Patience and planning are two words golfers at the highest level lean on when they play a golf course. For artists at the highest level, painting one isn’t much different.
Aimee Smith has learned a lot about both of those activities in recent years. The Nashville-based artist had never stepped foot on a course until 12 years ago, but now she makes her living by creating them on canvases, a process that can take months and countless careful brushstrokes. In between, she discovered a true—albeit unexpected—love for the game.
“I’m a nerd, so I delved into it with the history of the courses and the architects,” Smith says. “I was fascinated by that aspect, and so it just made sense to paint golf courses. I had a few friends reach out for some golf course paintings, and then I started doing them on my own.”
Smith was introduced to golf by her future husband Steven, who hails from the game’s birthplace, Scotland, and was still chasing a career as a tour pro in the Orlando area at the time. Aimee would join Steven on the Walt Disney World courses after getting off from work as a dermatology physician’s assistant. She immediately enjoyed being outdoors and eventually took up the game herself.
Adare Manor
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
St Andrews Links
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
Royal Dornoch
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
Baker’s Bay
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
Troubadour
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
Pebble Beach
Courtesy of Aimee Smith
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“The game of golf is addictive, but so is the world of golf,” says Smith, whose 5-year-old daughter is already hooked on the game as well. “There’s something for everybody, and it’s not as intimidating as I had once thought.”
While she still considers herself a beginner with clubs in her hand, that’s certainly not the case when she picks up a brush. Smith dreamed of being an artist while growing up and continued to take art classes in college while creating pieces for friends to make a few extra bucks. Things really took off during the pandemic, when she had more time out of the office and got more into golf and oil painting. After years of juggling her dermatology gig and side hustle, Smith quit her day job in 2022 to pursue her painting passion full time.
“My journey has been unbelievable,” says Smith, who credits Steven, the director of health and wellness at Troubadour Golf and Field Club, for convincing her that she was making the right career choice. “My sister doesn’t play golf, and she’s saying, ‘Why are you traveling all over?’ But for people that do play golf, they can understand that it’s very much a pinch-me moment.”
Smith’s largest pieces—on canvases of five feet by six feet—can take up to three months to finish after researching and selecting photos, sketching them and, finally, a long layering painting process. She sometimes visits the courses that she has been commissioned to paint to take her own reference photos. Those include some of the world’s most famous tracks, from St. Andrews to Royal Dornoch to Cruden Bay. She also works with courses to create paintings that sell directly to people through her Instagram and her website, aimeesmithstudios.com. Many of these paintings range in price from $1,000 to $8,000. In addition, Smith also sells prints and offers live event painting. “Having that badge of honor saying you’re a full-time artist still sounds bizarre to me,” Smith says, “but I’m thankful for it.”
When it comes to oil painting, Smith says she feels like a golfer in that she’s always discovering new things and looking to improve. She recently finished a workshop with one of her idols, Dawn Whitelaw, that made her “brain hurt” but took her art to another level. Smith says her style is in the realism arena, but she’s been trying techniques involving more paint and thicker brushstrokes. Smith doesn’t fear making mistakes as much as she once did and now uses them as learning opportunities. “It’s like learning things as a golfer,” Smith says. “You think you master your swing and then the next day you show up you’re like, Wait a second.”
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Smith is proud to be following the brushstrokes of other great golf artists like Linda Hartough, Graeme Baxter and Lee Wybranski. She’s also glad to be part of what she describes as a “supportive community” on Instagram, where she shares photos of her work and videos of her process, but there can be a downside to that as well. “I think we all have to be careful on Instagram. Even golfers are like, I’m not doing as well as someone else,” says Smith, who lists John Singer Sargent and Rembrandt as her ultimate painting idols. “Then you get that imposter syndrome.”
Smith currently does a 50/50 mix of commissioned pieces and passion projects. However, the line between the two continues to get blurred, especially as she has discovered that drawing courses has the power to soothe the soul and provide benefits that go well beyond earning a check. “I love that this career has created space to give back,” Smith says. “I’ve blocked off a few weeks this year to paint for a few causes that are close to my heart.”
Although Smith enjoys painting on the course, she mostly paints in her home studio. She says the easiest part about painting courses is that she knows golfers will find meaning with the subjects she chooses. Nothing makes her happier than knowing her work brings others joy. “It’s my favorite thing,” says Smith, who prefers to hand deliver her larger paintings to buyers. “I’m a nervous wreck until they get it. I love hearing back from collectors that they like it. It just makes my heart so happy.”
So what does she want her clients to experience when they see her paintings? “You feel like you can walk into it, and it makes you want to play golf,” Smith says. “My goal is to get the viewer to say, ‘Oh, I need to go back.’ ”
All golfers should have something on display in their home that elicits that kind of response. Surely most do already, but what if you don’t have the wall space for golf art? Or what if you’ve been told by your spouse that you’ve already reached your quota in that area?
“There have been so many studies that show if you have art up in your home and you look at it and you enjoy it, it lures the cortisol in your system,” Smith says. “If it produces that calming effect, even a little bit, it still has benefits. … If it’s bringing you joy, it’s doing a lot more than you realize. I think that’s invaluable.”
Thanks, Aimee. Hopefully, that helps the cause. Hey, you can’t argue with science.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com