for the place and tried to put it into this original oil painting and create a timeless piece. Interestingly I sold both of my "break from commission" paintings fairly rapidly.

This has to be a subject that I will paint again, I just love the whole idea of it. PERIOD. Best, Josh Smith

Pinehurst Oil Painting

Pinehurst #1 that is. This is an oil painting I created for my friend and Golf Architect/Shaper talent, Kyle Franz. He provided me with some $$, a couple of old black and whites of this hole from early 1900's and described what he wanted to see the hole returned to. I sure hope he gets his way !!

The painting got me excited to see the work done on #2 and to hopefully oil paint it as well. It is a golf trip that I have yet to take, which could be well timed in the next couple of years based on the improvements in the area. Comments welcome. Best, Josh PS. Kyle has a nice interview posted on Golf Club Atlas hosted by Ran Morrissett, who is obviously a big fan. I am glad I could introduce the two of them. http://www.golfclubatlas.com/feature-interview/kyle-franz-june-2011/

So Glad Someone Had a Camera ...Streamsong Opening

Tom Doak, golf's most accomplished architect commissioned two Streamsong oil paintings as a gift to the Mosaic company. A year ago, he flew me out to play the juvenile version of the course with him. This was a great moment, as we had never golfed together and I hit shots while taking photos trying to figure out great painting angles, of which there were many. Fast forward a year to last weekend. The weekend was filled with amazing weather, two fantastic courses debuted and great personalities coming together. This presentation happened at the grand opening and it was fantastic as I finally got to meet Ben Crenshaw. He was pretty excited about seeing my painting of his course. He and Bill Coore couldn't have been more complimentary, but of course you would expect nothing less from these two gentlemen. Tom completely caught the ownership off guard with this generous gift. Thanks to Masa Nishijima for the best photo on the subject. Being among these three gentleman and talents is a moment I will never forget. Cheers to a great 2013 and a huge year in my life with the birth of our first Daughter expected within the month!!!!

New Paintings

Here are some new pieces I thought you would enjoy.

1. The R and A clubhouse.

2. The 16th at Cabot Links.

3. The 12th at Ballyneal.

We are creating limited edition giclees (30 pieces) on canvas of several new pictures. Please contact Nick Green @ nick@macduffconsulting.com if you would like to find out more.

Excitement of Plein Air

Painting Outdoors is a very exciting challenge. I remember a few years ago thinking that I would always be a studio oil painter. Hearing experts say that the best way to evolve your oil paintings for the better is to paint Plein Air. I believed them, but had no plans to start. Upon further review... I have started and it has to be one of the best hobbies ever. A cool wooden box and tripod. Surveying the potential landscapes and the decisiveness you must have to narrow it to one particular scene in the landscape and then figure out how you will crop it. The quick layout of that crop. The serenity of being alone in nature. The rapid pace that you work at in order to take in all that the scene offers before the lighting changes. Deciding when you are finished. And leaving with a great souvenir that will last forever and be a great start/sample if you choose to paint something larger of the same scene. How many millions of color combinations exist in Nature? I hope to narrow that down month by month over the years and find new colors to put up on canvas. Here are Plein Airs number 9 and 10. Buoys await at Lake Tahoe

A view of Pacific Grove, CA

Cheers... Josh Smith

A Streamsong Blue Story

Tom Doak's wonderfully rugged new course at Streamsong.


What a fantastic hole !! The photo above depicts the par three 5th hole, a mid-length one shotter with plenty going on. It will leave an indelible mark on your golfing memory bank after you see it. Left is an absolute no-no as it drops 30 feet down towards the previous hole. To me it does the best job of linking Streamsong to its ancient golfing roots. Namely, the staggered layout of the small bunkers with their peaked and tattered edges, the low profile "non framed" backdrop and the ultra random shape and undulation that the long slender green follows.


Here you see Tom walking the breadth of the 5th green again in afternoon light to show where all the unique pin locations are and their respective elevations. I had the good fortune of previewing the course on his invite, he flew me out from California in order to scout out Oil Paining possibilities for him, of which there are many. It was a dream of mine to play golf with Tom at some point and I am so thrilled that it happened in this forum. Wind will surely be a factor on this hole and with the depth of the green calling for a possible 4 club alteration in the absence of wind, one can only imagine the fun that will ensue. It may be a great hole to try to hit putter off the tee and take the wind completely out. ;) This photo may end up an oil painting coming soon. Oh yeah, this resort will open in 2012 and will also feature the Red course, a Coore and Crenshaw 18 holes interwoven with the Blue.